Good day?..Yes and no...

[3100 special]

Today was one of some progress towards the panel but, not so much on the panel.
So the day started off alright, go to Harbor Freight to pick up a stick welder. I wasn’t getting the penetration I wanted on boxing the frame and was sure that I wanted this and the rest of my front end to be sound. They a low end welder for 109.00 (Chicago Electric) and I had a 10% coupon. While there, I figured I’d pick up on a welding cart that I had been eye-balling for a while. This way I could get my MIG and stick all in one nice place. They had the cart down to 39 bucks (plus that 10% coupon) so, in the shopping basket it went. They also had gotten some more of the 2 ½ ton floor jacks that I was also looking at the time before (39.95)…grabbed one as well.
While looking at the 12 point sockets to resolve my stuck locking lug nut problem, lo and behold I found the nut extractors folks had told me about. They had a set of several sizes for 18 bucks. So, I figured this was going to be a great day.

Off I went to Home Depot to get the 220 plugs I would need. I planned on using the wife’s dryer plug; I just had to make myself an extension cord. Once home I started the mass assembly. Everything went together well; it’s just that the collective time spent on all of the above ate up a lot more of my day than I wanted. I figured that I would take a quick shot at removing the lock lug nuts with my new extractor set…wrong! The largest one was not quite big enough to go on the nut. I’ll keep the set anyway. It’s good to have these around for smaller nuts that are boogered…

So!...NOW I get to start on the panel again. I put my plate for the passenger’s side in place and quick-tacked it with the MIG. Firing up my new stick welder I discovered I could not draw an arch to save my fickin’ life. I haven’t used a stick welder since 1981. Back then, I was reasonably good with one. Now I do remember the basics and that you had to get your groove and find that sweet spot. I’ll be danged if I could find it. Damn thing keep sticking. I think it was partial irritation with not being further along on my work and the fact that the sun was speeding towards the west. I finally wrapped it up determined that tomorrow will be the day…

[chevytruckfan]

Sweet man. I have been following your build for quite some time. I havent touched my panel in over 2 yrs now. It is sitting in my dads barn in KY. But I do have the front clip off and eng and trans. I plan on putting a 71 front cross member and IFS on then box the frame like yours. Glad to see the progress.

[pugs]

did ya have a real good ground off the frame and what number rods are ya using im not sure of the nunber i had used on my 56 frame but it was about 3/16th think i had to kind of just scrape the rod till it started arching good and then i went to town. and one other thing could be have the extension cord you made up wired we had this problem on our welder when we put a new plug on it and should be double checked

Pugs

[3100 special]

Originally Posted by chevytruckfan

Sweet man. I have been following your build for quite some time. I havent touched my panel in over 2 yrs now. It is sitting in my dads barn in KY. But I do have the front clip off and eng and trans. I plan on putting a 71 front cross member and IFS on then box the frame like yours. Glad to see the progress.

Thanks. Got any pictures? There's a new year coming up, blow off the dust and get her going! Don't feel bad about not working on it in two years. It took me over 15 to get back to mine.
I was determined, one day...

Originally Posted by pugs

did ya have a real good ground off the frame and what number rods are ya using im not sure of the nunber i had used on my 56 frame but it was about 3/16th think i had to kind of just scrape the rod till it started arching good and then i went to town. and one other thing could be have the extension cord you made up wired we had this problem on our welder when we put a new plug on it and should be double checked

Pugs

Shiny metal. I was using new 7018 rods...BUT...they are Harbor Freight rods. I've got to wonder about them. No apparent sign of any problem though. Seem to be clean and dry. I was wondering about the voltage drop on my extention cable. The wiring itself is good but, 16 gauge at roughly 30 feet is probably (make that likey) underfeeding it on the current. The were a couple of strikes were I drew a nice arc (couldn't sustain). That let me know the potential was there.
I'll attack it again in the morning with renewed patience and a steady hand.

[bagged01extcab]

Is the welder an AC/DC machine? If not, you will have to use a 6 series rod, such as 6010 or 6011. I'm sure if you used to weld you probably know that, but I just thought I would throw up a reminder!

[3100 special]

Originally Posted by bagged01extcab

Is the welder an AC/DC machine? If not, you will have to use a 6 series rod, such as 6010 or 6011. I'm sure if you used to weld you probably know that, but I just thought I would throw up a reminder!

It is an AC machine. You made me think though. As far as remembering, it's been well over twenty years since I used a stick (back if FFA days in High School!). What brain cells I haven't damaged in my earlier years have just kinda "left"!
I did go back to the book (I will read one every once in a while...when forced to).
For posotity issues or desire for shorter arc length: E7018
For poor fusion issues: E6013
If I can't make her work in the morning, I might try to go get some 6013's and give them a shot.
Thanks for the reminder.

[pugs]

i dont think the 30 foot of cord is to bad my brother had about 75ft if not more at his old house and the welder worked fine. the problen we had was with the way the new plud end had to be hooked up. We had wires backwards which sounds weird but once we switched wire around the welder worked fine ( the ground is what i remember was put at a different prong on the account of the way the wires came out of the fuse box dont ask me why tho im not a residental electricain, but can wire a truck or a bike up in a couple of days from start to finish

Pugs

[3100 special]

Originally Posted by pugs

i dont think the 30 foot of cord is to bad my brother had about 75ft if not more at his old house and the welder worked fine. the problen we had was with the way the new plud end had to be hooked up. We had wires backwards which sounds weird but once we switched wire around the welder worked fine ( the ground is what i remember was put at a different prong on the account of the way the wires came out of the fuse box dont ask me why tho im not a residental electricain, but can wire a truck or a bike up in a couple of days from start to finish

Pugs

Ahhh. I know I'm good on the wiring as far as the pin outs. I measure 240 with my meter at the end of the extention cord.