Rat repair.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

It's a shame the angle piece didn't work out, Mike. As you're seeing, a long unsupported run of thin sheet metal is a bear to keep straight. Even when I weld a few short stretches and walk away, there's enough heat to warp the metal somewhat. Quenching the hot spots with water shrinks the metal, which is only a good thing if the area is crowned. I try to stay with the hammer and dolly until the last weld is done. Then use a shrinking disc or stud welder tip to heat the crowned spots and quickly quench with a cold wet rag. Some guys can work magic with an acetylene torch, but I always overdo it so I avoid that technique.

Sometimes access to the back of the panel with a dolly is a function of how the door is positioned. For instance, if I lay it flat on my scissor stands, the top is accessible, but the underside requires a triple jointed arm which I don't have. If, however, I stand the door on the top of the window frame and stand at one end or the other, I can comfortably reach both sides of the panel. At least I can hold a dolly on the inside and hammer on the outside. If I need to work out a low spot and have no room to swing a hammer I try to use wood blocks and a prybar. As a last resort I grab the stud welder and spot pull pins to the low area - which understandably isn't an option for everyone.

Just keep rubbing on it and work to get it close. For most of us, bondo is our friend. A true metal man can drastically reduce the amount of plastic filler needed, but I don't know anyone that can eliminate it completely.

Thank you Deadhead for the vote of confidence!

NonHog thanks for the suggestion, that dolly would not be long enough.

Hey Vic, There was some small livable waviness in the metal which i think was from folding the edges but the weld area was still pretty straight, only a couple small waves, that said i did forget about quenching and shrinking, i was just trying to keep the part cool. At this point i felt it was not a problem to continue, and probably find out how bad it would get...

I went ahead and tipped the door upside down like you said, i could reach about 1/2 of the welds, i was looking for a way to build an extended handle that might work for planishing the rest of the spots.

Having the door upside down revealed a couple things i didn't realize from looking directly at the face, from the forward bottom up to the weld seam, the face of the forward edge of the door curves inward which i believe is to help with clearance when the door is opened and closed, my patch panel had actually gotten curved the opposite way so it was dishing inward nothing a little bondo wouldn't fix but i also noticed i had an edge contour issue which i couldn't fix by subtle bending, i tried to reopen the fold but in doing so i pretty much messed up the edge enough that i'm gonna go ahead and start over. learn from experience right? I happen to have a spare LH skin in my stash that was given to me by another local board member.

I turned up the heat and feed on my welder and i can get a good penetration on the angle itself, i just need to figure out how not to burn the skin away in the process.