I will never butt weld sheet metal again

I thought this thread was great too.

Butt Welding Made Easy

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=758623&highlight=butt+welding

 

X2. ...unless i'm working on a truck that carts firewood or a farmers ute thats covered in shit most of its life! ....butt welding (or any kinda welding really)just takes practice...I'm pretty sure Ray Charles wasn't overly good at golf when he started either!!

 

Every time I tried butt Welding, I burnt my cheeks.......now I just hold it in my hand....

 

Did a 1957 Chevy convert 4 years ago. I butt welded the 1/4 panel on the passenger side and an old school bodyman friend lap welded a half 1/4 panel on the drivers side. He beveled the edges, sanded and primed all the surfaces and seam sealed it on the inside surface. The car is dead straight and black to this day. I always wanted to see how this would play out down the road. Only time will tell, but I've seen cars he did 20 years ago and they still look great. It's not for me, but just because thats not the way I'd do it, I won't go and say it's wrong. Who am I to say ?

 

no man....don't say that.....really? naw. come on.

 

jeeeeeez...I just spent 30mins typing up a serious reply to your thread Bob ...hit post reply and it had timed me out...!! FFS!!

 

That's the same basic technique I posted about earlier in this thread; cut through both pieces of metal at once to get a good fit.

There are photos here http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/body/mopp_0507_panel_rust_removal_2/photo_10.html Hold your nose if you look, it's a muscle car.

 

If you spent as much time practicing welding as talking on this thread you’d be an expert …. That’s what’s simple.

 

I can type pretty fast so it doesn't take long for me to post a message. Did you find the bunny yet?

 

I get those barbs and such from time to time.
But that is solely because I am a horseshit welder and try to go too fast.
Lack of skill is not a reason to do things incorrectly.

 

What's the point here? Why decry the right way because you had a bad time with it? How well would a Model A fender fit with a hack lap weld? Like shit, that's how. How thick will it be? 2-3X the OEM thickness, then add filler besides. Forget rust potential. I guess if your standards are "...just so it looks good.", lap away. Those with higher standards differ.

 

This thread sucks, Bob contradicts himself every other statement. I have lap welds on my car, I suck for having them, I was wrong, Bob is wrong, kill this thing for the love of yaweh!

 

Find whats causing your welds to pinhole. Butt weld or not, those pinholes will cause a failure either way.

 

I'm addicted to this thread!

Last year or more I was helping a guy with his 55 chevy truck.
It was a roach but he loved it.
There was so many layers of paint and bondo over holes,
I talked him in to sandblasting it.
Big mistake as it uncovered every pimple and scar,
things he had no clue were there (not a metal guy)
and I was waiting to see how bad they really were.

It was obvious to me what needed to be done,
and all the work set him back a good month or 2 (side work)
but also paid the shop rent!

My idea was to have it they way I'd want it done,
so the insides and outsides were as smooth as I could do in the time,
still needed evercoat but not too bad.
Basically the prepwork for a real painter.


everything dark grey is either a patch panel or a PATCH PANEL.




Well this job should have been one of those "lap weld and get on with it" type jobs.
The guy was happy with the result,
but man I still hear him gripe about the time and cost!
However I'd rather hear about that
then picking apart quick-work techniques someone else would point out later.
We're still friends but his truck still isn't running!

TP

 

I read the first few pages of this thread and my head is starting to hurt now, so I'm just going to throw in my .02 without reading the last 5 pages of bickering.
The only thing i'm going to mention is that I have a lincoln 255 digital mig that I too bought the .23 rollers for and was not impressed. I thought I would love the 255 because it was more tunable. But that thing wouldn't weld for shit! Kept getting clogged up, ect. The weld store told me if I were to run the thin wire, i'd have to change out the liner to a thinner liner, witch makes sense, but I don't want to have to do that every time I want to change out wire. So, I still use my small lincoln Pro Mig 135 for all my sheetmetal and LOVE it. My recommendation is to go find yourself a nice 110v unit (with gas of course) if you are planning on welding a lot more sheetmetal in the future. I'm now starting to tig everything, and thats great as long as you can hammer on it, but the little mig has been my main sheet welder for a long time and wouldn't trade it.

 

If you think it sucks don't read it. You've read it at least twice, I'd think if the first you read it and didn't like it you wouldn't come back. What is your problem? The only posts you've made are useless smart ass ones.

I like guys who bitch because a post is not on subject or otherwise useless and then make dumb ass remarks. It's not hurting you in any way, just move on to the next post.

 

ok ...couple things to try...if your worried about pinholes or little gaps where weld hasn't taken...instead of using a torch to shine light trough ,can you somehow blow compressed air in from behind and feel for draughts? just an idea...
another thing a guy I worked with used to do was....he would put a thin coat of gorilla snot (you know that hairy fibreglass /aluminium reinforced bondo) over his weld s to help stop any moisture leaking through from behind and blistering any finish products on the outer surface. Gorilla snot fillers are reasonably waterproof whereas normal finishing bondo is a sponge for moisture.
Yes MIG welds can crack, but usually from too much material being removed with a grinder (which also work hardens the steel a little) and/od too much weld penetration.

 

I think you need to look into Nads' Post History before you make a statement like that.


I'm not sure I understand all of this Thread either.

It started out with " I will never butt weld sheet metal again"

OK...

Fine.

So dont.