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mike 109444
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Only 60, must be a quite new car 
Welds look ok, maybe a bit black but that could be the camera/angle.
Does not look like you have blown through at all. What thickness is that sheet ?
you could try a local car body repair place to see if they have a duff wing that you can then find an area which has some rust on the rear and cut out a section, make a new piece and clean up panel. Weld in the new to see how you cope on some less than perfect metal. Try with the panels at some odd angle (vertical welding maybe)
And get away from the disposables
Welds look ok, maybe a bit black but that could be the camera/angle.
Does not look like you have blown through at all. What thickness is that sheet ?
you could try a local car body repair place to see if they have a duff wing that you can then find an area which has some rust on the rear and cut out a section, make a new piece and clean up panel. Weld in the new to see how you cope on some less than perfect metal. Try with the panels at some odd angle (vertical welding maybe)
And get away from the disposables
Only 60, must be a quite new car
Welds look ok, maybe a bit black but that could be the camera/angle.
Does not look like you have blown through at all. What thickness is that sheet ?
you could try a local car body repair place to see if they have a duff wing that you can then find an area which has some rust on the rear and cut out a section, make a new piece and clean up panel. Weld in the new to see how you cope on some less than perfect metal. Try with the panels at some odd angle (vertical welding maybe)
And get away from the disposables
This sheet isn't too thin actually, 0.9mm. I also tried on a piece of 0.5mm panel I cut off my 2CV, I did blow through sometimes, but generally OK. You made a very good point to use old panels. I'll do it when I get a big bottle
Thanks for the tips.I'm looking around and seems the *removed for legal reasons* one is the cheapest I can find so far:
http://www.*removed for legal reasons*.co.uk/argon-5-10-litre.html
or
the smaller one: http://www.*removed for legal reasons*.co.uk/argon-5-5-litre.html
Is *removed for legal reasons* any good?
mike 109444
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Can't say I have heard of them. Make sure of what fitting there bottles of Ar/CO2 mix has BEFORE you get your regulator. Some seam to use the same fitting as a pub CO2 bottle (male on bottle and female on reg). BOC have female on bottle and male on reg as well as some of the smaller gas suppliers of the mix
mike 109444
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Don't forget there is always the copper backing method when butt welding
Cheers Mike.
marlinspike
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Cheapest deal for the home welder with quite a bit to weld is usually the Boc Argoshield lite deal, known as the 'Volkszone' deal because it was originally a deal offered via the VW mag. There is a big threading it in the Gas forum. As far as I know this deal is still going, though you need to contact head office of Boc to get it set up.
We are on our third Y size bottle on our car resto - it is amazing how quickly you get through gas. The disposables are not worth bothering with imo as you get very little done before it runs out.
I bought a piece of 5mm thick copper on eBay for about £4 which has been very helpful as a heat sink. You can also quench the weld with a damp rag.
We are on our third Y size bottle on our car resto - it is amazing how quickly you get through gas. The disposables are not worth bothering with imo as you get very little done before it runs out.
I bought a piece of 5mm thick copper on eBay for about £4 which has been very helpful as a heat sink. You can also quench the weld with a damp rag.
Thanks. According to T0rnado69 the BOC deal for hobby welders is
Argoshield Light 20L Y size
gas refill £33.38
yearly rental £47.34
This works out about 80 quid a year, assuming I don't need to refill within one year.
The *removed for legal reasons* one (20L) is 60 quid plus fully refundable deposit so it's £20 cheaper for light DIY user like me. Anyway I'm just guessing I will not need too much gas to do the sill/floor/bulkhead replacing of my 2CV...still thinking anyway.
Also thanks for the copper tips, I'll get one from eBay
marlinspike
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I thought we would be light users too lol - so far we have done two wheel arches, boot, a bit on the inside floor pan, one sill, front slam panel - but we are on our third 20l bottle. I agree though, start with the *removed for legal reasons* deal and see how much you are using. You can always switch when you need a new bottle if you find you are getting through a lot.
