Too Much Bondo? First time doing body work (56K= Death)

[jaykay]

i think you've made a mistake or your being robbed.what is the vehicle???

 

[Karateboy]

1195 240sx.

Dealer price is $600 per rocker panel (sill). The junk yard I called wanted 500 for both.

I'll keep looking but..

I think..

I am going to get my first welder tomorrow!

Miller Millermatic 140 with Auto Set

I am going to start out with some practice welds and hopefully in a few days i'll feel comfortable trying to weld on a new rocker panel.

Any advice on how to mold the metal **** if I cut the whole thing in half? Should I just take the whole thing out?

If so, can someone explain to me what plug welding is? I read the tutorial but I am not sure if you create the weld pool from the drilled piece or from the whole piece.

 

[zardoz]

Any Miller is a good machine to use, so you should be ok there. Plug welding is where you get two sheets of metal, drill through the top layer of metal, then whilst clamping the two together, fill the hole of the top piece in with molten wire from the MIG. Its a sort of spot weld(resistance weld), and many use it as an alternative to spot welding.

 

[Karateboy]

I got the Millermatic 140 with a Miller Pro Hobby Auto Darkening Helmet.

WOW

This is high quality stuff. With this equipment, the metal practically welds itself. Within an hour, I was made decent beads.

For me, in order of difficulty, it seems like

Plug welds < seam welds (I'm practicing the weaving motion) < stitch welds

My two biggest problem are:

1) Finding a stable position so when I'm (stitch) welding I come down on the same plane
2) Figuring out when the weld pool is deep enough that it has full penetration

Any advice? I'm thinking just more practice and memorization

Even on maximum settings, while welding on 16 gauge steel, I found it very easy not to punch through the metal

 

[Karateboy]

Continued at http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=12570

 

[pedrobedro]

Measure the curved part of the sill with a flexible tape and include the lip on the bottom, cut your metal and fold the lip onto it then clamp it to the existing lip with your Mole grips and bend it round the sill with your hands. If you are using 18g or 20g it will cut and bend easily enough. Take it back off and cut out and clean up the hole then put your new piece back on and weld it. When you put your filler on use 40 grit production paper to rip it down then fill it again with a thin skim. You can temporarily fit it with pop rivets or Clecos then weld up the holes these leave.

 

[Karateboy]

Measure the curved part of the sill with a flexible tape and include the lip on the bottom, cut your metal and fold the lip onto it then clamp it to the existing lip with your Mole grips and bend it round the sill with your hands. If you are using 18g or 20g it will cut and bend easily enough. Take it back off and cut out and clean up the hole then put your new piece back on and weld it. When you put your filler on use 40 grit production paper to rip it down then fill it again with a thin skim. You can temporarily fit it with pop rivets or Clecos then weld up the holes these leave.

Hopefully I can post progress pics by Sunday

 

[dabrewer]

i saw a nice little clark gas/gassless with wire feed,and nice hood at ace hardware for $4oo.just plug in and weld.i build fiberglass boats for living,and have gooped up many cars for sticker but its temp fix even with epoxys.i have also had $8000 paint job bubble from bondo /mosture 3 days of fog is all it took. boat was in boat shop started bubbling as soon as it hit the sun. have you looked into car loan?

 

[zardoz]

Oh i forgot to mention that its sometimes best to make a paper/card template first, that you can get the size and basic shape from.

click here

 

[Karateboy]

Oh i forgot to mention that its sometimes best to make a paper/card template first, that you can get the size and basic shape from.

click here

thanks

I tried to shape a piece of metal for the driver side wheel well and no luck. The curve was either to small or the metal wasn't malleable enough.

Should I just cut it out, weld in a straight piece of metal, hammer it out a pit, and bondo the rest?

Reference pic:

http://i42.tinypic.com/105ad7b.jpg

Any more tips? For a piece this small would a body hammer help much?