Or running diesel
welder recommendations
- Thread starter HankRearden
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I've been very Impressed with my everlast Tig welder, as soon as my miller quits because of obsolete parts I will buy a everlast mig.
Maybe needs a new liner
jbc426
Well-Known Member
These guys have some good quality stuff and reasonable prices too.
Everlast Inverter Welders Equipment - Welding Supply Company - Official Website
Everlast Power Equipment, manufacturers of MIG, TIG & Stick welders. For reliable welding machines and supplies shop Everlast Power Equipment.
My helper likes to weld told him I would buy him a nice tig and he will teach my kid how to weld
gzig5
Well-Known Member
Try aluminum. Doesn’t seem to make a big difference when I dip the balled tungsten. It seems to be self cleaning.
Otherwise, I’m a very good tungsten sharpener.
I have. Each of the 2-3 times I've ever tried tig has been on aluminum
gzig5
Well-Known Member
When I was recently Tig-ing aluminum, it wasn't nearly as catastrophic when I dipped in the puddle as when I am doing steel. I think the AC current for aluminum helps clean off the tungsten. I was using green tungsten, that forms a ball on the end. I don't know if that applies to the newer grey or blue materials which I think stay sharper, but I haven't tried them yet.
well, gettin close to done with this cab finally. The welding is gettin easier, beads looking better, weld penetration looking more like the demo's I had to watch years ago when I took a few welding classes (never could get that right, back then) less grinding and rewelding another pass as I go along on this project... ,
I don't know if the fact I'm gettin deeper into this spool of wire (uncovering "fresh" wire that has had less exposure to air and moisture maybe?) Ive done more than my share of welding over the years but most of what Ive done til the last handful of years has been much thicker material. the last few years has been more exhaust than anything and most of it not with "my" machine...
This thing definitely has snowballed/ when I started working on this thing// I sure wasn't counting on having to do this much metalwork
One of the scariest parts that I was fearing screwing up the most, was welding in the holes in the roof skin.... that definitely came out better than I expected it to. that was last night.
Tonight I'm working on the very top of the cab wall where they sectioned it (not very well) at the back window pinch weld. They must have found a sale on Bondo. I took some of that 55 gallon drum lid and cut a strip a little over an inch wide and bent it into a "U" with square corners. 1-3/16 wide with ~3/4" tall "legs" I welded a length of oxyfuel filler wire (same ER70-S6 as my MIG wire, only a little fatter) to the back side and fed the other end thru from inside of the cab and pulled it thru the gap on each side and pulled the "patch" up in place to bridge that gap with the oxyfuel filler rod and held it in place with that while I tacked that in. Gave me a backer to bridge the gap that I then spot welded into place and filled the gap with weld.
2 more things left. 1) build up the bottom lip of the pinchweld a bit on the sectioned in portion on each side about 3" long. Gonna clamp a 3/4" solid copper bar to it and weld away then dress with the 2" air powered angle grinder.
And the last thing... In the last couple of years of the D/W trucks there was a bulletin released by Mopar about the cowl cracking. The original 83 cab was cracked as the Bulletin described and nothing was done/ it was discovered/verified as we tore the truck apart to scrap that cab. They used to offer a repair kit for this that consisted of a preformed piece of sheet metal, a few pop rivets and some kind of adhesive, you'd have to remove the front clip to get at this. I have a 4'X8' sheet of sheet metal sitting here that Id bought at the beginning of this mess not knowing how much I might need. Its a little thinner gauge than most of the original metal on this cab, but the cowl "end bells" (my term) seem thinner than the rest of the cab structure. These are what cracks. The 4x8 sheet is about the same gauge maybe "splits the difference" between what the end bells are and what the rest of the cab is... Im thinking of making overlay panels for these end bells while apart. Its something that will not be seen at all once the truck is back in one piece.
This hasnt been "welding machine suggestion" (sorry) but its what Ive done with the welder I happen to have.
I looked at this machine like I looked at my compressor, and (tried to) look at my garage the same way when I built that. Go bigger than you think you will need. You won't be sorry. You'll use more of the "extra" capacity than you realize. I succeeded on the welder and on the compressor, they've turned out to be "just right" for my needs. I must say I failed miserably (underestimated) how big a garage I'd need. 30x36 seemed huge when I had the floor poured and built the skeleton. Zoning vs my lot size would not have allowed this, but I think I'd have run out of room had I doubled the size I built.
