Outer Limits 4x4 Board

OK - Firstly - i have no welding experience except a play with an arc welder the other weekend, pretty dismal effort at that!

HERE ARE THE PICS!

I'm after some advice - i'm bobtailing my style side tray and have to hire a welder to do it, what type do i hire MIG or TIG or is there another option. It is mostly thin sheet metal and apparently prone to warpping easily. I'm cutting tomorrow and hopefully want to get it welded (at least tacked in place) by Sun evening. I will have to practice on the offcut first obviously but is this task too big to take on with hardly any experience? Keep in mind it doesn't need to be a showroom job only look respectable on the two visible sides upon completeion, with much sanding and bog i expect.

ANY ADVICE OR HELP GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

get a gas mig, tig will be 2 hard to use for a beginner

Cleanliness is your friend.
Sand paint off to bare metal for the weld.
"Push" the handpiece for penetration.
"Pull" the handpiece to prevent burning holes in thin metals.
J Top

does it need to do more than just look good? ie safety?

if your new to welding id get some of your offcuts tested in a press for strength to help you at least find out when your ready to do the real thing. Ive just done a saturday tafe course that introduces you to all welding techniques and could be a good start before a job like that.

you could possibly get away with it yourself with an arc welder if you can take your time, otherwise gas mig would be fairly quick and painless once you have your settings sorted.

wonder what would be more affordable? hiring a welder to do the job (once of) or you just hiring a mig and practise a skill in the process?

id start on sliders or something basic before going the chop/bob.

just my 2c

As stated above.....

HIRE A MIG WITH THE GAS BOTTLE.....

when welding panels......

rule number 1 .....take your time ... it will be repayed when it comes to the bog stage.

rule number 2 ..... put 1 tack ever 50- 80mm alont the full length of the join for starters

rule number 3.... add a tack weld between each of the above tacks for the full length

rule number 4 .... repeat rule number 3 until it has sufficient weld.

for the best result and non warping panels, use an aircompresor and give each tack a blast of air the instant its welded.

remember rule number 1 at all times the faster you do this the more the panel WILL warp.

Kingy

sheet metal can be very prone to warping. make sure you take your time and dont just hit it with one run from top to bottom or it will buckle and warp due to heat. weld an inch at the top, then move to the middle, then the bottom and gradually fill in all the other bits as it cools.

with plenty of practise it should be easy enough, just make sure it is totally clean and free from rust/paint. a wire brush or 'flap disc' attachment in an angle grinder is ideal for cleaning and then you can throw a grinding disc in to clean up excess weld when you stuff up!!

Definately give it a go yourself just remember its all in the setting up of the welder so plenty of experimenting is the way to go. would also help if you had a mate with a little welding experience to help!

may even pay to buy a cheap mig rather than hiring one?

i would also suggest make sure you have 0.9mm wire

plus standard migsheild gas from Air Liquide will work but is not specifically design for welding sheet metal and will weld hot making it prone to blowing holes through panels

Welding thin sheet metal over a large area is very diffucult to do well. I would not recommend you do the job yourself if you have virtually no welding experience. Aside from the points already made, I would recommend ensuring the gap where the panels butt is no greater than about half a millimetre to prevent blowing it through. I would also recommend using 0.6mm wire for light panel work. Good luck.

Thanks so far guys - i think i may hand this one on the the professionals or at least someone a lot more experience than i.

ANY TAKERS!! Will reimburse with cash, grog or a combination of both!

Just trying to avoid the panel beater usuall bullshit of "ohhhh thats gonna cost ya!!" Just because its not the usual unbolting panels, spraying new ones and bolting them back on.

If i have to go this way - ie no takers for a cashy - then can you recommend any 4wder and the financially challenged friendly ones who will have a go at something new? Any where in Bris?

BTW - I chopped today - LOOKS SWEET and came up very tidy, pics to follow after i get them off mates camera!

benhl wrote:Thanks so far guys - i think i may hand this one on the the professionals or at least someone a lot more experience than i.

ANY TAKERS!! Will reimburse with cash, grog or a combination of both

you'd be in for one hell of a road trip !

seriously tho .... there is no real reason as to why you cant do this yourself, a bit of self confidence and ya there really.

As a fully certified welder with extra certification for chasis welding etc I would never weld up a panel....sheer fear of fawking it up totally, but I was more than happy to tackle massive beams for huge sheds and in the next instant weld a truck chassis back together without hesitation.

