Butt Welding help?

[BustedTruck]

I just purchased my first mig welder. I have been practicing this weekend on a piece of scrap. I am trying to butt weld panels, but I always seem to burn through when I just tack together. I have tried turning the heat & wirespeed down. I am still having problems. Good thing this is scrap, because I need a lot more practice before welding in the patch panels. EBFABMAN makes it look so easy in his videos. Anyone out there have any tips?

[jerry moss]

Keep Playing With The Speed And Temp Settings. Practice, Practice, Practice.

[shifty]

Does your welder have a "cheat sheet" on the inside panel where you load the wire? I bought a Lincoln 175HD (as part of a Weld Pak) really cheap on eBay. Just inside the side panel, there is a chart that tells you speed and temp settings for the gauge of metal you're working on. So far, it's been pretty spot-on, but I haven't done anything major yet.

Most important thing I've found as a fellow newbie is that you absolutely MUST have a good, clean ground to attach to (remove all paint before clamping).

[71Rat]

to help welding if your burning threw, turn heat down and wire speed up and move fast..... also you shouldnt weld a long strip solid keep moving around so your heat will keep moving around and areas have time to cool.... i hope that helps

[BustedTruck]

Mine is a miller 175. It has the "cheat sheet" I am able to do a decent job on the thick stuff, but this thinner stuff is really difficult. I set it to the settings per the cheat sheet, but I still am burning through most of the time. I know I definatly need more practice.

[kaycee]

I use the thin wire .025 on sheet metal .045 for the thicker stuff, helped me alot

[Jered33]

Keep adjusting the heat and speed, make sure it's clean. Use .030 or smaller wire, also I sometimes use a strip of copper behind the butweld it seems to help.

What gauge of metal are you welding? and what type of welder?

[BustedTruck]

I have a miller 175. I have #.023 wire. I guess it would be 14 gauge.

[griesel72]

with some of these patch panels, you have to spot weld all of the way along, and avoid welding a "bead" as the heat will burn through, check the wire thickness and move fast, I am a welding teacher for a high school, so if you need any more help, send me a pm

[smartcraig]

If at all possible i wouldnt try and butweld. Buy a stepping tool and over lap them. The step in the metal will help make the panel more rigid so that it wont want to warp so bad. And will be easier to weld with something behind it.

[cdowns]

are you using shielding gas or the fluxcore wire?//you get better results with the gas

[BustedTruck]

I am using the gas. I think the butt weld looks much better when finished properly. I know it will take more timeto do it this way, but I think the end result will be better.

[LONGHAIR]

If at all possible i wouldnt try and butweld. Buy a stepping tool and over lap them. The step in the metal will help make the panel more rigid so that it wont want to warp so bad. And will be easier to weld with something behind it.

The biggest problem with this thought, is you are leaving that overlapping piece that will hold water and start the rust over again. Flanging also distorts the area to be patched, so you end-up doing more work straightening it out. I would stick with butt-welds.

I guess it would be 14 gauge.

Are you sure about that?^^^ 14ga is well beyond what would be considered body metal. You shouldn't be burning through something that thick.
Body metal is more like 18ga-20ga depending on year of car/truck, manufacturer, or even where on the body you are replacing. 14ga is nearly twice that thick.

[Husker]

When I did my Jeep CJ I tried butt welding, got a crimper where it stepped distorts the metal a bit, but what I found worked the best was I cut strips about an 1" or so wide popped holes in the body where I was welding and spot welded the strip on the inside then positioned the new piece I was repairing and spotted it in place. Then I stitched the two pieces together with the backing strip in place. Worked great actually added more support. I Herculined the inside so you can't even notice how I did unless you look close.
Hope this helps
Ron

[Old Chevy Mech]

Another "trick" like state above is to place copper behind the weld. The copper also draws the heat off the area quickly acting like a heat sink. If you cant get copper flatbar, aluminum works ok too. I made some heat sinks out of the bottoms of old pots I got from the dump. It helped me alot. In some places, I've gotten pretty good at filling holes by quickly "tapping" the trigger like in a series of spot welds but not allowing the heat to build up. I've filled holes as big as 3/8" doing that. Dont know if anything helps but figured it couldt hurt to share an idea.

Frank

[Classic Heartbeat]

Try not holding the welding tip not as close to your work. I use to burn through a lot untill I held the welding tip a little farther away from the work. You will need a faster speed on the wire too. WES

[clay68c10]

Keep practicing with the thicker stuff until it starts to look nice, then step down to thinner metal. You'll get a good feel for welding on the easier metal and then you'll have the skill to fine-tune on the smaller stuff.

[shifty]

I went out and bought these to help while shaving my heater stuff: http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?i...emType=PRODUCT

I still haven't used them yet, but have a feeling they'll come in handy.

To practice before the final work, I will cut a little 2"x2" section out of the main piece I'm working on, and try to weld it back in. If all goes well, I'm going to do the main section.

It helps to watch someone else do it first, I found. I used the Trucks! TV (Copperhead) TV show to help me.

Most of the guys I see on TV just hold the tip of the gun about 1/4" of the panel, touch the wire to it, trigger for 2-3 seconds, then move to the other side, repeat, move to the other side, repeat, always staying stationary, then just connect the dots all the way around, clean up with a flapwheel and done.

But I'm not speaking from experience. I haven't gotten there yet (STILL).

[Shane]

Screw eastwood co ... go to harbor freight you can get a bag of 6 or 8 panel clips for like $5

[chip46wis]

My 2 cents---as a certified pipe welder I had a rough time going from heavy wall pipe where too much heat isnt a real problem to welding sheet metal.You need to speed up more than likely---look at factory wire feed welds-they are not pretty as a rule more of a thick here thin there situation.I usually go for 1/4 3/8 before letting it cool completly then restarting or going to a different area.

[shifty]

Originally Posted by Shane

Screw eastwood co ... go to harbor freight you can get a bag of 6 or 8 panel clips for like $5

I found this out when I went for the balljoint press the other day. Forgot to mention it. It's the same chinese made crap either way.

[Husker]

Using .023 Wire will help alot.
Ron

[Shane]

Originally Posted by shifty

I found this out when I went for the balljoint press the other day. Forgot to mention it. It's the same chinese made crap either way.

same identical panel clips ... but $25 cheaper.

[shifty]

Originally Posted by Shane

same identical panel clips ... but $25 cheaper.

OW! MY PRIDE!

(Mine came free when I ordered a copper magnetic backing plate for hole filling )

[Premium72]

how this is the srap your using. it might be buring through because its to thin. it the scrap the same thickness as the patch and sheetmetal? turn that sucker alllll the way down to the lowest and start there. good luck .