Hope someone is still paying attention at this point to my mess, in case someone out there is, I'll just say I thought of doing a build thread on this here at FABO/ but it isn't an A body so I didn't know what the mods would have said about a truck build.... I have way more than my share of issues as it is with them aggravating me by deleting my posts, and I figured a truck build would fall in that same boat. But the "for trucks only" is kind of a dive and everyone I do see over there, I also see here anyways....
I don't know if the fact I'm gettin deeper into this spool of wire (uncovering "fresh" wire that has had less exposure to air and moisture maybe?) Ive done more than my share of welding over the years but most of what Ive done til the last handful of years has been much thicker material. the last few years has been more exhaust than anything and most of it not with "my" machine...
This thing definitely has snowballed/ when I started working on this thing// I sure wasn't counting on having to do this much metalwork
One of the scariest parts that I was fearing screwing up the most, was welding in the holes in the roof skin.... that definitely came out better than I expected it to. that was last night.
Tonight I'm working on the very top of the cab wall where they sectioned it (not very well) at the back window pinch weld. They must have found a sale on Bondo. I took some of that 55 gallon drum lid and cut a strip a little over an inch wide and bent it into a "U" with square corners. 1-3/16 wide with ~3/4" tall "legs" I welded a length of oxyfuel filler wire (same ER70-S6 as my MIG wire, only a little fatter) to the back side and fed the other end thru from inside of the cab and pulled it thru the gap on each side and pulled the "patch" up in place to bridge that gap with the oxyfuel filler rod and held it in place with that while I tacked that in. Gave me a backer to bridge the gap that I then spot welded into place and filled the gap with weld.
2 more things left. 1) build up the bottom lip of the pinchweld a bit on the sectioned in portion on each side about 3" long. Gonna clamp a 3/4" solid copper bar to it and weld away then dress with the 2" air powered angle grinder.
And the last thing... In the last couple of years of the D/W trucks there was a bulletin released by Mopar about the cowl cracking. The original 83 cab was cracked as the Bulletin described and nothing was done/ it was discovered/verified as we tore the truck apart to scrap that cab. They used to offer a repair kit for this that consisted of a preformed piece of sheet metal, a few pop rivets and some kind of adhesive, you'd have to remove the front clip to get at this. I have a 4'X8' sheet of sheet metal sitting here that Id bought at the beginning of this mess not knowing how much I might need. Its a little thinner gauge than most of the original metal on this cab, but the cowl "end bells" (my term) seem thinner than the rest of the cab structure. These are what cracks. The 4x8 sheet is about the same gauge maybe "splits the difference" between what the end bells are and what the rest of the cab is... Im thinking of making overlay panels for these end bells while apart. Its something that will not be seen at all once the truck is back in one piece.
This hasnt been "welding machine suggestion" (sorry) but its what Ive done with the welder I happen to have.
I looked at this machine like I looked at my compressor, and (tried to) look at my garage the same way when I built that. Go bigger than you think you will need. You won't be sorry. You'll use more of the "extra" capacity than you realize. I succeeded on the welder and on the compressor, they've turned out to be "just right" for my needs. I must say I failed miserably (underestimated) how big a garage I'd need. 30x36 seemed huge when I had the floor poured and built the skeleton. Zoning vs my lot size would not have allowed this, but I think I'd have run out of room had I doubled the size I built.
Hope someone is still paying attention at this point to my mess, in case someone out there is, I'll just say I thought of doing a build thread on this here at FABO/ but it isn't an A body so I didn't know what the mods would have said about a truck build.... I have way more than my share of issues as it is with them aggravating me by deleting my posts, and I figured a truck build would fall in that same boat. But the "for trucks only" is kind of a dive and everyone I do see over there, I also see here anyways....
