I have couple more pieces of patch panel to weld in and ran out of rod. I was using tig rod but no one around that has more is open, so im limited to tractor supply.... they have an RG45 copper coated bronze rod, or a solid bronze wire. whats my best choice....thanks!
If you have a wire welder with .035 mild steel in it pull out a foot at a time and use it. Another old standard for Oxy weld is plain old coat hangers after knocking off the paint.
If you run the mig wire through a 4" piece of brake line tubing bent in this shape [~ ]using a drill to spin and pull it through it will straighten out the wire so you don't have to fight coiled wire while you are trying to weld....
Yeah, the solid core wire. If you go the wire route, just be prepared to feed it fast, its not a lot of material. If you dont have the brake line, just clamp one end in the vise and grab the wire next to it with pliers and drag down it to help take some of the kink out.
Hey, Another vote for 100% "EXTRA-VIRGIN" coat hanger! Not my first choice, but at 1700 hours on a Sunday afternoon, ya gota do what ya gota do! Most coat hanger wire has plenty of carbon content to work well for a gas weld bead. Too, it hammer welds & files well. " Picture all expert as if they were mammals "
Actually,metal hangers where always my first choice when i gas welded way back in the day.As pimpin' said,good for hammerin' and filing etc...
you can also use safety wire pliers to straiten MIG wire...clamp one end in a vice , the other in the saftey wire pliers ang givet a pull or 2 and yer on your way..
I use mechanics wire or tie wire,anyone else? Seems to weld nicer than coat hangers,proably because it's softer.
My favorite welding rod is baling wire, it is a little softer and not so brittle. the same with tie wire. Having said that, I've welded a lot with coat hanger.
Another vote for coat hangers. I too have welded a bunch with them. enough when I was younger to catch hell from my mom for it once she figured out where her coat hangers were disappearing to
I,ve used the wire they tie up bundles of steel with,its soft and welds fine probably a little heavy on panel metal but great on exhaust tube.use the unplated wire.
I have used the coat hangers for welding but have not removed the coating. What is the best way to remove the coating ?
Yeah, my tub has almost 2 five pound rolls in it, the kind they use for tieing rebar. It's the best. Used to be known as baling wire or haywire.
Why not just cut some strips of your panel sheet and use that. Replacing the rust you must have a few off cuts laying round.
Nothing works better than coat hanger. Why i dont know but tis so. Not because it is cheap or free either it just welds better. Don
Got an update on your tub? I found a 4 1/2 year old thread,it looked to be in mock-up stage at that time.It was looking pretty good,though.
When I was a kid NOBODY had a mig welder, I learned to gas weld. Work uniforms every week so there was a never ending supply of "rods".
It's been a slow process. It still isn't on the street. Looks-wise it hasn't changed much but it does have a cut down T bed on it now that I just finished, disc brakes up front, pedals and a 260/T5.
My proress has been slow,too,but it's still progress. Pretty cool you're using a 260. I'm thinking of putting a 289 in mine. Let's see some new pics.
I originally had a 429 and a big shaft toploader in it, got talked out of that engine by the guy I got it from, scored a 63 Fairlane with heavy hail damage and 80,000 on the clock, hence the 260. Home made 2x2 intake from an efi intake with a pair of the 260 .98 2100 carbs sitting sideways, all stock otherwise. I figure it should get the little rpu down the road just fine and get decent mileage with the T5. I have a 57 9 inch and plan to run 3.70-4.10 gears with 29 inch tires. 3.90s ideally.
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