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The Official Welding Thread

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I still weld the old school way... Oxy/Acetylene or Oxy/Propane with an old gas handle and assortment of tips, plus a cutting torch. It is slower, but it'll weld anything... No need to specialize. Plus, if you have to join different metals and can get good, clean, close fit, brazing is available too (Dont discount brazing, marine nuclear piping is often brazed). It is a little harder to get the hang of initially, but once you know how to set it, it is similar to TIG. I also just don't have the cash for a decent TIG machine, and gas equipment is much cheaper initially, and filler and flux are easy to come by.

Any other gas welders? It seems to be becoming less and less common as a primary means of welding with modern machines, but it is extremely versatile.

Wow never knew you can weld with oxy and propane. You seem to be right it is becoming less and less popular. My dad brazes all the time for work and it does have it's advantages. For example my maxima had a hole in the oil pan and it was all rusty, nothing where a nice weld bead would stick so we brazed it. Was still holding up perfect when I sold it.


What about the strut tower area? I can see the back panels just getting tacked because it not to structural. Also what settings should i use.

As long as you use the same the thickness metal as stock (or thicker) and you get full penetration it will be fine.
Settings will all depend on your welder. Open the side door and there should be a chart telling you general settings. These get you in the area but are not exact.

One of the best invenstments I've made besides my welder is a micrometer. I didn't spend a lot and get a mitsutoyo because I'm not a professional machinist and don't need one, but something to get me in the area I need to be helps.

I bought this one, 150 mm 6" Digital CALIPER VERNIER GAUGE MICROMETER LCD | eBay
Best $10 I ever spent. Even with tig welding if I don't know how thick it is, I'll measure it and say oh it's .0050, I'll set my machine around 50amps.
 
Propane works well for cooler applications like aluminum. There is also Oxy/Gasoline, which is very effective for cutting extremely thick steel. It can blast through 6" thick plate if you needed to. Many of the planes in WW2 had much of the fuselage welded with gas, due to availability. I just like having one set up that will work on everything without having to make any changes, other than maybe a tip for a certain application. I also like being able to see what I am doing prior to actually hitting the metal with the flame, unlike arc welding where you can't see crap until you strike an arc and hold it.

The only disadvantages I usually notice are the speed at which you can work, and localized heat. A torch heats up the whole piece, so you can't do things like weld on the interior of a car like you can with a TIG that has the cooling gas envelope there, keeping the heat relatively localized. I would set the seats on fire, where as you can be relatively close to stuff like that with a TIG and be just fine.
 
As long as you use the same the thickness metal as stock (or thicker) and you get full penetration it will be fine.
Settings will all depend on your welder. Open the side door and there should be a chart telling you general settings. These get you in the area but are not exact.
Even with tig welding if I don't know how thick it is, I'll measure it and say oh it's .0050, I'll set my machine around 50amps.

Well i opened up the door on my welder and there wasnt anything there. Now one the front of it it has a chart heres pictures of the front. Also you said if the thickness is 0.050 you use 50 amp. Does that go for every thickness... as in metal = x thickness = x amps you use with it? Well here are pictures...
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Mig is more about voltage from my limited knowledge, Paul would be better to answer those questions. Also flux burns hotter, and I think your welder is flux only. Try the lowest setting, min1 and around 2.5 wire speed. And play with the speed from there. Being that it's so thin I don't think you are going to get a long bead at all without burning through. It's always easier to practice on thicker material first.

Also the wire that comes with those harbor freight welders suck. Go to home depot and get the same size and flux wire and Lincoln brand it will be much better.
 
Yea i have planned on getting better wire and am only using the hf spool that came with it for pratice. So far i havent done anything real thin. It all been thicker metal stock like that lamp i posted on the welding projects thread. So home depot or lowes for wire. There is also a haun welding store in town too. Would i be better off going there and checking out what they got? Also my little hf wire feed is suposed to be able to also use gas and not the flux wire but am highly unsure of using gas yet. Just thought i would mention that. Think i will pick up some metal stock tomorrow after work and see what i can build LOL. Maybe a coat rack for the house since i already made a lamp haha.
 
Using gas and loosing the flux core will make all the difference with a little mig like that. If you can afford it and plan on using it, I highly recommend converting.
 
Well i plan i using gas here in the near future. Went to lowes and home depot like gamble sugjested and i picked up some Lincoln wire to use now. Along with the wire i also picked up so metal so i can build a coat "tree" stand and get more practice. I will post pictures up under the welding project thread. I also went to the local haun welding store just to look around and talk to the guys there. I also found out that they offer classes too. So i think im going to take the beginners class and hopefuly get in for the june session. Due to them only having one spot left. The class is made up of only 6 students and one teacher. If i cant get into that class i will have to wait til august for their next session. Then the advanced class that goes over tig and aluminum is held only twice a year and ill try and get in on that one as well. Here is a picture of the sheet i got breifly telling about what will be covere in the classes.
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whats a good starter welder Id be able to do aluminum and stainless with that I can start looking on craigslist for? I have a shitty one right now a wire feeder style/ its good for exhausts and stuff deff not manifolds or anything special.
 
whats a good starter welder Id be able to do aluminum and stainless with that I can start looking on craigslist for? I have a shitty one right now a wire feeder style/ its good for exhausts and stuff deff not manifolds or anything special.
Best priced entry level name-brand AC/DC welder is probably the Miller Diversion 180. Although, for entry level, you could very well consider one of the better Chinese welders for half the price of the Miller. Something like an Everlast 185 or an Eastwood 200. I plan to pick up an Eastwood later on this year to do aluminum with.
 