Its all good
What my body uses for filler Is threaded rod
It bends easy ,grinds easy, welds easy
He was doing a cuda build last time I was there and had to fill 1/2 the body gaps
I don't have time for body work anymore
So can just post pics of the assembly of the shop truck as I work on it
Next winter will be the dart build
My other bodyshop I've been working on his kids audi ....better sometimes to get paid for what I do best ...and pay the pros to do what they do
What my body uses for filler Is threaded rod
It bends easy ,grinds easy, welds easy
He was doing a cuda build last time I was there and had to fill 1/2 the body gaps
I don't have time for body work anymore
So can just post pics of the assembly of the shop truck as I work on it
Next winter will be the dart build
My other bodyshop I've been working on his kids audi ....better sometimes to get paid for what I do best ...and pay the pros to do what they do
the farther I go, the farther behind I get.... Every time I think "I'm close, only 2 more things and its done" I uncover more crap.
I had a lead on a supposedly solid rust free cab via MP only 6 hours away for a good price. I can only hope that cab would have actually turned out to be a POS.... the people fell off the face of the earth and quit replying right as I made plans to go down straight from work and come home with it the next morning, once I discovered the bondo and pop rivets in this one. ....
I had an offer for another cab "out of the blue," via a PM someone at Moparts that is claimed to be in "scuff and shoot" condition...but Florida is too far for me to go just for that without having other reason for a trip that far.... I don't have that much vacation time available. I see many in worse shape, needing even more work than I have tied up in this one, with higher buy-ins than these were offered to me for.
But then again rust hasn't been my problem. Only 1 baseball sized hole in the floor was rust. and I blame that on the home made hillbilly seat bracketry some prior owner jerry rigged into it. all the areas these cabs are well documented for rust are perfect. Im wondering "REALLY" why someone had reason to graft in a replacement cab wall..... I had the idea this truck originally had a box of some sort on back that required a "pass thru" from cab to box/bed.... but now I'm really beginning to wonder what the real story was. I'm only into it for my time and some materials (of which I had much of on hand already) the biggest cash outlay has been a bottle of 75/25 welding gas.... and some Roloc grinding discs, flapper wheels for the 4-1/2" angle grinder,
I already had the (little bit of) added sheet metal I've had to replace, the grinding materials, and the spool of 0.023" but that stuff, I paid for previously somewhere along the way.... I hate to think how much more the paint job I have to pay someone else to do, would have cost me// if I didn't have the space, the equipment and the know how, that I do have....
REMEMBER... IM NOT A "BODY MAN!" I know enough to be dangerous. Im just glad that most of my handywork will be " behind the scenes"... not all of it but most, will be hidden by carpet, trim, headliner, and the front wall of my truck bed....
and I started with between 1/4 and a 1/2 a bottle (125cf) of 75/25 weld gas.... and I'm down to between 1/4 and 1/2 a bottle of 75/25 again... I see another $153 and more arguments of trumped up BS charges coming by early next week even if I can finish what I have left on what remains in this one....
The original thought/plan was to cut out the teeny auto trans 2wd trans tunnel weld in the big 4wd and/or stick trans tunnel and send it to the dustless blaster..... until I discovered all the problems I have. At this point as long as I dont run out of 75/25 I WILL be done with it sometime over this 3 day weekend.... and it can go to the blaster. Hopefully that doesnt uncover even more surprises.... Im waiting on taking the rest of the body in to be blasted on getting the cab done. I finished the tunnel swap 2 nights ago. And still not done.
The hope/plan was absolute minimal amount of Bondo in the finished job that I can possibly get away with..... Im still hoping for less bondo in the finished project, than Ive ground off of this thing to this point....
I had a lead on a supposedly solid rust free cab via MP only 6 hours away for a good price. I can only hope that cab would have actually turned out to be a POS.... the people fell off the face of the earth and quit replying right as I made plans to go down straight from work and come home with it the next morning, once I discovered the bondo and pop rivets in this one. ....
I had an offer for another cab "out of the blue," via a PM someone at Moparts that is claimed to be in "scuff and shoot" condition...but Florida is too far for me to go just for that without having other reason for a trip that far.... I don't have that much vacation time available. I see many in worse shape, needing even more work than I have tied up in this one, with higher buy-ins than these were offered to me for.
