New to welding need advice to weld car pannels

[bertie 12]

Hi all
I have no experience with mig welding I thought I would get some practice in before the spring but the recent weather has taken care of that therefore I thought this forum may be a good place to start.
I bought a campervan last year (with a years M.O.T.) I knew it needed some welding on the inner wings as it was on the advisories I would also like to replace the front wings and arches at some point.
I have since bought a new Sealey Mightymig 150 gas/gasless. I did some stick welding years ago and I know I will have to practice on the mig.
The information I am looking for is what gauge and type of wire should I use, what power settings should I use the settings are Hi Low 1&2 Low 1=50 amps
Low 2=75 amps
High 1=105 amps
High 2=150 amps
I am wondering should I go gas or gasless and what wire speed should I use I know I will have to adjust this as I go to suit what I am doing but I would like to have an idea of where to start with this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
John

 

[cumbriasteve]

If the lowest setting is 50 amps (surprised it's that high and fairly sure it's 30amps) you will have some fun welding car panel work, it's possible but not an easy task.

0.6 wire and gas is the way to go..

Get some scrap, clean it up well and just get used to the machine, start with some 2mm then less once you are producing decent runs

 

[GordonC]

Im no expert by any means mate but I would advise 0.6 wire on setting number 1 and you will need gas as its a nightmare if you try and weld cars with gasless wire because it gets too hot. As for wire speed try about 4-5 practicing on scrap metal the same thickness of the car panel and see how it goes

 

[ben8vgte]

I'd go for 0.8mm wire, seems to feed better with smaller migs. It's what I use for in mine car body stuff, I seem to remember a few years ago I did in my old mig set as well.

Just get a little 0.7kg spool of each and a bottle of gas and have a play first..

 

[Tman]

Start by saying welcome to the joys of car body work, burn through, warpage, and the ever popular 2 inch pach that grows to a foot before your eyes. Personally if I were to use a mig I would use 0.6 wire, lowest power on machine wire speed at lowest setting. Start on scrap and slowly increase wire speed until you just say get the sizzling sound. Try watching some vids on you tube for technique thin car body's ain't easy and will need to be stop start to minimise heat and burn through. But then again I would just gas weld it lot easier.
Ps practice and check penetration on as much scrap as you can before jumping in,

 

[lud]

Thanks guys you answered my questions in previous thread. MOT time creeping up here too..

 

[bertie 12]

Hi Guys
I would just like to thank everyone for their help and advice now all I need is some decent weather to practice.