chinaclipper

I am really REALLY struggling of late; after more than 4 practice sessions now I STILL can't seem to get my practice plug welds to hold. If I can't produce a proper plug or spot weld, this rocker panel repair is going to stop I mean FAST. Somehow I don't think pop rivets would work. (would they???)

I am drilling 1/4" holes in the top plate, then filing the edges smooth. I am clamping the sheets tight together. I've tried cutting the "blob" off with a cutter. It is as if it isn't "hot" enough to fuse into that back piece.

It seems as if the hole just "fills up" with metal and I am not getting any "hold" on the second piece of metal. I can practically rip the weld apart with my bare hands.

I am using the HF90A, .030" Lincoln Flux Core wire, and 16g weldable steel. I am using a 20A circuit with a 10g power cord. I am using clean pieces of metal. I have tried to keep the wire "close" to make it as hot as I can.

I have tried low power, high power, fast wire speed (4-7) slow wire speed (1.5-2). Nothing seems to work. I even held the weld for like 10 seconds and nothing seems to stick, I just get a big ball o' metal on the first piece.

What do I need to do? Tips please...

(Please PLEASE nobody say "Get rid of the papa-oscar-sierra Harbor Freight welder...."
I know....)

2002FX4

Ouch, sounds like you're not getting enough penetration. Still got the receipt for that bad boy?

chinaclipper

Yup

I think now its just a matter of what to replace it with;
right now it looks like it's between the Eastwood 135 and the Miller 140 or Hobart Handler.

Can't really justify the 230V rigs, but a better 120V should have been my first choice. I am not saying a large part of my problem isn't my technique-I am sure it is, but eVen still, everyone I mean EVERYONE on the forums I subscribe say the same things-Like "LOOSE THE HF POS. "

So I guess this next few days I pack it up and try something else.... Argh!

skizriz

It's not the welder, it's the welder. The 90 amp HF welder will blow a hole right through the metal. I commonly use it to weld 1/8 with no problems. 3/16 with a nice bevel and preheating it.

How far do you hold the stinger from the metal.?
Hold it at a slight angle, and almost touch the edge of the stinger to the metal. It sounds like you have too much stick out (wire sticking out).
Try to have between 1/2" and 3/4" of wire sticking out,tops. Any more than that, the wire will melt off before it penetrates.
The same goes for wire speed. Too slow, it will melt off before it gets penetration.too fast, it will glob up before it gets penetration.
The closer you hold the stinger to the work, the more penetration you will get.

If you have ever dealt with a rust hole piled up with mig weld. That's what they do. Hold the stinger 4" or so away, crank the feed speed up, and glob up the weld with no penetration.

My old Jeep frame was full of it. It looked like a Porcupine on the inside.

here's a good video.

skizriz

Here's a good video of somebody using the same welder you have. Not a bad video. He has a little too much angle, and a little too much stick out IMO.
A good weld will sound like a nice constant sizzle of bacon.
Mmmmmm bacon...... Now where was I?............
Overall a good video to watch.

chinaclipper

Thanks everyone.
I'm gonna go home and see if I can get it right.
Thanks for the pointers/tips

chinaclipper

After MUCH thinking and practice, I decided to get a machine that should at least carry me through some other projects as well. Almost everyone was telling me to loose the HF, so.... I did. I got the Hobart Handler 140.

Literally 3 1/2 times as much, but, I hope, at least now I can blame it on the welder and not the welder (salute to skizriz there).

Back to more practice!

skizriz

Sweet setup. As long as you have the power to run it, you can't go wrong with having more welder than you think you will need.
Getting the best you can afford will pay off in the end also.

chinaclipper

Practicing with the Hobart Handler 140 today and the operative word was just WOW!
I know I am not a welder but this machine made the spot welds a TON better than any of my attempts with the HF 90A welder.


I will look for some lighter gauge steel and start practicing with that as well.
To date I have been using 16 gauge, I'd like to try 18-20 gauge because I think that's more of what I will be using on the rocker panels.

chinaclipper

BEFORE I GET TOO INVOLVED SKIZRIZ SHOULD I START MY OWN THREAD?

I honestly appreciate you patience and help on this one.
Well, I pulled the doors off today on the drivers side. It took about 5 hours, start to finish.

First, I had to try and get the chrome "running tubes" off (don't know what else to call em. I couldn't do it. Waaay tooo tight. Went to the local independent station and they popped em off in about two minutes. Put it up on the rack and everything. Impact wrench, bada bing! Man, I need a decent garage.

Then I called my nephew over. No problems on the panel;but the harness had a weird connection back to the lock. 4 wires-anyone know what they are for? We had to cut them, we will re-joint em when we put 'er back together.

On the suicide door, we could NOT get the lower Torx screw off on the limiter. You can see the picture of the part that is attached to the truck. Tried everything-even tried welding a nut to it. Eventually we just ground it off-I guess I will have to get an easy out and try to get the busted stud out. Any other ideas?

The little doo-dad that allows the lock to the suicide door.... How is that located on the new panel? BTW, that back one looks like it might be stuck too. Gonna get a real nice torx bit before I tackle those ones. The HF doesn't seem to be very hardened

Once we had a pretty good view, I noticed there is rust and decay. I just don't know how much I can repair..... I do have lots of rust encapsulator, and I can do lots of wire brushing and grinding, but if you look at the pics, you can see pretty decent "gaps" in some of the support beams...

BTW, should I take off the front fender? It looks like I am going to need to do that. The front of the rocker is pretty shot. How do I do that?

What have I gotten myself into??