But then again rust hasn't been my problem. Only 1 baseball sized hole in the floor was rust. and I blame that on the home made hillbilly seat bracketry some prior owner jerry rigged into it. all the areas these cabs are well documented for rust are perfect. Im wondering "REALLY" why someone had reason to graft in a replacement cab wall..... I had the idea this truck originally had a box of some sort on back that required a "pass thru" from cab to box/bed.... but now I'm really beginning to wonder what the real story was. I'm only into it for my time and some materials (of which I had much of on hand already) the biggest cash outlay has been a bottle of 75/25 welding gas.... and some Roloc grinding discs, flapper wheels for the 4-1/2" angle grinder,
I already had the (little bit of) added sheet metal I've had to replace, the grinding materials, and the spool of 0.023" but that stuff, I paid for previously somewhere along the way.... I hate to think how much more the paint job I have to pay someone else to do, would have cost me// if I didn't have the space, the equipment and the know how, that I do have....
REMEMBER... IM NOT A "BODY MAN!" I know enough to be dangerous. Im just glad that most of my handywork will be " behind the scenes"... not all of it but most, will be hidden by carpet, trim, headliner, and the front wall of my truck bed....
and I started with between 1/4 and a 1/2 a bottle (125cf) of 75/25 weld gas.... and I'm down to between 1/4 and 1/2 a bottle of 75/25 again... I see another $153 and more arguments of trumped up BS charges coming by early next week even if I can finish what I have left on what remains in this one....
The original thought/plan was to cut out the teeny auto trans 2wd trans tunnel weld in the big 4wd and/or stick trans tunnel and send it to the dustless blaster..... until I discovered all the problems I have. At this point as long as I dont run out of 75/25 I WILL be done with it sometime over this 3 day weekend.... and it can go to the blaster. Hopefully that doesnt uncover even more surprises.... Im waiting on taking the rest of the body in to be blasted on getting the cab done. I finished the tunnel swap 2 nights ago. And still not done.
The hope/plan was absolute minimal amount of Bondo in the finished job that I can possibly get away with..... Im still hoping for less bondo in the finished project, than Ive ground off of this thing to this point....
Yea fb sucks like that
If the saler doesn't call or text me I give up on them
My 67 i bought on ebay ...a Texas truck figure no rust ...and was just going to be a shop truck so dents a little ratty is ok
After I bought it guy asks if I wanted the parts truck too....ah sure didn't read the listing right.....so cost twice as much to ship it
It ran like crap..had a bent fender..front end was all over the place clutch shot...pulled the nose and my friend was like you need to paint the frame ......now every bolt has been taken off 4 years later finally going back together...I used to go on sweptline.org but that died (sad)...so have been posting my progress here
If the saler doesn't call or text me I give up on them
My 67 i bought on ebay ...a Texas truck figure no rust ...and was just going to be a shop truck so dents a little ratty is ok
After I bought it guy asks if I wanted the parts truck too....ah sure didn't read the listing right.....so cost twice as much to ship it
It ran like crap..had a bent fender..front end was all over the place clutch shot...pulled the nose and my friend was like you need to paint the frame ......now every bolt has been taken off 4 years later finally going back together...I used to go on sweptline.org but that died (sad)...so have been posting my progress here
Welding new metal patch to rusty floors that I have "cleaned" as well as I dare, the issue is always getting a good bead on such, the old welder does fine on new metal. Granted I need .023 and gas, but....
Hopefully I don't haul home anymore projects!
Hopefully I don't haul home anymore projects!
About like sweating new copper pipe to old copper pipe.. I can sweat new copper all day but had problems when sectioning in new to old. I always had to go back to the last soldered joint on the system and start back from there. Until I discovered silver solder. Once I found that, new copper, old copper, don't matter.
Otherwise I could clean the oxidation off and no matter how shiny I got the existing one I could get it cherry red and still wouldn't work. Don't have that problem anymore.
I sometimes have the same issue at work doing exhaust work putting new pipe to old but not as bad as I used to have with sweating copper.
Otherwise I could clean the oxidation off and no matter how shiny I got the existing one I could get it cherry red and still wouldn't work. Don't have that problem anymore.
I sometimes have the same issue at work doing exhaust work putting new pipe to old but not as bad as I used to have with sweating copper.
