whats a good way to practice to get a feel for welding? I don't want to jump into welding on the car straight away.

how to weld patch panels on a rx7 body with minimal warping ?

any other tips/tricks that will be useful ?

 

Where in Melbourne are you I might be able to help you I am in Thomastown

 

Watch as many videos as you can and get an idea of how it's done - there's a TON of them out there. If you have a name brand welder there's prolly a video of someone using it. After that, I'd practice as much as I could with scrap metal. As with anything, the more you practice the better you'll get. It's definitely a skill, but with time and practice you'll learn to be proficient.

I'd also take a lesson from somebody near by that knows what they're doing!

 

im in Hoppers crossing

iv watched a few videos they make it look easy and they only teach you so much, but like you said I have to practice that's the only way you really learn.
ill pull it out the box and set it up tomorrow and I might go buy some square tubing or sheet metal and have a play around.

 

Did you get a MIG that uses gas? The flux core are junk...I have one and would not do body work with it.

 

Ya my buddy has one with gas, he tried the flux core wire and promptly took it back out and turned the gas back on

My buddy does welding for a living, the one thing i always hear him say is if it sounds like bacon is cooking, your doing good

 

Gas is the way to go. As already stated, watch videos and practice. My welding abilities are agricultural at best, I usually do some test welds on scraps of the same material and joint type to dial the machine and myself in before doing anything important.

 

If you're welding in panels, in my experience I like to do short welds or even spot welds depending on the panel. Make sure you space them out. Work on a different area every few welds to avoid uneven heating and make sure after a few welds to let it cool down. its not going to look pretty because you can't really run a full bead. But every few passes, grind down the lumps find the holes and fill them. I haven't done this on my Mazda but I have on a handful of cars and it turns out great once its all body worked and over with . If you have questions PM me, I went to school for welding and metal fab. and I use to work in a restoration shop doing that kinda stuff. Good Luck!

 

I have my Mig and Tig Certificate

First what welder do you have? and what gas are you running? CO2 or CO2 Ar Mix?

For light stuff like body panels I recomend mix. It burns cooler and doesn't warp as much. Straight CO2 is used for hotter welds that need deeper penetration. Make sure you are getting good gas flow 10-15, there should be no porosity, you will know what that is as soon as it happens to you.

Next what wire size do you have? I like using smaller wire for body panels. 025? sometimes 030 if I have it loaded but 025 would be safer for introduction.

Go to a Discount Steel place and ask them for "Coupons" which are pieces of metal of the gauge you will be welding. they will be the size of credit cards, maybe bigger maybe a little smaller but sometimes they have just scrap pieces they normally throw away but make great pieces to practice welding.

Depending on your welder you will have pre settings probably listed inside the cover of the welder. gas, wire size, gauge of metal, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE POLARITY RIGHT

Start with those. Depending on the welder (and most hobby welders are like this) you will have a power scale prob in the A,B,C,D range. Follow what the chart recommends.

It will also give you a wire speed setting, the wire speed setting is more of a guideline. This one I always see what they recommend and then fine tune it as I am welding. "Should sound like crackling bacon" is what my instructor repeated to us.

Get yourself a nice table so you can sit at a stool. Nothing worse then practicing on the floor of a garage. you will get uncomfortable and want to quit practicing.

On a scrap piece of metal run a weld bead on it from top to bottom. Make sure you have a slight push to the gun, not a pull. (Welding videos should explain what I mean)

Get the feel of it, turn down the wire speed, see what it does, turn up the wire speed see how it acts and then play with it from there. After you fill that whole side flip it over and start again.

There are all sorts of positions and types of welds (Butt weld, joint weld, vertical, horizontal) take a look at all of them and practice.

Welding is an art form, it is going to be frustrating at first but once you got the hang of it, possibilities are endless!!!

BTW, one more thing, for body panels you will be STITCH Welding. Look it up, watch some videos. Practice and then try it. Afterwards you will probably want a nice body hammer set as the body panels warp. They can often be "massaged" back into place

 

I was going to get the 100amp gasless. instead I got the 135amp that is gas and gasless wich is better as it welds more than just mild steel. iv read around the gasless make dirty welds with a lot more spatter wich has to been cleaned/grinded off. ill practice a bit without gas till I get comfortable using the machine.

