floatinghead
New Member
- Messages
- 6
- Location
- US: Portland, OR
Hi there,
I'm getting ready to do a rust repair on an old bmw 320i and was planning on using 18 gauge on the frame rail patch. I was practicing with some 18 ga sheet and don't seem to be able to get proper penetration with my tack welds. I could run a bead and it would heat up the metal nice, but would then warp the piece. I am butt welding the test piece with no gap and also tried using a bit of a gap as well, but it didn't really help. When I do test spot welds they are all very tall and even though i turned up the settings, i can't seem to get it to flatten out. I've welded 16ga with less issues in the past and 1/8" using fluxcore as well.
my setup:
Lotos Mig140 110v unit
75/25 argon/co2 at ~15 cfm
.025" lincoln wire
50 ft 12ga extension cord on 20amp circut.
Tried short stickout and direct down into the seam. no angle, i guess
Would bumping up to .030" wire help with penetration or not?
Is my extension cord causing too much voltage drop to get the penetration?
Tried a variety of wirespeed settings up and down and didn't feel like it did much or it was too out of range to function. I wasn't super methodical about this part. I really don't want to grind that much out and i'll only be able to access the front side of the panel.
thanks!
Baron
I'm getting ready to do a rust repair on an old bmw 320i and was planning on using 18 gauge on the frame rail patch. I was practicing with some 18 ga sheet and don't seem to be able to get proper penetration with my tack welds. I could run a bead and it would heat up the metal nice, but would then warp the piece. I am butt welding the test piece with no gap and also tried using a bit of a gap as well, but it didn't really help. When I do test spot welds they are all very tall and even though i turned up the settings, i can't seem to get it to flatten out. I've welded 16ga with less issues in the past and 1/8" using fluxcore as well.
my setup:
Lotos Mig140 110v unit
75/25 argon/co2 at ~15 cfm
.025" lincoln wire
50 ft 12ga extension cord on 20amp circut.
Tried short stickout and direct down into the seam. no angle, i guess
Would bumping up to .030" wire help with penetration or not?
Is my extension cord causing too much voltage drop to get the penetration?
Tried a variety of wirespeed settings up and down and didn't feel like it did much or it was too out of range to function. I wasn't super methodical about this part. I really don't want to grind that much out and i'll only be able to access the front side of the panel.
thanks!
Baron