Never trusted my self with pipes
My first body job i did was 67 beetle
I brazed haft of the lower part of the car together....would go "wheeling " in the woods just about every night all i had was a pair of big snows and a come-a-long
Rolled it straightened it out enough with a 2×4 and a bottle jack and drove it for another 6 months...saved the floor pan and built another car out of it ...sold that
My first body job i did was 67 beetle
I brazed haft of the lower part of the car together....would go "wheeling " in the woods just about every night all i had was a pair of big snows and a come-a-long
Rolled it straightened it out enough with a 2×4 and a bottle jack and drove it for another 6 months...saved the floor pan and built another car out of it ...sold that
Woody500
Well-Known Member
A Hobart was the smoothest MIG I ever used that didn't have a Cobra head on the feed . Hobart was a large industrial model, don't know small ones.
Cobra MIG head has a motor & speed control in the handle so you're not pushing the wire you're pulling it. VERY expensive but great for production use.
Just saw one for $300 and others over 3k so not sure if that's right.
Woody500
Well-Known Member
It's all about being in a comfortable position, especially when learning. I'd get set up & move my wrist thru path of weld to see if I'd get smooth movement, Before I ever light it up. Much more to learn, of course, but you have to have comfortable motion to use those added skills.
And sit comfortably, at first, until you've got it figured out. Poor positions a necessity of course, but learn first. And rest wrist on table comfortably too, at first,but gas technique will help later.
Well I picked up that old black Hobart handler welder last weekend. Haven't done much with it yet, I think it's one of the original Hobart handler welders....
Before the miller buyout. If I'm guessing right looking at the serial number it's from 1988.
There's one(used) just like it on eBay for 4x what I paid, similar to what it would have cost me closer to home. It's got a pretty big roll of flux core wire on it now, and I see some rust within the spool, I did make a few sparks with it at the seller's home, before I paid for it.... But that's all so far. I did find a gas bottle kit for it, but I'll probably unwind and throw away a couple of layers of the existing flux core wire that's there, get into the fresh stuff further in and see how it does.
Model number of the one I got is a 6969A, (there was also a 6969 without the "A") don't know what difference that made.
Built in troy Ohio, definitely not Chinese.
Part of me wishes I had this unit earlier in my truck build, don't know if it would have helped in the areas that gave me fits. It's only 90A with 4 power levels on the switch. Id like to at least find a manual for it.
I'm as done with the cab as I'm gonna go with it body and paint wise. Now to borrow my neighbors bigger trailer, go p/u the bed and other panels and hike it to the blaster then the paint shop
Before the miller buyout. If I'm guessing right looking at the serial number it's from 1988.
There's one(used) just like it on eBay for 4x what I paid, similar to what it would have cost me closer to home. It's got a pretty big roll of flux core wire on it now, and I see some rust within the spool, I did make a few sparks with it at the seller's home, before I paid for it.... But that's all so far. I did find a gas bottle kit for it, but I'll probably unwind and throw away a couple of layers of the existing flux core wire that's there, get into the fresh stuff further in and see how it does.
Model number of the one I got is a 6969A, (there was also a 6969 without the "A") don't know what difference that made.
Built in troy Ohio, definitely not Chinese.
Part of me wishes I had this unit earlier in my truck build, don't know if it would have helped in the areas that gave me fits. It's only 90A with 4 power levels on the switch. Id like to at least find a manual for it.
I'm as done with the cab as I'm gonna go with it body and paint wise. Now to borrow my neighbors bigger trailer, go p/u the bed and other panels and hike it to the blaster then the paint shop
Last BB was '78-79 from factory.
Rumor was they had a few van chassis motor homes in 81 w/a factory BB but that was"it".
I have 2 core 360 magnums here and 2 318 magnums.
Part of me would love to build a 390 out of one of the 318s....
Oh yeah
Just in case the body guys balk at my handiwork on the cab I do have a line on a better than decent "plan B" cab.
I was in Ohio and looked at one guy's project in progress and (this isn't the one I might get) saw his beautiful cab he got from GA....
My plan B cab is also in Ohio so it would mean a return trip but not "there" where I saw this one
The guy with the truck in progress and the GA cab, I bought some dash wiring harnesses and a pair of power window regulators and motors, feim
Just in case the body guys balk at my handiwork on the cab I do have a line on a better than decent "plan B" cab.
I was in Ohio and looked at one guy's project in progress and (this isn't the one I might get) saw his beautiful cab he got from GA....
My plan B cab is also in Ohio so it would mean a return trip but not "there" where I saw this one
The guy with the truck in progress and the GA cab, I bought some dash wiring harnesses and a pair of power window regulators and motors, feim
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