Ok, so I don't know much of shit about what type of socket these plug into, but do the smaller Hobarts like the 140 and 180 plug into a typical house socket? Like a 110 or are they 220s? Sorry, I don't know a whole lot about welders, and I kind of want to pick a small one up when I get back from this deployment just for messing around. Took welding in high school and enjoyed it.
 
Anything 140 or small is a regular 110v. Anything larger is going to be a 220v (as far as mig goes)
 
Well i got some lincon wire and agree its much better than the hf stuff... tried it out when i made that coat rack i mentioned befofe. Thanks for the advice gamble. Now one the strut tower how much would you want to cut off of the doner car and the recipient car to do the replacing and welding?
 
Follow obvious sheet seams, and give yourself some extra on the cut from the donor. That makes lining things up a bit easier. You still have to square it off with the other strut tower and forward orientation, but those seams will help make the process a lot quicker.

I gave in and got a Lincoln 180 with gas shielding... It is so much easier to use, it seems like cheating. You don't really have to know much of anything to make good welds with a gas shielded MIG. The gas shielding makes a HUGE difference. I have never had an easier time welding sheet metal than with this machine. Totally worth it.
 
I still weld the old school way... Oxy/Acetylene or Oxy/Propane with an old gas handle and assortment of tips, plus a cutting torch. It is slower, but it'll weld anything... No need to specialize. Plus, if you have to join different metals and can get good, clean, close fit, brazing is available too (Dont discount brazing, marine nuclear piping is often brazed). It is a little harder to get the hang of initially, but once you know how to set it, it is similar to TIG. I also just don't have the cash for a decent TIG machine, and gas equipment is much cheaper initially, and filler and flux are easy to come by.

Any other gas welders? It seems to be becoming less and less common as a primary means of welding with modern machines, but it is extremely versatile.

Torch welding is fun. I actually like welding that way other than it really warps thin metal.
 
Im so happy i just bought my first welder and plan on doing a lot of work on my car its a miller syncowave 180 and it welds aluminum, i can't wait to start working on my baby
 
Hey Guys, on the subject of Auto-Darkening subjecting you to being flashed, I just bought a new hood, and would like to give my honest opinion, I bought a Speedglas 9100X, and it's got what's called a "comfort control" You can set it up so once you strike, it'll darken to your preferred shade, and when you stop (say your doing multiple tack welds) It will lighten up to a lighter shade for up to 1 min 30 sec. before completely coming back to full Vis.
 
I have a cheap $30 eBay special auto darkening helmet as well as a Lincoln Viking, and there's no comparision. I didn't realize how poorly the cheap one performed until I finally bought something nice. I can plasma cut and MIG weld with the cheap helmet, but it's not pleasent and I definitely cant TIG weld with it. My eyes appreciate my Lincoln helmet for all processes.
 
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Quick question for you experienced welders. I need to weld on my car, do I need to disconnect all my sensors, ecu and tcu from my harness before I weld a radiator bracket on my core support? Or is there more or less needed in order to not ruin anything? Thanks in advance. :thumb:
 
Personally, I just disconnect the battery and make sure I'm not welding near any electronic components. Some of that stuff can be sensitive and I don't want to take a chance.
 
Personally, I just disconnect the battery and make sure I'm not welding near any electronic components. Some of that stuff can be sensitive and I don't want to take a chance.

WOW Ok, I assumed the whole electronic system on any car would be much more sensitive than that, considering you will be grounded on the frame/unibody. How much have you welded on your car with everything installed, minus the battery hooked up? Sorry I'm just really nervous about this the first time. The only thing that will be relatively close to the core support will be the harness (which I will pull away), the auto tranny and the alternator about 1' away.
 
I agree with pneumo, just disconnect the battery.

It's worth noting that you can most usually weld on a car with the battery hooked up and never have an issue. Disconnecting the battery is just something you do to eliminate the slim chance that something bad might happen. But it is worth doing every time just to be safe.
 
Electricity takes the least path of resistance. Which is 99.9% of the time going to be as straight of a line as possible though the chaise to the welders ground.
 
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Electricity takes the least path of resistance. Which is 99.9% of the time going to be as straight of a line as possible though the chaise to the welders ground.
:thumb:
That's why you ground as close as possible to what your working on, on a car.

Do you think muffler shops take the time to disconnect a battery? No way.
 
Thanks all you guys for the quick answer to my question. I can't wait to get my new radiator mounts welded on my car and get it running again! I know this is a thread about pics but I just got my first tig welder and have no training or experience so I won't be posting any pics of my crappy welds anytime soon but might be back with more questions about amperage and techniques. Thanks again for the info though! :thumb:
 
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