Apartment living + welding

[TeeJayHoward]

I need two doglegs and a bit of a floorpan replaced. Maybe a rear quarter, too. (Won't know until I rip off the bondo)

 

I live in an apartment building. One without a garage, without a 220V outlet, without much of anything.

 

How should I go about repairing my vehicle? Should I pay a pro, or buy a 110V welder and do it myself? I've heard a couple of the guys on this forum call the little welders "toys". Will they not do what I need them to?

 

Also, welders + extension cords = bad idea? My parking spot is about 50-75 feet away from my nearest outlet if I do get a 110V.

[Stupeyfied]

We actually had to repair a friend mine's rear end when the bolt snapped for his rear control arm. The suspension collapsed as we we're backing out of a driveway, so we had to try and weld it back together for a temp fix...So we had to run an extension cord about 50 ft or so lol. But, the welds didn't hold up on it, as it just collapsed again as soon as we tried to move. So, take from that what you will lol

[Evan Purple240zt]

A 110 welder WILL do the job you need. Your going to need an enormous extension cord, which will NOT be cheap.

 

IMO, welding outside in your parking lot is likely to get you evicted. Also, its kind of irresponsible since you can end up giving some poor person flashburn and damage their eyes.

 

If you have the space and resources do it yourself, if not, pay a pro. Have you considered renting an area to work in so your not rushed and forced to do a less then stellar repair? IMO thats your best bet of all. Thats gonna take a LOT of time to get right.

 

Evan

[grumpyvette]

first Id point out

that you can RENT a 220volt generator with a built in MIG or ARC welder on a trailer from many rental places

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/MILLER-RENEGADE-180-ENGINE-DRIVE-MIG-WELDER-907395_W0QQitemZ360040925204QQihZ023QQcategoryZ113743QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

 

OR you can RENT

an OXY-ACETOLENE TORCH WELDER (probably the best route) in that its fast, portable and works fine if your familiar with gas welding

REMEMBER...that requires NO ELECTRICITY

 

NEXT

to have any 110 volt welder work correctly youll need a MINIMUM of a 10 gauge extension cord for over 75 feet and a 8 gauge would be prefered

 

NEXT

yeah, a QUALITY 110volt welder in the hands of someone whose familiar with one OR willing to learn thru EXPERIANCE and maYBE some semi skilled friends should do the job,in fact its about ideal for floor pans, but not ideal for steel over 3/16" thick,but it could do the work , but youll pay a bit for a DECENT 110 volt welder

 

ON the PLUS SIDE its tool you will wonder how you ever got along without after your good with it, and the $600-$650 cost is a SMALL FRACTION of what a shop will charge to replace floor pans and once your done you could always sell it and recover most of the cost PLUS youll have learned a skill and be ready to use the cash to UPGRADE to a 180-250 amp MIG later

 

ID TALK TO YOUR MANAGER IN THE APPARTMENT FIRST!

not much sence in renting or buying a welder then being told theres no way in hell you can use it on his property and loose the cash and time youll invest with zero results

 

http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=907335

 

 

http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=K2471-1

 

http://www.brwelder.com/indextemplate.cfm?file=shop/detail.cfm&ID=13&SubCategory=1

 

 

I just sold my 110 volt mig , that was in perfect working order and looking like new,and several spools of wire for $250 so there ARE deals to be had on used welders, if you look around, it worked great on sheet metal and exhaust systems but was really to small to be easy for use on roll cages and suspension brackets ,motor mounts, frames ETC. which is mostly what I use a MIG welder for so I bought a miller 252 mig last year, yeah! the 110 could have done a good deal of the work but theres no way it had the amps to do it correctly on the 1/4" and 3/8" thick stuff

[TeeJayHoward]

Welder/Generator

Whoa... Didn't know they make those.

 

Oxy-Acetylene Torch

Didn't even think about that!

 

Burning the eyes of small children

I didn't think of this, either, unfortunately. There's a park next to my parking lot, and kids are all over the place frequently. Looks like I may not be able to do the welding myself...

[Evan Purple240zt]

Find yourself a storage unit you can rent that has power in it

 

Don't ask, I know of guys who do this.

 

Evan

[grumpyvette]

learning to WELD several ways is a huge advantage in this hobby,

Ive been welding for 37 plus years and while Im no expert I can efficiently stick stuff together so it won,t come apart

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=108912&highlight=tig

[Shift]

I would rent storage and welder. Just have everything before hand ready to put together.

 

If you don't plan on welding many others thing after you're done with the car. I don't see the point in having a tool lay around when you probably not going to touch it for some odd years.

 

If you can find a welder for less than the cost of renting one (total amount of days) then I say go for it. But expect it to be flus core which splatters everywhere and you're gonna need to do some grinding after wards. I got mine for $65 off of craigslist . All I can say is that it works .

 

Extension cords: try to use one that has heavier guage wire. The "standard" ones usually melt at some point or can't handle the amperage draw because of the thinner gauge wire, and will cause the welder to slow wire feeding or do a stop-go motion.

[(goldfish)]

If you rent a spot, check with the owner about welding there. Don't forget fire safety.

[MaTTSuN]

i have a little mig pack 100 from home depot it welds everything without gas

as long as i can keep steady and keep the area clean it makes a good weld

i have been running it off a long extention cord with no prob

[Shift]

i have a little mig pack 100 from home depot it welds everything without gas

as long as i can keep steady and keep the area clean it makes a good weld

i have been running it off a long extention cord with no prob

 

welding a continuous bead wouldn't be needed here, because he's dealing with sheet metal. He just needs something to do decent spot welding. Not going to go into explaining spot welding body panels.

