Body rigidity

[phillips]

Hi, if you can buy a MiG welder, with a bit of practise you we be able too weld very passable welds, I would not be without my MiG welder. As they say but a Metro buy  a MiG welder. S&P.

[12jslater]

i own a mig welder, that the problem haha, im seriously incapable of getting the odd tac weld right

[Ivor Hawkins]

Ah sunny Wolverhampton, sadly I’m an hour and half’s drive away otherwise I could pop some patches on in half an hour, which would keep you going until a proper job can be done...though saying that, I did that on one of my old Rubies forty years ago and as far as I know the patches are still there!

[Reckless Rat]

Jake you need to practice! You can buy a tool on the Bay which punches the right size hole in sheet metal, then experiment by clamping two sheets together and filling the hole with weld. You'll soon get the hang of it.

[12jslater]

That's the problem, I have tried for hours on end, got through ungodly amounts of wire and still I get nothing more than a messy tac weld, im not one to give up, but really I don't see the point in continuing when after hours of trying I haven't got past the stage of my very first attempt.

[Reckless Rat]

Your MiG is probably not set up correctly, either feeding too fast or with too high a current. Ideally you need to seek a bit of help from someone who knows what they're doing, and I'm sure there's someone on here near you that can help.

However, one thing is VERY important, and that is cleanliness. You should run an angle grinder or belt sander over whatever you want to weld in order to create a good contact surface for the machine to arc against. It's the same with soldering. Any impurities and it doesn't work.

There are plenty of videos on Youtube that can help, but it all boils down to:

I hear, I listen
I see, I understand
I do, I learn.

Just one thing... Normally a MiG welder relies on an inert gas to shield the arc from oxidation. (The MiG means Metal, inert Gas) If you are using the machine "gasless" you have to use a special fluxed feed wire that creates the inert gas for you. Ordinary MiG wire doesn't work!

[phillips]

Hi is you MiG gas or gasless, as I under stand it gasless MiG's are not as nice to use as gas one are, my MIG welder is a gas one, and is only a130. But that is good enough for me, jus practise and practise's it will come right in the end. S&P

[Andy Bennett]

Alongside cleanliness, I also found that when I first started I used higher flow levels of gas as it made the whole thing more forgiving to distance etc. Also the thing not many people mention is drafts. If you are in a drafty location then the shielding gas will simply blow away leaving you with no protection.

If you are learning then definitely don't start on thin material, get a lump of bar or similar and just practice running up and down to produce a nice weld run, then move to thinner materials.

From everything you have said, I honestly don't think it is 'you'. it is something about the welder or set up.

[jansens]

Make sure the connections on the MIG are the right way around too. It's different when using gasless wire and when using gas. Mine came with a small reel of gasless wire so was set up for that, the torch was wired to negative. When using shielding gas you need the torch positive and the earth negative.

One of the things about learning welding is no one on the Internet can tell you what settings to use, you just have to work it out by feel (air brushing/spraying painting is similar) because there so many variables in play. I always do some practice on the stuff I am trying to weld first if I can.

My biggest problem with welding these days is my near vision getting worse with age so I can't see the weld pool without glasses now!

Simon

[Denis Sweeney]

Jslater can I refer you to a previous post entitled “Ruby B post picture”
In there I posted pictures of my Ruby rear wheel arches and how rotted they were. These are not the worst that members would have found but fairly typical of what is out there. I also described how I attempted to support the body to prevent any movement of the shell.
Like Martin pointed out I too removed the metal in small patches and repaired as I went piece by piece.
I was not an expert welder but found that a good weld could be achieved by tack welding at say 2” spaces, allowing things to cool then dress the welds, I then added more tacks in between those already laid, so that they are now 1” spaces. Once again dressed the welds and then kept repeating the process until there were no gaps at all and the whole section was welded. This practice helps reduce distortion, not perfect but does help. Whenever I tried to make a longer weld it warped like a fiddlers elbow!
But welding is the way in my opinion.
Cheers Denis S