Preparing car panels for welding

[cantfindausername]

Hi, reading a post on here yesterday gave me the idea to get a few panels from the scrappy to practice on.

So whats the best way to prepare the panel for welding? Where can you clamp on to?

Any tips or advice on this subject would be greatly apprecaited.

Thanks,
Ant

 

[malcolm]

Personally I wouldn't use car panels for practice - way too much work to clean them up. As for any other repair you'd need to remove paint from both sides with something like a strip and clean disc. That takes the paint off without thinning the metal. The area where you attach the earth clamp would also need to be cleaned.

 

[cantfindausername]

Just looked on ebay for a clean and strip disc and its like £45 from the US. I take it them things aint cheap!?

My main reason for wanting to practice on a car panel was to get as close to the real thing incase I need to do any repairs on a car for either myself or a mate. Just thinking out loud really. Atleast I know now that there is a lot of prep involved.

 

[malcolm]

Ooch. They aren't cheap but normally better than that. I paid about £4 each. Weldequip does them. Though for corners, sharp areas or rusty areas they don't last well. Great for getting paint off though.

Angle grinder disc is a good all rounder, but does take a gently touch to prevent thinning the metal. Or anything to get the metal shiny clean. The side you weld from is more important than the other side.

 

[cantfindausername]

£4... thats quite a bit cheaper. I'll check out halfords as well as I get trade there.

I think I know the things you're on about. They're like hard sponge (best I can explain)

Just googled while typing this actually and found a good link... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/paint-stripping.htm

 

[Chickenjohn]

How do I get a stock list from weldequip as he doesn't have a website??

 

[madkayaker]

He doesn't have a website yet pm what you need and he gets back pretty quick usually.

 

[Chickenjohn]

tA, sorry for the hijack! I just want to see what he sells initially.

 

[cantfindausername]

Yeah I agree. Weldequip, get a website up! I'll build it for you if you want. For a fee of course

 

[visor_down]

yer website would be great even if only a price list

 

[marknotgeorge]

Several members in the past (including me) have offered to sort him a website out in the past. But Mr W's standards are so high, and his range of products and services are so vast, that he hasn't the time to sort it out. I see his point, and he is only a pm away. Chances are he's got anything you can think of welding-wise, anyhow.