Swift&Bold
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The BOC bottles are also charged to 230 bar rather than 200.
Shipping charges for delivering and returning the cylinders possibly. I had a quick look on their site but the link to delivery charges returned a 404 error. I'd guess it's £15 each way.
Now depending on how you're fixed geographically, that might be fine. However, if you have an Adams/SGS/other rental free gas company agent within a short drive, it makes them worth thinking about even if the deposit is a bit more and the refills are more. Apart from the maybe £30 on top for sending bottles across the country there's probably less hassle in driving a few miles to the agent.
You really have to look at all aspects of these rent free deals, some have a straightforward deposit, some have a declining deposit so after maybe two years you won't get any of the deposit back. Some have a right to use the cylinder for some years, with some you buy the cylinder and in one case a shipping case for it. Some have agents all over the country, others don't. They fill to different pressures. Some include a regulator with the cylinder. They fill to different pressures.
The Vollzone deal is probably the best if you use a couple of 20L cylinders a year or more and you are confident you are going to do that most of the time.
Just about any rent free deal has to be better than disposable cylinders even if you don't do much welding in a year.
Cheers mate I also realised *removed for legal reasons* isn't very convenient for me coz they are too far away. Their shipping is £12 to order and £10 to return empty bottle plus VAT. With these costs taken into account the prices aren't very much competitive actually. I don't have a long term plan of doing welding and I guess 20L bottle should be OK for me to finish my 2CV project (replacing sills floor pans and bits here and there), and for some panel welding my colleague can lend me a spot welder so the volkzone deal may not be the best choice either. So I reckon SGS is the one to go , they have quite a few distributors within a few miles from my home.
Yes there's all sorts of stuff to take into consideration with gas suppliersand you need to read the small print, although they're usually quite open about what their deal is.
Don't forget that SGS offer forum members a cash discount on their first bottle, which I think is £10 for a 10L and £20 for a 20L, which is nice. The details are on the thread in the shielding gas section. Basically you send him a PM and a copy of your receipt in the post and take it from there.
Get yourself a peashooter flow gauge to make sure your gas flow isn't too high and wasteful.
http://www.weldequip.com/gas-flow-tester.htm
Between £5 and £10, depending where you buy them, but worth every penny. 10lpm is reckoned to be right for MIG but you can sometimes tune it down if you are out of drafts. Better than listening to the torch or dipping it in a jam jar full of water and guessing.
Dantheweld
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i was in the same position as you, i thought i could run a good weld, i first ran a seam on new metal 1.2mm then i butt welded 2 pieces.. tick! then i plug welded... tick! then i thought about the welding i actually need to do on the car, and some of it is lap welding, new metal to thin old stuff. I had a bit of sill that i had cut out of the car, but was in decent shape, so i got a new piece and i started practicing lap welding on the bench and i started blowing holes 
Confidence went from 8/10 to about 5.
Get as much practice on as many different types of welds that you can before you start anything on the car.
Confidence went from 8/10 to about 5.Get as much practice on as many different types of welds that you can before you start anything on the car.
i was in the same position as you, i thought i could run a good weld, i first ran a seam on new metal 1.2mm then i butt welded 2 pieces.. tick! then i plug welded... tick! then i thought about the welding i actually need to do on the car, and some of it is lap welding, new metal to thin old stuff. I had a bit of sill that i had cut out of the car, but was in decent shape, so i got a new piece and i started practicing lap welding on the bench and i started blowing holes
Get as much practice on as many different types of welds that you can before you start anything on the car.
That's true...I've started my project. It's painfully slow, due to blowing through, over grinding, more rust found......so far two sills welded in, C post repaired, bits here and there. Bulkhead tomorrow, 0.5mm metal...fingers crossed.
BTW I've got a bottle of SGS 20L argon CO2 mix, it's a LOT better now. I should have done this from beginning. The 30quid worth of disposable gas was worthless, total waste of money.
