need some welding tips

[lightning_msd]

bought a mig 110 welder today, didnt buy any shield gas, i bought some wire that says no shield gas needed, anyways, ive only welded with stick on a miller 220, anyways, my welds really suck, especially the tacking, ive done a few welds on just some experimental pieces, im just wondering if anyones got some great tips, also is .30 wire to thick to use on body panels? the welder came with .23, thanks in advance, im not going to be doing any heavy duty non safe stuff, just filling holes, exhaust that type of stuff.

[lightning_msd]

everybody mad at me or what?

[gmcjimmy88]

My best advice is practice. Alit of libraries carry some how-to welding books that help a little bit. Start with your spot welds keeping the gun tip about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the metal. Normally in my experience the thicker the metal the higher the heat and the lower the speed for more penetration into the metal. For thinner sheet metal and since your starting out turn your speed and heat about halfway for a starting point. Get some scrap sheetmetal about the same thickness of what you will be working on most/first. Drill a few holes into it like body molding holes for starters. Practice trying to fill those . If you find that the metal melts away before you build any weld then turn your heat down a few notches and your speed up a few as well.If when you are trying to lay a continuous bead you are getting any penetration normally means speed to high heat to low. This could also be caused by moving the gun to fast across the metal. I am by no means a professional. I did a little welding in school about ten years ago and recently started practicing on my GM's floorpan (or lack of pans) and it took awhile to get the hang of the welder again. Most welders are different so there is no single instructions for an overall effect. the best method is practice. What problems are you having with your welds? You could post a pic or 2 that might help. Show both sides of the sheet metal if you do. I hope this helps you out some if not feel free to P.M. me with your particular problems and I will try to help the best I can.

[lightning_msd]

[FORDification]

If you're looking to pick up some good pointers or want to ask some very experienced people some questions, you should check out the Weld Talk forums.

[lightning_msd]

thanks keith, anyone know what gauge our sheet metal is? and is all vehicle sheet metal the same gauge?

[FORDification]

A while back I cut off a small chunk of the sheetmetal on the roof panel to measure it with a micrometer, and it's .031, which is 22-gauge steel. AFAIK most (if not all) the sheetmetal on our trucks is the same.

No, the newer the vehicle, the thinner the steel.

[spartman]

That Looks like I did the welding.

How did you get those pics.

[black70cs]

.023 is definitely better on sheetmetal. and fluxcore is alot harder to weld than reg. mig with 75-25 Ar./CO2 mix. You could use straight CO2 also but doesn't weld as clean. Just keep practicing. Play with the heat settings and wirespeed and see the difference between too fast and too slow (wire speed) If you go up or down with the heat, you have to adjust the W/S accordingly. When you weld sheetmetal body panels, your not welding it all at once, skip around. practice.
Charlie