Looks like a blow torch!

[SUZUKI ROCKS]

Did my first bit of welding on the car yesterday with mixed results.

On the posative side, there is now a piece of metal in the floor pan where a hole used to be But, it looks very untidy and i blew a few small holes along one edge

This is very frustrating as when practicing on lose bits of metal i can get it really neat and consistant. The angle and cramped space i have to work in(under car) does not help but i think that the main problem is that i didnt clean the old metal enough!

One of the things that happened on the car that didnt when practicing was that the torch seemed to act like a blow torch! Infact it was at the first pull of the triger, a blue flame shot out and burned a hole

Is this a common problem?(for people crap at welding!), Did the dirty?rusty metal cause this?

Any help you can give me would be much apreciated. Also, is there some kind of spray to help prep the metal that might help me out?

Thanks guys

 

[Sparkey]

I think it has something to do with bad earthing.... did you put your earth clamp as close as you could to the spot you wanted to weld?

 

[SUZUKI ROCKS]

ahhhhh, That makes sense.

There wasnt anywhere to put the clamp under the car close to the work so i had to clamp it inside the car. I would say about12-15 inches away from the work, maybe a bit more. Also i didnt scratch the metal where the clamp went!

Any sujestions on earthing when working under the car which is pretty flat. The closest thing to clamp to would have been the anti-roll bar but at its closest point its in a rubber bush! Would it be a bad idea to hold the earth clamp against the metal with one hand whilst welding with the other

Thanks again

 

[Wozzaaah]

Quite often you can secure the clamp to the door striker plate.
Rule of thumb, attach the clamp to the item you're welding so if you're welding the shell then anywhere on the shell, not on an ancillary part as you're assuming that there's a good connection between that and the body which may not be the case.
Regarding holding the clamp against the metal, no, it's not ideal, it takes up your spare hand for one thing and even slight movement on the clamp will cause more grounding issues and more crap welds.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

if you're stuck for an earthing point then you could try welding a temporary point, such as a bolt, onto the new bit of metal, attach the earth lead to that, weld the metal into the car and then grind off the bolt.

You'd strike the arc on the new metal and let the weld flow onto the car and from that point on it'd be the same as earthing the car to weld.

Regards
Peter

 

[SUZUKI ROCKS]

Thanks for all the advice.

Thinks i'll give your idea a try peterd51.

Thanks again