How much should filling the trim holes Cost

[Primered_69]

Just trying to get a figure on what it should cost before I shop around at different body shops...

Thanks,
Michael

[Primered_69]

CST trim lover body and then badge holes. Twenty to thirty of them...

[Big-Blue]

No idea but....... my neighbor bought the $89 wire fed welder from Harbor Freight and welded a large ornate gate with no problems. It's gasless but would do the job.

You could probably then sell the welder on Cl and not be out much cash at all, besides, it is fairly easy you would get the satisfaction.

[50bomb]

I say buy a welder you will not regret it in the long run. I welded the holes that the big huge mirrors for the 67 c10 had. I dont want to weld the trim holes cause I think i will probably get new trim later down the road for it. Oh and I am no professional welder take my word for it. i bought it over 5 years ago and still learning. I am pretty much teaching myself and I burn alot of medal too haha but oh well that is the way to learn. Mine is a lincoln welder wire feed. I dont have gas for it just run a extension cord for it. I bought it a home depot for $500 but I am sure you can buy one cheaper somewhere else. They are good for sheet metal type work/body work. I wouldnt recommend it on chassis stuff unless it like for welding brackets for your mufflers or something but also good to weld mufflers/pipes. Am i right fellas? What do i know I am still a noob 7 years on workin on these old trucks/cars.

[Shyguy]

I have never done it, but I have heard that some people have used JB weld to fill trim holes.

[dznucks]

i dont know how much it costs either, but it is something i am going to do one day. I am not a professional welder either, but i do have decent MIG setup. I have seen some welding videos on how they weld up the holes.

what i saw....they took what looked like a copper plate about the size of a playing card or larger. they would press the plate to the inside of the body panel molding it to the panel, then secure it on the edges with magnets. then they welded it. the plate would hold the weld bead, but not be welded.

I thought the plate was copper, but i would think copper would melt during the weld process.

[Tx Firefighter]

I wouldn't use a gasless wire welder on sheetmetal. The flux core wire burns hotter and penetrates deeper. You need to use solid core wire and shielding gas. That way you can adjust the welder soft enough to sew the hole up and hot put too much heat into the metal.

Flux core welders are great for welding heavier gauge material outside in the wind. They are far from ideal in any other condition.

[aggieguy713]

I got the guy who did the exhaust for my truck to do it, think he charged about $30. It only took him about 15 minutes.

[robnolimit]

I would plan on $5.00 per hole, thats for welding and grinding/sanding. You can pay less, but you may end up with a warped bed or door.

[trz1000]

Originally Posted by dznucks

i dont know how much it costs either, but it is something i am going to do one day. I am not a professional welder either, but i do have decent MIG setup. I have seen some welding videos on how they weld up the holes.

what i saw....they took what looked like a copper plate about the size of a playing card or larger. they would press the plate to the inside of the body panel molding it to the panel, then secure it on the edges with magnets. then they welded it. the plate would hold the weld bead, but not be welded.

I thought the plate was copper, but i would think copper would melt during the weld process.

It was a copper plate. It's very common to use a copper backing plate to fill in holes. You'll be making several short welds to stitch the metal together. You're not directing the heat to the copper so, done properly you won't have an issue with the backing plate melting. Copper is used because the welds won't stick to it.

Some guys will use a ball peen hammer and knock the holes in a bit before welding to ensure that they can make the area flush will filler. If you're fills are protruding at all you'll see it as a filled in hole from a mile away.

To answer the original question, I don't know what it would cost at a shop but I can offer this; With a properly set up shop, meaning the tools materials are accessible and ready to go, you'd have about an hour of setup plus probably 5 minutes per hole. This assumes there is ready access to the back of the holes. Pulling door panels, fenders, etc. will obviously take more time.

I don't know what shop rates in your area are. When people ask me to weld I quote $100/hr plus materials in an effort to dissuade them from asking me to weld for them. I have a day job and really only like working on my own junk so I have a pretty inflated shop rate. The very few high end hot rod shops that I've dealt with are in the $150/hr rate, I've seen guys turning wrenches for as low as $60/hr but I'm not in the business so by no means an expert on shop rates.

I would guess you'll be somewhere in the $300-500 neighborhood.

If you do decide to buy a welder and do it yourself MIG is the way to go. You're going to be grinding the welds anyway so there is no reason to go with TIG and SMAW (stick). Both will work if you're good but are much more difficult to learn and are a lot slower.

As stated before, I highly recommend you stay away from flux core and go with a setup that uses shielding gas. It much easier to do delicate work with a GMAW (gas metal arc welding) setup than with an FCAW (flux core arc welding).

There are some nice 120/240v machines available. I'd stick with Hobart, Miller, Lincoln, or ESAB. The cheaper welders work but using a good welder side by side is like night and day. Kind of like using a cast socket compared to one that was drop forged. Keep an eye on Craigslist.

If you don't know anyone who can show you how to use it find some scrap sheet metal, drill some holes in it and practice filling them in. Watch some videos on Youtube, read as much as you can, and ask questions in the paint and body work part of this form. You'll get it pretty quickly. If you ever decide to weld structural stuff, get proper training. I've seen too many home made trailers and air tanks fail, it is not pretty.

[Primered_69]

ttt