Guest Anonymous Posted December 19, 2000 Share Posted December 19, 2000 I recently was given a MIG welder. I have a 73 240 with some rust in the usual places. Is there a good site where I could read on how to use a MIG welder. What type of metal should I use for practice. I want to keep the car a daily driver and would just like to repair the rust damage but am not concerned that much about how it looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted December 19, 2000 Share Posted December 19, 2000 you want to make sure the wire diameter is .023 any larger will just poke holes in the metal. hopefully its a gas bottle mig and not a built in flux wire. use a argon/co2 mix gas for easy welding . get a crumpled fender or hood froma wrecker and practice on it . witha rusty z car your going to have lots of practice. get a good helmet and really tight deerskin gloves ... i dont know wherer you can get a video but welding is practice... cant do by watching must try it. how close you hold the torch from the metal and how high the heat etc... oh and welding flash goes thru sneakers really quickly ------------------ Mike mike@fonebooth.com http://www.fonebooth.com/brakes.html raceparts and brake upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 19, 2000 Share Posted December 19, 2000 I havn't found a really decent site on MIG welding per se, alot of sites that mention certain applications and such. Basically MIG is the easiest welding machine to use. There are only really two adjustments Amperage and Wirefeed speed. For sheet metal, you want to turn the machine down to lower amperages and wirespeeds. Wirespeed will increase with amperage due to require more fill material in the weld as the weld gets bigger with more amperage. Since you mentioned panel repair, find some sheet metal that is of a similar gauge to what you plan on working on the car. Probably pretty thin if were talking Z's (20-22 gauge?) Luckily for panel repair you work mostly in a series of tack welds so as not to heat the area up to much. To tack weld, clamp the ground to the piece, and place the wire from the center of the gun nozzle on the surface to be welded, flip your welding mask and pull the trigger and release. You should have a small round dot of a weld. A successful tack! I would look either at book store as I'm sure there are some great books on the subject or look into a local community college for a night class. Either way, in a short time, you'll be laying beads with no problem. Gauntlet gloves, long sleeve shirt and a decent mask are a must, MIG tends to put out a lot of flying sparks and metal spatter. Tack with a mask or handheld shield, do not just close your eyes as the UV rays will burn ya but good (and if you happen to flash your eyes badly, it can actually sunburn your eyes you DEFINATELY don't want that take my word for it.) Kind of a slim bit of info, but hope it helps. Good luck with your project. Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 19, 2000 Share Posted December 19, 2000 whatever you do make sure you check your surroundings before you start. i was welding in the garage and didn't think of the indoor/outdoor carpet until i had a fire all around me. what made me notice was my pants leg was on fire and my boots were starting to melt on the bottom. just an embarrasing moment i wanted to share with ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted December 19, 2000 Share Posted December 19, 2000 I've run across a good book on welding, but I can't remember what it was called. Check your local bookstores, I am sure there is one out there. Remember if you are welding, to wear cotton clothing, and not synthetic stuff. (polyester mainly) Melting synthetics to your skin hurts a lot. Also, if you are welding for a long period of time, 1 layer of clothing isn't enough. I was doing it on a hot day for about 12 hours, with just coveralls on, no shirt. I ended up with a pretty good burn through the coveralls. (With a strange design where the zipper was) Flux core isn't that bad. Gas shielded is nicer, but I am sure that if you have flux core you can do everything on your car with it, though it will be a little more tricky for the thinner metal. One more thing, make sure you have a couple pairs of vice-grips. They are indespensible welding tools. ------------------ "Gimme Fuel, Gimme Fire, Gimme that which I desire" -Metallica Drax240z 1972 240z - L28TURBO transplant on the way! http://members.xoom.com/r_lewis/datsun.html http://members.home.net/drax77/newpage.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 19, 2000 Share Posted December 19, 2000 Alan, One of the best pieces of advice I could give regarding welding would be to get an "auto dark" helmet. It makes things much easier!! I did a little "stick" welding many years ago and did not use an "auto dark", I don't even know if they were around then, I could not imagine not using one now... Every one else has given some great advice regarding MIG welding. Getting the heat right takes some practice and a good ear. Listening to the noise produced by the arc is a good indication of whether or not your heat is right. If you hear a "sizzle", almost like bacon frying in a pan, then your heat is correct or very close. The most important thing is to practice, practice, practice and take your time. Welding the thin sheet metal of a Z car can be VERY tedious. Like Lone said, use tack welds around the perimeter of the patch panel until it is closed up, grind everything flush (another tedious task) and use some high quality fiberglass filler to seal out moisture. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!! Oh, another thing, you had ask about a book on welding. I found a book on welding at the local Lowe's. It provides some good information and gives somewhat of a "trouble shooting" chart. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 19, 2000 Share Posted December 19, 2000 The auto-darkening mask is great, wish I had it back 10yrs ago when I was welding alot, I used the old standard Huntsman and you basically nod your head to bring it down, works ok once your used to it, but hey technology rules! Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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