Welding advice thread.

agreed on the auto helmet , makes a massive differance

best bet would be to ask if theres a local member that can weld well to pop round and show you how to ajust the machine and what a good /bad weld looks like

Best advice I can give to any one starting on welding on cars is don't be shy cut out all of the rust . All of it . Get back to the good metal . Buy the best panels or repair panels you can as the thickness of the metal is what your looking for .. I'm in Birmingham . Welder setup and ready to go . If your close buy I've got no problem showing some of you lads how to set up and start welding . Give out free advice . But please don't ask me to help you weld up a metro I do have standards

Yep . Nice looking mask

An Auto dimming mask is a fantastic addition to anyones setup, although it is not the be all and end all. It helps hugely when doing car bodywork, but for welding chunks of metal on a welding table I would personally reach for my standard mask.

Preparation is key. Weld will not stick to/penetrate rust, paint etc. Get a wire wheel and flap disks. My personal preference is to wire wheel the area, then flap wheel the edges that are to be welded together.

Get some bits of 2 or 3 mm steel sheet and practise welding with those. It is very forgiving and quite easy to start to get decent welds. Welding bodywork is HARD. I wouldn't suggest practising on bodywork or thin steel, you will get just really fed up. Give yourself a chance and start off with thickish scrap. Once you can lay down some decent welds and understand the basics of what you are doing on good metal, then try car bodywork. Oh and try wherever possible to weld down onto a flat surface, i.e. if welding on a bench, flip the work around so the joint to be welded is horzontal. It makes life MUCH easier.

If you can use a big bottle, it makes life much easier, altough little bottles are not the end of the world if you only weld occasionally.

My 2p worth.

Like anything PRACTISE is key, and practise does not meen half a hour before you let rip on your car. It means half an hour every few days for month or six.

About hiring gas bottles - I have been renting an air products bottle for about 5 years now, and I'm taking it back at the end of this month and not renewing. Why? Because there is a better alternative. The problem is that the rental is around £130 per year, and unless you weld a LOT you won't go through a full bottle in a year. I noticed from my invoices I average about 20 months on 1 bottle. There are now several companies offering pay as you go bottles for sale - £160 buys you a brand new (and full) one with a 10 year life and the cost of filling is about the same (£40 ish) so I'm getting one of those instead. Only bad point is my air prods bottle is still half full.

I cant really be bothered to give advice on welding itself, theres so much out there it would be pointless.

but, when it comes to price of equipment, BOC is still cheaper than anyone else for gas(and just about everything else too if youre buying quality gear not cheap sh1te).
I use a size Y- about 3.5 ft tall argoshield light (purely so I don't have to lug a fugging great 6 foot bottle around to get it refilled), and its £45 a year rent and £25per fill. afaik nowhere can get anywhere near that on price. its marginally more expensive than using the size X I think it is big bottle, but its only a couple of quid, I get through about half a dozen a year.

they're offer an account service, so you can have now and pay a bit later, which the others don't offer- handly if you run out of something/ blow equipment up halfway through a job and you don't get paid til its done (the joys of being self employed!)

all the own brand stuff they sell is great quality, and competitively priced., mig tips, shrouds, eurotorch parts, cutting discs, etc. etc.

the above autotint is just cheap curse word. buy a speedglas, or of you cant afford one of those get one of the red BOC own brand ones. they're designed and made by the other european optics manufacturer that I cant remember the name of, are great quality, and are about £100. more importantly, all parts are available as consumables. ive had one for a couple of years, and its as good as a speedglas just cheaper.

I always use a hand held mask. Just don't like those head worn ones. They always get in the way.

each to their own and whatever you find preferable I suppose.

Mind those crappy ones that come with welders are useless but a decent quality hand held one is fine

I'm no pro but I have a few tips

I started the wrong way round - with a cheapo arc welder. While it's trying to run before you can walk, it's damn cheap (£20 buzzbox from freeads, £20 box of rods and off you go), and teaches you A LOT and very quickly. I'd recommend doing it this way because it's not a massive investment up front, and will weld down to 1.5mm with a little practice (2.5mm rods).

COVER UP! - eg, wear sleeves. You'll get massive sunburn otherwise. I'm sure it cant be good for your skin all that UV!

don't weld shut-eyed. Sounds simple but i've done it a few times where my mask was at the other end of the garage and I was holding all the pieces already. UV goes right through your eyelids and you get arc eye anyway - mental!

PS - stick does corners very nicely

I use an Adams Gas agent for mix, and a pub bottle for thick stuff and cheapness. Cheaper for occasional use than rental.

Use a mask similar to abovfe, find it fine, had a SIFlite before which was excellent for the price.

I use think motorbike gloves the summer or "racing" type - plenty of 'feel', and they were there. Can be had cheap.

Earplugs for welding upside down to avoid that sizzling sensation, and a "snood" thing to stop hot rocks down the neck.

Join a welding forum and read the threads and questions, lots to be learnt there about the different techniques.

And don't start doing structural stuff until some good practice has been done. Very obvious but often see people piling into a chassis or something first off.