I took the advice of the forum and purchased a Lincoln SP 110 MIG welder to take care of some drill holes in the floor plan and weld in some bucket seat brackets in my 1970 Chevelle. The welder came with a 2 lb roll of solid core .025 wire and I had the bottle filled with 75% argon, 25% CO2.

I have been busy teaching myself how to lay down a bead on some scrap sheet metal I had before attacking my floor boards. I am just about to the point where I can patch a hole in stead of making one.

I am finally realizing how critical the correct amperage and wire speed is however, I got a couple quick questions fro you pros.

(1) Do you suggest I use .030 wire, or will the .025 do the trick?

(2) what gauge sheet metal are the floor boards.

The inside cover of the welder gives amperage and wire speed settings based on the guage/thickness of the metal. In my vast experience, 4 days and a half roll of wire, I have found these settings to be prety close.

Thanks for the help

Brad Howard

I think floors are 20-18 g and its almost necessary to use the .025 wire unless you are lap welding, in which case the .025 is best, but you can use the .030. I think i did my floors with a Lincoln 135 on the B-1.5ish setting and fine tuned it till i got some nice circles without blowing out.

Im still learning too, sure is fun once you get the hang of it.

-Ryan

If you are doing plug welds to look like a factory spot weld, what I do is weld the area in a circular fashion and immediately wack it with the ball end of a small ballpeen hammer while glowing red. This procedure is called hammer welding and works well to flatten out the weld. I usually finish the welds off with a flap wheel to give it a cleaner finished look and then use seam sealer.