MIG for vintage car restoration?

the snooper · Apr 13, 2015

make yourself some of these butt welding clamps they will make life much easier letting pieces of steel in

norlander · Apr 14, 2015

On the air gun, you weld a bit then blow over the work with the air gun, it's two separate processes. So just do your short weld then go over with the air gun.

scourtaud · Apr 14, 2015

the snooper said:
make yourself some of these butt welding clamps they will make life much easier letting pieces of steel in

View attachment 63491

Its already a plan, I've got a tutorial from a VW forum on how to make them easily. I'm juste now wondering if it would be usefull tu put copper as the backing piece to soak up some heat in the process.

norlander said:
On the air gun, you weld a bit then blow over the work with the air gun, it's two separate processes. So just do your short weld then go over with the air gun.

Thank for that, reading you I realised it had to be otherwise the Gaz would be blown away.

zzr1200 · Apr 15, 2015

scourtaud said:
View attachment 63205

You will get plenty of practice of chassis welding on the Classic Range Rover in the back ground

scourtaud · Apr 15, 2015

zzr1200 said:
You will get plenty of practice of chassis welding on the Classic Range Rover in the back ground

I'm quite happy to say this is not my project but my brother's project... If needed I'll give it a try but the future of this RR is not yet defined (my brother already did a convertible classic).

zzr1200 · Apr 15, 2015

scourtaud said:
I'm quite happy to say this is not my project but my brother's project... If needed I'll give it a try but the future of this RR is not yet defined (my brother already did a convertible classic).

No RRC should be scrapped, rebuild it.

I would love a 2 door classic with vinyl seats, I would prefer it to be a mustard coloured one with matching seats....

scourtaud · Apr 15, 2015

zzr1200 said:
No RRC should be scrapped, rebuild it.

I would love a 2 door classic with vinyl seats, I would prefer it to be a mustard coloured one with matching seats....

Don't worry, there will be no scrapping of this RR, it will see the road again, the question is how : convertible, off road or fully stock. My brother hasn't decided but he still ordered all the parts to fix the front end and door sills.

scourtaud · Apr 16, 2015

I haven't done any welding this week yet because I've used the nice weather to make progress on the paint removal which is done outside. Yesterday I went to order some steel in 1.0 and 1.5 mm and discovered there are many steel qualities and ratings.

Do I care for bodywork?
What would be the good one for bodywork?

I bought what translates to black steel, laminated cold, stripped (as in removed something), it wasn't very cheap at around 160€ for 2x1m of each thickness so I hope its ok and will partly be used for my practice anyway.

Wendelspanswick · Apr 16, 2015

Ouch! I paid £18 for a 2m x1m x 1mm sheet of cold rolled a couple of months back.

scourtaud · Apr 16, 2015

So I got a bad deal... I couldn't find anyplace that was cheaper with the same product... I do believe there might be swiss taxes on those product that come over the true price...

scourtaud · Apr 16, 2015

Another day, a little more welding. I switched to 0.8 wire to see the difference and felt a little better with it so I decided to try out my new tool (to prepare for plug welding) and do my first plug weld. Having prepared a little more steel, I decided to to two edge welds with tacks before hand.

Its still not great but it holds quite well. I want to try to do the same with 0.6 wire next to see de diffrence but had to give up for the day so it'll have to wait

I however found out a small flay with the GYS smartmig 162 I bought, the wire speed control is very sensitive to movement and the torch lead brushing against it will massively change the wire speed.

Any remarks are as always welcome...

scourtaud · Apr 17, 2015

So I got some steel...

I cut it down the sheets in managable pieces and cut some practice pieces...

I did a quick test on those, its better, I've managed nicer welds easier, I'll take pictures tomorrow.

I was watching mig welding videos on youtube and one of them talked a lot about "stick out" the the fact that the tip should be almost flush with the nozzle. Mine is recessed about 5 or 6mm. Is this ok or should I do something about it? (cut the nozzle I guess)

More welding to come soon since the weather prevents me from stripping paint from the car

norlander · Apr 17, 2015

Thanks for posting that you found the wire speed control being moved accidentally. I was going to post that it never happens to me-of course,today it did :laughing:

.
Circumstances were exceptional -I knocked it with the flex,from a grinder -Don'the see how you are knocking it with the torch lead?.

norlander · Apr 17, 2015

I forgot, I cut one of my torch nozzles down, you can see better,don't think it affected the gas coverage, you will see the puddle better,and this may fool you into turning the power down.

scourtaud · Apr 17, 2015

Sorry it happened to you, It usually a simple movement, wether its the torch or the ground cable, when I move one or the other since I'm working on a bench, they sometime loop and voila... wire speed setting changed... I think I'll cut a piece of lexan to protect the front in the near future, otherwise its gonna annoy me greatly.

Should I cut mine down or leave it as is since for now, I have no habit of it yet? I'm really mostly going to do thin sheet bodywork.

norlander · Apr 18, 2015

When you get a spare one, cut it down and compare it with a full shroud,putting a turn of masking tape around the shroud can help you get an even cut.

On the thin sheet work, yesterday I was reminded of something I saw or read on the Miller site. and that was pushing the gun puts in less heat than if you pull the gun.
I tried it and it seems to be true.
So maybe you can try a run on your practice steel, one pushing, and one pulling, use two seperate test pieces so both are cold to start with.
Then have a go pulling then pushing the torch on a run when the workpiece has heat in it.

scourtaud · Apr 19, 2015

I will get a spare one and give it a try, I did a little welding today, and even though my welds were not pretty to begin with, I've managed this once cleaned down (agressively I admit)

I need more practice but good steel and 0.6 wire seem to be the key for now. I also need to learn patience letting the steel cool down which isn't easy.

scourtaud · Apr 19, 2015

Another day, some more welding, and I deserve to be laughed at... I realised after a few welds that I never changed the tip... I was failing with 0.6 wire with an 0.8 tip... So I changed it and everything changed... I got better in an instant, I had better control, nicer welds, manageable penetration and only went through the 1mm sheet when I tried (not letting it cool down at all).

I practice with the sheet vertical since its more like what I'll be doing on my car and going up is still not great but going down goes ok and sideways is fine. My current practice sheet is still a mess but most of the welds (not all) were done after the tip change.

I need some more practice but today I liked welding... And I feel like I'll soon be able to start on the car... I've been through half my gas bottle (2.4m3) but that's a small price to pay for learning. I'm also going to ordre some more wire since I only bought a 10cm roll of 0.6 and 0.8, and now know I'll need more 0.6. I currently have son GYS wire (same shop as the welder), should I stay with that or is there a better brand.

norlander · Apr 19, 2015

I think a lot of the wire might be from the same manufacturer and its packaged according to brand, but I do not know that for certain. Lincoln wire is supposed to very good I believe-if you can get it. Your GYS will take 200mm(5kg) spools, if you go to a professional welding suppliers, rather than a general toolshop or DIY store, you might find the wire is better, and, it may even be a better price, I found that to be the case here.
I have used the GYS wire and it seems to be good, I just tried some GYS stainless steel wire in my Smartmig and that was good.

scourtaud · Apr 22, 2015

I thought I'd share some "progress", I've made my first cut on the car (left front bumper support) and my first welds but I'll need to remove the backing completely to make it whole again sur I just welded a little.