| Boost_me |
Posted
Thursday, Apr 19th 8:51am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 193
Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i |
Hey all, I got the MIG off my Dad the other day and have een playing around a bit on a front fender I got from the wrecking yard, It had a bit of rust down the bottom, in the door side under the black (AND THAT HORRIBLE MUCKY PALE GREEN STONEGUARD THEY USE). So after I got all that off I had a bare metal surface to play with, It had about 3-4 small rust hole's (about the size of a 10 cent piece or a quarter for all you American's). I started the machine up and had my first 'shot' i suppose you could call it. And guess what?? I blew a great big hole in the panel...."Hhmmmm" I thought, "Maybe that's a bit too much juice", So I turned it down and continued......Now my aim is to fill these holes up with weld, and then grind and file them back...... I filled the 2 biggest holes(they where also the ones in the middle on the patch) and they came out ok, there's a few little pin holes that I will fill up with 'Metal-Mend', It's sort of like bog(bondo) but it has stainless steal metal shavings through it, so it's not bog(bondo) really, the liquid in this stuff is supposed to be fibreglass resin.....STRONG STUFF!!!....But 1 really bad thing is tha I left the tourch on the panel too long and it has warped.....Dammit.....Doesn't look to be unfixable so I will finnish the rest of the welding before I straighten it.....Unless I should fix it first???.....Any help about gas-less MIG welding would be very helpful, I've heard that gas-less MIG is NOT easy to start with but it's what's available ATM.....It's a gas and gas-less MIG so I might look into the gas side of it......Info on getting it set up for gas welding would br great aswell, you all know I have alot of welding to do to my baby so I need to be really good before I touch her!!!
Thank's guy's......I do have pic's if you want them... |
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| asterixx |
Posted
Thursday, Apr 19th 3:37pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 106
Riga, Latvia
316 e21 |
..yea, why not? ..post some up, dude!
..peace! |
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| M42powered |
Posted
Thursday, Apr 19th 9:08pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Staff
Post nr. 709
Arizona, USA
1981 BMW 320i |
Well MIG stands for Metal Inert Gas. So you're really not doing MIG welding. You're doing flux core. Flux core is a pain. It takes the right settings and the right technique.
As far as warping a panel it is good to do spot overlapping spot welds to keep the heat down. Zap a little weld. Wait. Then zap over top of the last one. Wait. repeat. you'll get a rythme down. An auto-darkening mask helps for this.
I would suggest getting the regulator and tank to convert it to inert gas and solid wire. It's much more forgiving for beginners. |
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| Boost_me |
Posted
Friday, Apr 20th 3:13am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 194
Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i |
I only borrowed thi weld from my father so it has to go back( At some stage ;-p). How much do you think it would cost to conver to 'gas'? I have no idea what is needed, I know you just wrote regulator, tank, and solid wire but what are these and where do they fit to the machine?? I will post up pic's soon as I'm on my way out, when I get back I'll do it......It's really a very messy weld, I was looking at a website specificlly for MIG and they say that flux core is hard for beginner's, And by the look's of the weld's and the amount of flux and spatter that 'gas-less welding' produces it seem's pretty nasty....I know easy, cheap, and convenient(less consumables)... |
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| M42powered |
Posted
Friday, Apr 20th 5:01pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Staff
Post nr. 710
Arizona, USA
1981 BMW 320i |
Depending on your equipment you will need:
Solid wire (easy to change inside the machine 40USD or less)
Gas Tank (50-100USD for the tank 20USD to fill it)
Regulator (Welding supply store 30-50 USD)
Assuming you have a gas hooded gun that's all you need. If your setup was intended for MIG then your gun should be ready for gas. The regulator outlets plug into the "box" or machine. And that's it. Weither you run C02 or an Argon C02 mix is a personal choice. I prefer the mix.
Trust me, if you return the welder to your dad converted over to gas, he won't be mad, except of course if he needs it to be really portable. |
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| imaradiostar |
Posted
Friday, Apr 20th 10:16pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 1041
Nashville, TN
81 323i, 82 525i, 85 524td, 90 535i |
You might find that "20 guage" wire is helpful for body work- it's used with shield gas but it's not a solid core wire. It's a "powder core" so it supposedly doesn't burn through as easily but works well on thin sheet metal.
No first hand experience with it yet but I'm planning to purchase some in the immediate future.
jamie |
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| Boost_me |
Posted
Sunday, Apr 22nd 3:05am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 196
Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i |
I will look into converting it to gas, but I will have to take it all off and convert it back when I send it back as my Dad's a builder so he need's to have it with him at work......I will go to a welding supply shop this week and speak to the guys there further, Ican take the welder that way and they can help me out 100%.....Thank's for the help here guy's, very informative, I'll let you know how I go.....Jamie, let me know how you go with that '20 gauge' wire your getting..... |
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