Welders And Welding

This is a fine start. a grinder will clean that right up other than the crater on the left. Grind it, fill it, grind and blend. thats flux core, right? Thats what it does. Flux core is basically arc welding...

Ok. Pennies are not copper since the 80s. they are mostly zinc now or something. What you want are copper "spoons". in the absence of these "spoons" you can use aluminum. You using a need to affix it tightly to the back of the hole using vise grips or c clamps. It acts as a heat sink to stop burn through. You then turn your welders amperage down and must use short pulses to fill slowly. you wait until the metal is not red anymore and pulse another bit of wire into the weld, you continue this process until it is filled. you also want to make sure the weld area is free from ALL paint and rust, the backside too. I know this is difficult especially the backside. A grinder with a flap disk at 100 grit is what you use to grind those ugly welds down. Sometimes it looks like poo. when welding poo you are going to get poo welds. weld, grind, blend, move on, fix pinholes and craters later with body filler, D/A prime and paint.

 

The part your cousin didn't mention was that the copper needs to be a thick piece, like 1/2 thick or so is what I use. The reason it works is the copper has such a high conductivity for heat, so it doesn't readily form a puddle on the copper. You would have to get the whole piece really hot to manage a puddle of copper melt. You can get a steel puddle right up next to it without it sticking.

Don

 

Fact is the Penny is not 100% Copper unless it was a real early coin............that was your mistake............................(The composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). [/FONT][/COLOR]

Had you would have used 100% copper of any thickness more than say .125" that would have never happened.

 

Yeah I'm still hammering out the details. Today I was blowing holes through the metal. My welder has two settings, high and low. I have always use it on the low setting, but I was still blowing holes through the metal. I wasn't going too slow so I figured I'd ramp up the wire speed. This caused problems when I was filling holes (mountains), but it worked much better today when I welding in small 3 in. by 4 in. body patches.

Don't get me wrong, I still suck and they look horrible. But the welds are strongish and should hold up; at least better than the rust was before hand.

 

I haven't ground them down yet, I ran out of day light and I don't want to be, "That Neighbor." But like I said before, my welds look like bird S#*t.

 

When you are welding in patches like that, do small tacks alternating around the patch. When I say small, I mean really small. Just keep making the tacks until they complete the weld around the edge. Just a quick trigger pull is all you need. Let the piece cool as you work and take your time. Welding in patches like that takes a lot of patience and you have to go slow. Weld metal is a lot harder than the steel you are welding and you are going to start hating the grinder time before you get all that flat. Here's a patch I welded in on my Jeep. This was just getting started, but you get the idea. Small spots, until they all meet. It still won't be that pretty, but a lot less grinder time. You should be using .023" wire if you are not already.



Patience is the key, Grasshopper.

 

Here's what it looked like after hitting it with the grinder and flapper.



After bondo. The finish weld doesn't have to be pretty, just flat.

 

Nice little tutorial.

like Mr Moto says, small tacks, alternate, let cool, etc. Will not look pretty, Will be when you're done. Mr Moto makes it look easy.

 

Hey look, there's my rotisserie! <giggle> Yes, it lives in my garage now with my tub hanging on it, I'm so pleased. Someday I'll be burning holes in my tub too, and cursing the gods.

 

Very nice, thanks for the insight. I'm currently using Hobart 0.30 wire, so it sounds like I need to go smaller.

 

My 'hot rod' Lincoln came with a gas kit.
I spent the dough and bought a small bottle of CO2/Ar mix, reversed the polarity and went with smaller wire. I think I'm currently melting 025 wire from cardboard freight. My bottle is about 3 1/2ft tall by six inches in dia... Lasts a long time for me, it seems. Less grinding from less splatter so I could focus real good on my grinding skills on just the scars, not having to erase all the the ingrown hairs... Also, melted less little holes into bigger holes. Found 'death by a thousand dots' was the best way to fill small holes. Used mild steel washers of different sizes on bigger holes as filler, washers can be bent over a hammer or mallet or metal pipe to approximate different body angles if needed (filled a radio antenna hole in and some others.
when I got gas, I was relieved (insert jokes) that I could actually do a decent job with the little mig.

 

.030 is definitely to big for sheetmetal. You will still be able to burn holes through the sheetmetal even with the .023 wire if not careful.

 

I use 3/4" copper water pipe beaten flat as a backer when filling holes. Doesn't last long, but it's fairly cheap, easy to find, and works well

 

0.023 wirefeed with gas and a Cu or a AL block behind works quite well on sheetmetal. After a few days of work, I didnt need the backers anymore depending on the size of the hole I was trying to fill. Yes, it was a few week job to do the welds for all of the rusted parts. I suppose I used 12 square feet of steel to fix my B. Bending in the panel to fix the right rear fender was, surprisingy sort of fun.

 

Thanks for the morning laugh! I have just finished reading the welding forum, you guys are funny. Being a Retired Ironworker, I have done a little welding, been through all the same things I have seen in this forum. I learned Torch welding in High School, taught myself, then went to Trade School in the Ironworkers. Then learned Body Shop welding, hanging around my friends body shop. In the old days it was called Hammer welding, because you would weld an inch and hammer it flat and weld more and hammer again. Today it is Stitch welding like in the pictures. Classes is the best way to learn, but you can teach yourself, it just takes longer. The main thing in welding is CLEAN, if it does not shine it will not weld right. Clean both sides, as gases form the other side will affect the shield of the weld. Paint, grease, and rust fumes will affect the gas shield that protects the weld until it solidifies. I love the stories, as I can relate to what you are saying. Thanks for the smiles, Have a great day.

 

Hey Rondog, glad to hear you are making progress. Been wondering about my old rotisserie.

 

Cheap engine stands make great rotisseries.

 

I have been reading and more reading of all the great info here. And I have to say this is one of the best post I have seen(post 32). And in a great thread.
Excellent job of articulating and describing the ups and downs of welding. So hilarious I have read this multiple times on different days and still crack up.
Thank You!

 

At least we did something to entertain you. Welding always entertains me, sort of fun to watch that molten puddle move around. Maybe why I like brazing and gas welding the most.

 

Having to do a ton of sheet metal work on my tub, what I'm getting here is stay away from flux core (which is all I have) and go with gas .023 wire ?