I used a cut off wheel to open up a portion of the trunk so I could get to the cage nuts,when I pulled the body off.I only cut on 3 sides and kind of bent it back a little(just enough to get to the nut).Now its time to weld it shut and would like some tips on filling that gap that the cut off wheel made,while I'm welding it. Thanks for the help

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If it's too fast your too slow!!!
TC#1695

Read my "Basics of Basics" for MIG welding there is plenty there for you. But basically when you weld a gap you want to put VERY short little welds to the thin metal to give you something to weld the next weld to. Instead of trying to weld to the thin metal, you want to get some little, cool, weld material on the edge of the metal and then weld to IT. With each weld you will want to "grab" a little of the surrounding thin metal to keep good penetration but direct the weld at the previous weld.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

MARTINSR,
I went through your Basics Of Basics and just want to say thanks. You certainly are an asset to this site. Thank again



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If it's too fast your too slow!!!
TC#1695

excellant advise! i have had no problem welding 1/8" gaps like that with my mig. (side to side, side to side) http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Basically, MARTIN is describing a technique known as stitch welding. Rather than one continuous bead, you're actually tying together a series of spot welds. You do this with intermittent bursts of the trigger. You weld just long enough to form you puddle and then stop, move forward, hit the tirgger, form your puddle and tie it into the previous spot and stop. You move around on the panel so you decrease the chance of warpage. You do this until all your welds are tied together.

Randy and FO_FDYFO
Thanks for the additional info. I'm new at Mig welding and I can use all the help I can get. One thing is for sure,it's alot of fun learning. FO_FDYFO I'm usually I'm pretty good at figuring out plates,but what the hell does your username stand for? Thanks again guys

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If it's too fast your too slow!!!
TC#1695

Randy, I am sorry I didn't make myself clear. I am not talking about stitch welding at all. What I mean is to tack a small weld into the corner at the end of the gap. Then welding the next tack weld to it. Then on and on till the gap is welded up. This way you are creating a nice thick piece of metal to weld to. If you try to weld up the gap using the edge of the thin metal you have a good possibility of blowing holes in the thin metal.

http://members.aol.com/buickfam/welds.jpg

The above is an example of what I mean. At the end of # 1 I put a little red weld. Then in #2 another weld to the last one. Then #3 another, then #4 another.

On welding in the center of the gap you do the same thing, A is a little tack weld, B is another one welded to the A one. and so on.

Stitch welding would be if you had a perfect seam to weld and you welded a little weld then moved down the seam and welded another little weld and so on.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

MartinSr, so you are saying that after you make your initial tack weld to one side of the sheetmetal gap, or end of the gap, as the case may be, you do your second weld by putting the wire against the first weld that has now cooled, and begin to weld away from that weld. If I am correct in this, I take it that you typically use the "drag" technique of welding a gap in sheet metal where the gap is bigger than the wire diameter, dragging away from the first cooled weld.

Though it may not be technically correct, that is what I've been referring to as stitch welding. We're on the same page, we just use different terminology for the same procedure. By the way, now that I have my machine, I'll be tackling that cobbled up quarter panel real soon!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Bhawk and Randy, you are both right in that this particular procedure "resembles" both a "drag" and a "stitch" weld. But it only very loosely resembles them. First of all you will find "drag" and "stitch" in a welding manual. You will NOT see what I am talking about. They are not going to tell you in a welding manual anything that helps weld up gaps and things like that. They only work with perfect situations.

It resembles a drag in that you are welding on an existing weld, but it ends right there. In fact, you are not laying a bead at all. You are only laying a small tack. You are not "draging" or "pushing" at all. At least not more than a fraction of an inch. The trigger on the gun is only tapped for a split second. Now, after you have a number of these little tacks layed you can put a bead over it. But the actual method is far from what a welding manual would ever say.

A "stitch" only in that you are welding short little welds and allowing them to cool. A "stitch" weld procedure leaves a gap in between each weld, AND, these welds are an actual bead. Not long, but a bead. If you were only putting a little tack, in a "stitch" fashion, you would be, well "tacking" the seam and not "stitch" welding at all.

In the "basics" you will see what effect "stick out" plays. Well if you are welding a gap like this, and you increase your stick out, it will cool the weld right? That is all I am really talking about here, a "heat" control using the stick out. Little short tacks, along with increased stick out and you can fill a 1" wide antenna hole if you wanted it. All it would take is about a thousand of these little tacks that I am talking about. Now, you have to be careful that you don't weld so cool that you have no penetration. When you do this procedure you are walking a fine line between not enough penetration and enough. If you really get good penetration you blow holes. So you make a short (as in time) weld and you may back off a little to increase the stick out and you can fill just about any hole you want.

This does not mean that you shouldn't fit pieces together perfect, THAT is the goal. But, when you find yourself with a less than perfect situation, there IS a way out.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

[This message has been edited by MARTINSR (edited 11-06-2002).]

I've used the same technique to fill holes, start from the outside and spiral in.

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OrrieG
64 Malibu HT Survivor (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/OrrieG1.jpg)