Welders - whatcha got

[ben]

how did you go with it the gasless mig able?

[able]

how did you go with it the gasless mig able?

seems to work fine ben although i have not got much experience to measure it against....

i had a few stress tears on the back corners underneath and i push the panel to match and tak every two centimeters untill its holding form then i tak and grind tak and grind.... i do not want to heat up the metal to much so i do not try to wield it in one go....

the holes i found where former owners have used slide hammers i tak at the top and then slowly move around like a snail shell untill i reach the middle. then i grind and tak any holes i missed....

im just getting back out into the shed after a very bad flu and other responsibilities getting in my way but im fully charged after the van nats. nothing like seeing what can be achieved with alittle love and elbow grease

[hammers_spanners]

Gday Able

Sounds like you have worked it out, panel welding that is. Slow and steady makes for a good job.

You are right about getting some motivation from the Nats. Heaps of ideas!

Craig

[silverado]

Interesting string, ive used mostly Mig welders, but a grew up around ARC as my old man was an engineer and we always had a welder at home.
Silly me though, spent all these years working on cars and never asked tho old boy to teach me to weld, until one day i realised he was too old and sick to teach me, it still makes me sad.

Anyway I have a brilliant old Apex 180amp Arc and shes a beaut, can be set up for either single 240V or 3 phase 400V.
It welds really nice and i icked it up on trade me for a $100 bucks, great deal.
I can Arc panal steel with her down around 35amps but you have to be real carefull and use the right size sticks.

I have been wanting to buy another Mig for some time now as id prefer to do my panal steel work with a Mig.
I had a really nice industrial one in my auto shop some years back and I should of kept it, I was a bit enthusiastic about what gear I put in with the sale of the company.

The ARC is great to have around though for when you make heavey stuff like A frames and structures using 10 and 14mm plate.

The best thing about a Mig is guys with very little experiance can still make a reasonable job and not have a huge tidy up after.
Before long they are welding like pro's.

Rusty
 

[ben]

yeh i herd people in the old days before migs were around used to use arc for welding panel steel.. i herd of people also using compressed air to cool the panel steel to stop warpage..

ben

[hotrod]

another way is oxy and then throw a wet towel on it helps shrink the expanded/warped steel back to close to normal
But still prefer mig

[BusyKiwi]

the compressed air and wet towels do work but only when done properly

The good, the bad and the ugly:
wet towels/rags are wet with water, water + steel is rust
compressed air contains moisture, moist air + steel is rust

no don't get me wrong I have and do use these techniques but with caution. The compressed air is probably better for patch welding but even better is slower welding, spot weld every couple of inches, wait till warm to the touch and go around again, very long and boring but the best way to avoid warpage.

the wet rag is ideal for shrinking, shrinking with heat is an art in itself but bascially you heat a circle with the oxy/acl to a size dependant on the warpage, the spot is held with a dolly white it's hammered around the hot spot (hammering inwards) and finishing on the dot. The wet rag is then quickly wiped over the heated spot, then again quickly, then again and then slowly dragged over the heat spot. cooling it to fast and to slow have different effects. This isn't really something that can be typed about, it really needs to be shown