 

I'm sure TeeJayHoward knows how. If not he'll ask.

[woldson]

Not worth the risk, I just can't see a apt haveing the electrical to support that type of load. Especilly if older. If rental house mabey due to the fact you kinda just risk your self.

Grumpyvette is correct on etention cord size. You think the wire in the wall is even close to that big. The larger wire dose not create as much resistance hence less generated heat. Same with the wire in the wall. You can actually over heat wire w/o popping a braker. FIRE!!

[TeeJayHoward]

Same with the wire in the wall. You can actually over heat wire w/o popping a braker. FIRE!!

 

Hrm...

 

1) Lower deductible on renters insurance.

2) Purchase welder.

3) ???

4) Profit!

 

(note: I wouldn't really do this!)

 

What kind of places have storage to rent? Most of the u-stor-it type places around here don't have power, so they're out. (And they're small, so fitting the car in is impossible!)

 

I'm kinda worried about driving the car in its current condition, anyway. Where the seatbelt mounts to the floor/dogleg area is one of the problem spots. No doubt in my mind that if I got into an accident, the seatbelt would NOT hold.

 

...And I doubt my Miata could tow the 240Z...

[grumpyvette]

http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=907335

 

buy THIS WELDER AND rent or borrow A REASONABLE SIZE GENERATOR, on the days youll acctually be welding

 

then when your done you can sell or upgrade the welder as your needs dictate, look the welder costs $650 or so, you can easily sell it used for $450-$500 if its kept in decent shape and if the job drags on a bit and takes a couple weeks to finish, well, renting a welder costs will have far exceeded the $200 -$650 you have invested depending on if you sold the welder,.....which rents for far more daily than a portable generator, plus portable generators are far easier to find, borrow from buddies and are cheaper to rent than decent welders.

PLUS youll gain skills AND you can possiably make money with the welder doing your friends projects even if you charge them a pitance for the work done, look in the long run spending $650 on a decent welders a BARGIN, and you can get a large percentage of that back at any time selling the welder if you need cash or choose to trade it in or sell it to upgrade

[Shift]

http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=907335

 

buy THIS WELDER AND rent or borrow A REASONABLE SIZE GENERATOR, on the days youll acctually be welding

 

then when your done you can sell or upgrade the welder as your needs dictate, look the welder costs $650 or so, you can easily sell it used for $450-$500 if its kept in decent shape and if the job drags on a bit and takes a couple weeks to finish, well, renting a welder costs will have far exceeded the $200 -$650 you have invested depending on if you sold the welder,.....which rents for far more daily than a portable generator, plus portable generators are far easier to find, borrow from buddies and are cheaper to rent than decent welders.

PLUS youll gain skills AND you can possiably make money with the welder doing your friends projects even if you charge them a pitance for the work done, look in the long run spending $650 on a decent welders a BARGIN, and you can get a large percentage of that back at any time selling the welder if you need cash or choose to trade it in or sell it to upgrade

I agree . its a bargen. Plus if you run argon and use mig and not fluxcore, you wouldn't need to worry about sparks, unless you weld directly on rusted area. But then you would have to buy/rent a bottle. and runs on 110v. I've seen the 135 Plus still going for $600 used (I know its a rip, but for some reason people still buy them).

[Shift]

Another option is to take a class.

[grumpyvette]

Another option is to take a class.

 

taking a CLASS is a great idea,

it won,t do much in the way of getting you a personal welder.

BUT, IT may make you the contacts to get one at a screaming deal and the skills to use one, PLUS your bound to find out more about WHICH type of welding ,process and machine models you prefer or want to avoid.

personally I think the oxy-acetolene torch and the tig ar the two best options, as I get nice looking solid welds with those but then Im seldom in a hurry and the arc and mig are faster and at times easier to use and certainly learn on.

remember WHAT METAL your welding, the material, thickness, surounding area and WHERE your welding effect which welders the best match, and in a few cases only one process is known to be clearly better, you can TIG or use an oxy-acetolene torch in many applications, that a MIG OR ARC won,t work as well on or work at all.

[240hoke]

I just wanted to add some of my thoughts on this since I live in an apartment for a while. First of all I cant believe you wouldn't get evicted.. most places around here wont even let you open your hood in the parking lot. literally no joke. I got away with working on my motorcycles a bit where I lived but it was nothing major.

 

Second of all you need to be especially careful of other people's cars, MIG welding throws ALOT of slag out.. those little sparks can do a lot of damage... i would hate to be paying to have somebody car repainted and all the glass replaced!!! I know if somebody was welding anywhere near my car in the parking lot there would be a serious dispute.

 

Just some things to think about.

 

My 2 cents, I wouldn't do it. Look for a garage or find a buddy who can help you out one weekend... I would lean towards the buddy approach it will only cost you a case of beer more then likely.

[AK-Z]

MIG welding throws ALOT of slag out.. those little sparks can do a lot of damage...

 

Do you mean flux core? Its a different process. MIG is more like a wire fed TIG process, in that it uses a innert shielding gas instead of flux that splatters.

 

But yes, I would advise against it, or ask your landlord to see if its ok. You never know. Most people are more appreciative when you ask first, instead of just going at it. Some may be antsy because of the tank for the gas, even though its inert.

[Evan Purple240zt]

Having mig welded, I disagree. There is definitely enough slag to be concerned about others property.

 

However, I do agree it is pretty minimal. All it takes is one spark to ruin your windshield.

 

Evan