HF welding machine ???

[GPW]

Peter, I need as much welding practice as I can manage … Especially on auto body metal ! Yesterday I started and was blowing right through the thin metal , but after a while it all seemed to work out … More practice ( bring that Mustang !!! )..

I can see on the thicker metal pieces where this machine is less tricky … It’s a HOT little machine … I have the Vs turned all the way down … Can’t wait to try a little “Trailer welding” …

[retep]

Hey GPW. I took a body sheet metal course at the local college and they let us weld for hours. It is an art. Practice makes perfect. Thin metal is tough but worth the practice. You will have a prize of a car.cant wait to see the progress.

Cheers
Peter



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[GPW]

Peter, Thanks for your words of encouragement !!! We’re getting lots of practice … And better learning how to set the machine too …

[GTS225]

About the only way I've been able to successfully weld thin stock is by spot, (and I do mean spot), welding. What I do is spot-tack my panels, or stock, in a couple places to maintain placement, then proceed to go through the entire weld by spot welding, with each spot overlapping the previous one. This way, I can control the heat level at my weld, and still get good penetration. I'll concede that it does take considerably longer to "draw" a bead, but I'm not constantly blowing holes and having to repair same.

Just a way that works for me.....Roger

[GPW]

Thanks Roger , we’re doing something like that … We originally were having blowout problems , but increasing the wire speed made everything better … here’s a sample of our Franken-welds ( before grinding, we’re waiting for the big cleanup )

The little machine is working fine once we got it set right and had a little practice .

[Modstock]

Just switched my lil Lincoln back to 035 wire. Much better.
Picked up the 10lb spool and it already had an adapter, I did cut the old small spool in half and used that on the top.
Bigger spool fit, no problem.
Welded some 1/8" square tubing easily. Settings are 5 wire speed and 4 on heat.

Ready to go when I get back to work on the 32.


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[GPW]

Modstock , COOL !!! This welding is actually Fun !!! Handy to have around the house & Trailer(s)

[GPW]

Final Report :
We got all the welding done on the car ( a good bit ) , went through a small roll and large roll of wire , and everything worked out fine until the very end , when we had an incident of the wire not feeding ??? After checking out a lot of videos on the subject , we found out the trigger was “sticky” and sometimes had to be pressed twice to operate . So not bad considering we made a gazillion spot welds on that thin sheet metal . As far as I’m concerned the welder paid for it self , so it's all good !
The welds weren’t pretty , but did the job !!!

And now , after all this welding practice , we have a new confidence to make some trailer mods on the next trailer build ! Knowing how to weld is really a game changer , opening many new possibilities . The HF machine just was a cheap way through the door .


And the little Car is coming along .

[Wellcraft290]

trigger sticking. try cleaning the tip. clogs up with flux debris.

[GPW]

Well, Thanks , will do !!!

[Wellcraft290]

any time. I have the two cheapo HF welders and for what I do very happy but flux is just dirty.