OK...I've borrowed a Miller 135 110v mig to weld in my floor pans. My question is what heat range should I be using to spot (plug) weld the pans in. Then follow up with stich welding them in? I've only used my flux core lincoln welder in the past. But this has been on heavy gage plate etc. Any tips will be helpful! smile.gif

I'm a 1000 miles from my machine at the moment, and for the life of me I can't remember my settings. If you have some scrap sheetmetal laying around, experiment with them until you find the best heat/wire speed settings. If I were at home, I could just go out and look at mine.

If you have scrap you need to practice on that first. Welding with flux core and gas is a bit different.

The welds you will be making on the car are the type of welds you need to practice. Practice making a few plug or spot welds, do those til you feel comfortable making a perfect weld. Then move on to the lap weld and or butt weld. Making a lap weld and butt weld can mean making some sight machine adjustments to get the BEST weld possible.

All in all you want the highest setting you can get without blowing holes.

For all sheetmetal you should be using .23 wire, any bigger is over kill and just causing more damage in the shape of warpage. the heavier wire takes more heat to melt which means more heat in the panel-warpage.

Another good idea is to snip off that little ball that forms on the end of the wire after weld. This is must helpful when doing the stich weld method.
Also the best thing that I do is on any weld that is going to get welded on, before I connect the 2 welds together I take my cutoff wheel and slightly grind on the weld. What this does is allow you to fully weld into the metal and weld bead without putting more heat into the panel as you are not trying to burn thro the entire weld bead and then into the metal.

It also wouldn't hurt to get a small piece of copper and back your weld joint with it. This helps prevent blow-throughs. Of course, it won't always be possible to get at the backside of your weld.

I used 3 & 45 on my Miller. Give it a try and adjust from there


Jerry

Thanks for the info so far guys. graemlins/thumbsup.gif . The guy I borrowed it from said 5 & 50 and I'm not having any luck. I'm going to back it down and try a few practice welds. I need to get these pans in, so I can get to the firewall.

No two people use the same settings. I weld on the hot side and differnces in welders same-same will be enough to change that. Practice just stich welding that is the only thing you need to know. When learning on a new welder count the time on (in your head)and try to stay with the same time. Time is a key to consistant stitch welds. Pushing the puddle will create a hotter weld pulling a cooler.

I have some sheet metal for you to practice on in my garage. I run my 135 at 4 heat 35 wire spd. 23-24 gas then adjust to liking. Get a light shade for your helmet, makes it a lot easier to see the work. I use 8-9 range, its not as bright as stick welding or mig welding thick steel. The 110 unit will need to heat cycle if you get it to hot it will shut down. Trying to weld long beads will create more heat and warpage. I have riveted the panels and screwed them in place to hold them tight to the old pan. Then used a small hammer and tapped the two pieces together as I tacked them down to keep the pan and old pan as close as possible, then removed the fasteners and pluged and ground flat. You have my number, Take care Tim.