Tired of all the slag.....

[miketyler]

Hello all

I'm Mike from Cedar Hill TX and I want to learn to weld. I am a master tinkerer, handyman extrordinaire, and all-around good guy. I restore old cars, antique jukeboxes, etc and have yet to master the fine art of welding. I can always "get by" but my work is never pretty, and most assuredly will require lots of grinding after the fact.

In my arsenal of weaponry I have a 110v SIP HandyMIG 80 and a 220v Century 160. The HandyMIG is gasless. I have quite a bit of metal work ahead of me on my current project. It would really help to improve my welding skills as I will be replacing some floor pans and a trunk floor in an old 1970 Mustang.

The trunk floor is first, I have removed the old floor and have the new part fitted and prepped. Most all of it will plug weld in place. the repop panel is made of a cheap metal and is about .035 thick and is very soft. I have made sure all attaching surfaces are ground clean and shiny. The attaching structiure will be the same thickness or thicker than the floor.

I really want this to look nice. I plan to use the Century welder on this with gas. Thoughts on machine settings, wire type, weld thru primer? I have some .024 wire that looks like copper loaded in it right now. Appreciate any advice you guys might offer.

Great site!

 

[Alfaman]

Hi Mike,

I'd check out the excellent tutorial video on the home page first off, good luck and welcome to the forum

 

[shenion]

Those plug welds look a bit small. Should be 5/16 or so.

The century will work fine. Get some 75/25 argon/CO2 gas (often called C25). That is what the 0.024 wire needs. You can go with straight CO2 for a bit cheaper, but buying the bottle will be the biggest cost anyway (don't let them do a "contract" for rental.)

Play with the settings, my guess would be power level about the second mark and wire speed around 4. Look through the tutorials here for good tips on setting up and wire speed.

Welcome to the forums

 

[miketyler]

Thanks for the responses, will ck em out. You are right, my holes are only 1/4, will get out the unibit and open them up.

My gas is indeed 75/25. Is that copper colored wire ok for what I am doing?

 

[shenion]

ER70S-6 is the most common. The 0.02x is best for thin metal.

WeldIt (Hobart) is a good brand. The Lincoln SupraMIG L-56 (also ER70S-6) is good also (available at HomerD.)

The small holes make it difficult, by the time you fill the hole. the base metal has not gotten hot enough for full fusion. Use a higher-power setting that you would use just welding sheets together. Practice on some scrap and try and break them apart. A larger hole is easier.

 

[miketyler]

Great - you know I really like the HandyMIG. Bought it at a flea market for $50. I did have to replace the torch and feed tube. I noticed on the old one it had a fitting 90* at the welder end so I guess it could have been converted to gas? The replacement hose does not. Bummer. For a 110 welder it sure is convenient, more so than the Century.

 

[BChild]

Is that copper colored wire ok for what I am doing?

It's only a very thin coating to slow down oxidisation (rusting)

It's steel really