I couldnt get my head around the fact that this is a task for a panel beater only and not a welder.....
I finally had the opertunity to do my own panel work and found it so simple and easy I was mad at myself for forking out all the dollars over the years for panel beaters. It actually took me longer to "master" bog work than the welding side.

Get a mig ..... as everyone has suggested ( personally I'd go with 0.6 wire for a learner so you can keep the voltage down as low as possiable and run less chance of a burn through.

Practice on some scrap ...... duck down to a wreckers and ask for a free door, they will have one that is scrap quality only so will usually give it away for free. Once ya got it home lay into it with a grinder and cut up a few sections and then "repair" them ...... its great practice on a real panel that wont cost ya anything but time, you'll soon learn from ya mistakes and be better prepared for the "real thing".
I did this to a fawked door and front guard off of a falcon to "learn" the tricks..... took me a whole w/end to "fix em" then I bogged em the following w/end and primed em the w/end after that.... The end result was good enough that I took em back to the wreckers and showed him, he promptly sold em and split the bucks with me a couple of weeks later
Sure I wont ever make a living from it but getting $130 for learning was a good investment in my book !

Research some threads .... there are quite a few good threads and tips on welding here so search is your friend....if not ..... ASK

Above all, its really just a panel, and worst case senario is that you'll fark it up and have to get a panel beater to fix it..... at least you can say you had a go unlike many others could

Kingy

OK Guys still lookin for that welder - Here is a link to the pics of the booty fab job, cut part. Will hopefully be doing the Shut part this weekend if i can find a welder!

Any help muckly appreciated. Thanks

http://r6ual.homeip.net/gallery/Bens-Booty-Fab

I would be interested in doing your welding for you. However I wouldn't be able to look at it until Easter, I am also going to have a look at doing Grimace's RR chop for him then.

From your photos, it looks like you have done a good job with the cutting, it shouldn't be too hard to tack & weld it back together for you.

Unlike what every one has suggested, I have TIG to do the job. I have much more control over the heat than the MIG does, & it ends up with a smoother job.

Let me know if you can wait that long. I would do it this weekend, but I am picking up my new rig.

I bobbed mine years ago. Have pics at home, will post em after work.

benhl wrote:OK Guys still lookin for that welder - Here is a link to the pics of the booty fab job, cut part. Will hopefully be doing the Shut part this weekend if i can find a welder!

Any help muckly appreciated. Thanks

http://r6ual.homeip.net/gallery/Bens-Booty-Fab

Not sure exactly what bob tailing is on a car but i have done alot of automotive fab work (mainly autosalon stuff ) if you still want to do it this weekend and its all preped i might be able to have a look at it for you

Ryan

Here is mine from about 5 years ago...

As v8patrol said , dont be scared its onl;y sheet metal youve had the guts to cut it and thats done all you do now is practice and follow some very helpful tips and youull get it ,
just a quick tip if you can get around the back of the skin , put some 25 x 3 mm strips cut to size behind the join and then you can hang of it with less chance of blowing holes and dont be scared to add metal if you have to ..
youll get it with patience and youll be wrapped !!

Good luck shaggers !

Apologies to all trying to view the pics over the last cpl of days...

HERE are the Pics.

* Dialup Warning *


P.s Sorry if it's a bit slow, I'm hosting he entire thing myself...

Mate saw your missus driving it around the shops at carindale today, looks bloody awesome !

greenhilux wrote:Mate saw your missus driving it around the shops at carindale today, looks bloody awesome !

Yeah she tends to get more wheel time than me at the moment - bloody work! If it didn't pay for mods who would ???

she was flexing it up on a gutter when i saw her.

she said she had it all crossed up! And she also said she saw you nearly unscrew your head twisting around to have a gork!

ALSO big Thanks to 80-RPM who has tacked the back on! Holding great and great lookinh welds! I'm stoked with the outcome. I'm trying to arrange a low guage/amp gas mig for the final joining.

I will have a chat to the guys in the next workshop and see how far down i can get their mig

And good for friday, bout 8am?

Sorry, but it's a problem of mine to be paranoid, but is everyone who's havin a goosy at the pics of ben's ute on my site HERE havin any prob viewing the site/pics?? am just wondering cause it seems NOONE is actually spending time looking at the pics, am just wondering if they're not coming up or somthing.... ta...[/url]

everyone is looking at the pics of the girlies and not the 'lux

girlies.... what the.... oh yeh...


p.s ben, yeh ok i need to Log Off, but hey im bored