Second attempt on my van.....

[smoggyrich]

Ta very much!

I too did a lot of lurking on here, looking for inspiration, before I dived in.

 

[redwine300]

Nice work!!

 

[smoggyrich]

Cheers Red!

 

[Jan]

I've not read every post on this thread, but this is the way I'm going to add gasless to my gas only SIP MigMate 130

A pair each of these, these and these plus a short length of this will give me the facility to change polarity in a couple of seconds. All I need to do is drill 2 holes in the front of the machine to accommodate the female sockets, add a grommeted hole for the movable contactor lead and move 2 cables and the job's done in an hour or so. The Dinse type connectors cost a bit less than the £18 quoted as he's refunding some of the postage. Overall the total cost is less than £20. The only other necessary addition is a small bag of 0.9 or 1mm contact tips. In the short term I've drilled out a spare 0.6mm tip with one of the tiny drill bits in my Dremel type kit.

I doubt that I'll be doing much gasless welding, but it's always nice to have the option.

 

[Foeism]

Excellent work there Smoggy. Also noting you've probably saved a fortune in getting somone else to to do the work!

 

[smoggyrich]

Excellent work there Smoggy. Also noting you've probably saved a fortune in getting somone else to to do the work!

You're not wrong there mate.

Cheers.

 

[Bekker]

I've been out there again this morning . I had a poke about and decided to bite the bullet and cut out a bit more rot.

I cut a new plate to fit then tacked it in place.

Then i went round doing 4 or 5 tacks in a row allowing them to melt into each other then moving to a different area and doing the same until there was a full weld all the way around.

Here goes.......

I feel that i'm starting to get some where with it now and i'm much happier with the penetration i'm achieving now without blowing through.

What do you think?

(still using gasless by the way)

Hi!
Looks much better than my attempt today!
What size machine do you have?
What was your settings?
I have to save my van as well!
Needs a miracle, but I'm optimistic!
Cheers!

 

[Bekker]

Smoggy!
As you would have noticed I managed to post somewhere in the middle of everything. I've been welding with arc for sometime now.., even fixed my previous van's rust above its windscreen with an arc..., but that was purely due to laziness and time constraint....
I've used a MIG last when there was only stick men and women on TV.., long before black and white.
I do have a Magnum 265 Turbo Mig and I've kick started it last week managed to get my setting OK with practise runs. This morning though I got in under my van and only the first run went well.., the rest really bad!
I think I'll start a thread like you did..., amazing all the advice you got and I'm really impressed with your progress!
Cheers!

 

[Foeism]

Smoggy
Any more updates?

 

[smoggyrich]

Bit of an update.....

I have lined up the hinges and had a trial fit...





Then I've lifted the roof back up so I can get finished off underneath.

First of all I have finished off the rear corner...







I have had a go at straightening out any kinks along the gutter...



Then I have seam-sealed all of the joint under the gutter and in the bottom off the gutter.

Then I used some of this to paint inside the Air vent

 

[Foeism]

Excellent! It was pretty much down to this forum, and your thread, why I bought a mig welder! Why pay £40+ an hour, when you can sweat, cry, and get angry doing it yourself
Were all your parts from VW schofields?

 

[smoggyrich]

Yes mate. I think Schofields are always reliable.

 

[smoggyrich]

Etch Primer...




White High-Build Primer...



I'm going to flatten back then hopefully get some paint on this weekend.

 

[Cyrus]

I love this thread, I am pretty much in the position you were at the start of this thread. I have a rusty old t25 camper and a bunch of welding to do. I haven't picked up a welder in 17 years and then it was just some very rough replacement of floor pans on my first ever car (a mini)

I got a second hand clarke 135te and have started on the cab steps. I will post some pictures when my welds look less embarassing!

 

[Jan]

You drive an old VeeDub Camper and you're embarrassed about your welding? Oy veh ...

This is how you fix them things

Permanently!

 

[Cyrus]

how can you not love the super fugly fun buses? Even better than the fact that it is old is that the previous owner painted it with a roller. So it is not just full of rust but character and texture too

I have had all sorts of motors and this one is by far my favourite. I am unashamedly a T25 fan boy.

 

[smoggyrich]

Good luck Cyrus!!!

 

[smoggyrich]

PAINT.....


I have got the first coat of paint on. there are a couple of areas that will need attention before going ahead with more coats.

I could have tried filling and sanding the area on the roof and tried to get a good finish on the roof curve but this area will never be seen so I have just painted as it is.











Well it's Friday and I don't really fancy standing about watching it dry so I'm off to the pub.

 

[smoggyrich]

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together???


New Stainless Hinges and Large flange Stainless Rivets.





New edge seal fitted all the way around the roof (my thumbs are twatting now like!!!)





Roof bolted to hinges with M6 Stainless bolts. I made some square plates that have M6 tapped holes to bolt into through the roof. hopefully this will give a bit more support.

 

[smoggyrich]

Just been looking through this old thread. I haven’t picked up my welder since finishing the repair on the hinge side of the roof. I’ve just logged back on to get some inspiration.
The work I completed back then has held up very well but feel like I’m going to be a beginner again.
Just started to tackle the gutter on other side of the van.

Here goes....