 

i guess the flux core wire is good for welding around the house not on a car.

thanks for the tip.

 

Flux core is ok, but once you go gas you wont look back.

 

my welding skills will be worse its first time using one. it will be a while before i weld on the car i want to get as comfortable as i can using the MIG.

 

this is the welder i got WeldSkill 135 MIG Portable Welding Machine - Cigweld - Victor Technologies Asia Pacific - South Pacific and im not using any gas at the moment as i just got the machine.
porosity that's when you get holes in the weld from trapped gasses that's something you don't want.

ill have to go around looking for scrap metal, use to be a bit around the house now i cant find anything, its always the way lol.

iv only got wooden benches to work on, would that be alright or will the wood just burn?

the machine has a chart for settings for the thickness of metal your working with ill have to have a play around with it.

yea it wont be easy at first that's why welders get payed the big $$$ coz they know what there doing.

thanks for all the tips.

 

ill see how i go, ill practice first without the gas till im confident, then ill go buy a gas bottle and hope i don't blow me or the house up lol

 

first project, weld up a cart for the welder and tank. then there's a welding table. clamp ur ground to the table, then when what ur welding is put on the table it's grounded.

 

Yeah have a play with the flux-core. Its does the same job except not as pretty and a bit of spatter to clean up with the old flap disc. A lot of it will just knock off. No biggie. Gas is expensive, but after using flux-core for a bit and then going gas its magic. You can get disposable bottles and valve kit from bunnings ect for about $40 a bottle, but they dont last long.
And no you won't blow your self up. Its Inert Gas. Hence the IG in MIG. I forget what the M stands for, lol.

 

i was thinking about making a table and weld in a shelf underneath to store the welder, i just don't want it to turn out not level lol

 

yea after seeing a few videos on youtube of people using the gas the welds turn out a lot neater.
too easy i was wondering how well the spatter sticks. once i get the hang of it and ready to weld on the rx7 ill get gas for that. how long do they last roughly iv only got a few patches to weld in that i know of so far but there might be some more when i finish sanding down/inspecting the car.
that's good to know i don't want to start welding and end up like this bloke lol

 

Yup, I went gas about a year ago, and I just want to toss the 10# spool of flux core I have in the garbage. I suppose if I didn't care about how something looks or its structural integrity or if it was REALLY thick I could use flux core.


OP: just weld a lot all the time and learn by doing. The more you do the better you'll be.



I get my gas from Airgas for $37/bottle. I have a 40 bottle that cost me $80 from Airgas. I can do a car exhaust and some other chores on one fill of the 40. I've thought about getting an 80 but its awful big. The cool thing about Airgas's bottle exchange is if you upgrade to a larger bottle you're money from the first bottle is taken off of the new bottle. So if you want to switch from a 40 to an 80 it only costs the difference between the two sizes like $40 I think.

 

I want to learn pretty quick im sick of looking at a unpainted rx7. iv got one dint left to straighten out in the rear quarter and the rest is rust repair before I can put it in high build primer.

still haven't set it up yet haven't had time.

I think that airgas is a American company only. im in AUS. but that's not a bad deal to upgrade to a bigger bottle. you can hire bottles down here and get them filled up when they run out but I wont be getting one of them anytime soon. but I think ill do what WANKFACTOR mentioned and get a gas bottle from bunnings wich is a similar shop to home depot for you guys in America.

I might set it up and have a play around with it tomorrow.

 

just set it up and the wire feed motor isn't working.
iv got it connected on a extension cord and have tried pluggin it into the wall but doesn't change anything. the welder turns on but the motor will not work does anyone know what I should look for??

 

If its brand new and you don't hear the "can opener" sound at all; I'd take it back where I got it and ask for another one.

I used to weld under my house and a neighbor cat would mistake my MIG for the can opener and would run by every time I welded. hence the can opener sound.

 

i had the power switch on but didn't have the volts on lol I thought the wire feed motor would run from the power from the wall. its all fixed now.
I have to get a proper helmet the one handed one that came with the welder is useless for a beginner. or I could make one of these LOL.....


until it seen the sparks then it would have taken off pretty quick lol