gas welding?

[GreaseMonkey 102]

Ive been thinking of doing the welding on my car myself, it at least needs new rear quarters and wheel wells. but for a lot of reasons i dont think id be able to use an electric welder in my garage, mostly because im pretty sure we would need to do some rewiring in the house for it to work. so im wondering if i would be able to do the body work with a gas welder. im pretty good at arc welding but ive only messed with gas welding a little bit, but im sure i could get better with practise. ive heard a lot of good things about gas welding from people who use it a lot but ive never heard anything about it being used on cars, so im wondering if its even possible. also ill probably want to weld in subframe connectors and shock tower reinforcements later as well as doing the body work, id appreciate any help with this.

[dlinebar 2]

Well When you say GAS I am assuming you mean GAS not MIG with Gas.....MIG Flux welding is definately NOT the way to go, you can get a 110v MIG welder so I don't think you will need to rewire the house, a 220v MIG would be better and I bet you already have it in your house, hopefully near the garage. Anyway, I redid my car frame rails and all with MIG GAS welding and I am not a pro thats for sure. Most welds on these cars are spot welds which are easily done with MIG as a plug weld. You can even get an adaptor to do the plug welds for ya, but you really dont need it.....I would go with MIG if I was you.....

 

Dan

[BlackGMC 10]

I think using a Gas (Oxy/Acet) rig will not be a good idea, because to Gas weld you have to heat up the metal alot and it takes alittle while for the metal to heat up enought to get a solid weld. By heating up the metal that much you will distort the panel your welding and that will make body work a nightmare, that is if you can ever the the panel straight again. IMO you have a couple of options.

 

1. buy a 110 mig welder, no wiring needed.

2. Buy a 220 welder and make your self an extension cord from your dryer outlet. I made me a 30ft extension cord for my 220, and it was only around $80. but I also put in a 220 outlet in my garage. As far as wiring goes, if your breaker box is in the garage like some are wiring is easy, I did and I have never done it before.

[burritoboi5 10]

I would stay away from oxy acet welding just becuase of the skill factor requirred to learn it.

[69GT 0]

I agree with what BlackGMC said. You really dont want to use the oxy/acet welding because the amount of heat needed to do the welding will end up distorting the panel your working on. (unless your trying to heat shrink) A small 110v shielded gas MIG welder is the best for body work.

[railblazer82 10]

The only time i use a torch is to lead, which is one of those ols skool ways of filling, (vs. bondo, yuck!!) I use TIG for bodywork, for the heat reason, i can run an entire bead, and keep my heat localized. If you plan on using a mig, which is the next best, Fit your piece. make sure it is all aligned. THen use small tack welds, the size of dimes. and act like your torquing down a manifold. moving to a completly diferant point of the seam as where you just welded. The point is to keep the heat down, to avoid distortion. It may not look like it, but every degree you can avoid, is a few thousandth's of movement in your metal. I dont know much, and probably try to answer questions that i should leavre to others, but metal fab is my for'te!!! Any quetions from you or others PM Me!!!! Adam

[GreaseMonkey 102]

thanks for all the replies, one thing I didnt add before is the main reason I was thinking of gas welding is because my dad really doesnt want me setting up an electric welder in the garage... I think hes afraid I might blow something up or drive the electric bill through the roof, or something heh. maybe ill still try to talk him into it some more. he might like the idea of a 110v welder better, but would that be good enough for doing things like subframe connectors?

[BlackGMC 10]

I think hes afraid I might blow something up or drive the electric bill through the roof, or something heh. maybe ill still try to talk him into it some more. he might like the idea of a 110v welder better, but would that be good enough for doing things like subframe connectors?

 

I run the crap out of my 22o welder, and I have not noticed a spike in my electric bill. A 110v would be good, but not for anything over an 1/8 in my opinion. Most of the subframe connectors are thinner than an 1/8 wall. The only thing really bad about a 110v unit is the duty cycle is usually low. Blowing yourself up is probably not going to happen, but catching yourself on fire is going to happen. I usually set myself a flame (pants usually) each time I weld.

[burritoboi5 10]

You can take a look see at what I'm doing with my 110v in my project thread. Like Mr. GMC said blowing yourself up is not too likely (probably more likely with oxy acet anyways) But you will be catching things on fire accidently :yes:

[ForceFed70 14]

With a 110 welder, you are looking at 1800 watts max. Depending on what you are paying for power, it usually goes for less than 10cents a kilowatt hour. Meaning 1000 watts for 1hr will cost you 10cents.

 

With a 110V welder you are looking at an absolute maximum of 18cents an hour. This would be non-stop welding on the highest setting on the welder. Nobody welds for more than a few seconds at a time. 1hr of constant use will mean basically a whole day of welding (IF you are making good progress).

 

 

And I laugh at the suggestion of blowing something up, fires, etc...GAS welding is much more dangerous in that aspect.

[Protowrxs 111]

IMHO a 110v MIG is all that is needed for most any hobby car work. A 220 is great if you have the wiring or are constantly wiring thick material as noted. My compressor is 220 but my MIG is 110 and I haven't had any issues yet.

 

Like BottleFed said, electricity is not an issue. Heck some hair dryers can pull more amps than a welder. Get a MIG, learn how to use it and teach your dad.. :-)

 

-Stephen

[Arrowhead 10]

You say you've never really tried gas welding. Well trying on body panels isn't the place to start if you ask me. It's slow, builds a lot of heat and is difficult with thin metal. Practice on some exhaust pipe first, upside down, while your under the car. That will give you a first hand experiance of what it will be like welding in those subframe connectors. An experianced welder could probably get away with it. But I don;t think you want to learn on it.

 

Years ago, I rebuilt a 73 Blazer using only a gas welder and coat hanger, so yes it can be done. But now that I have a mig, I don't even consider using my gas setup for anything but heating and cutting.

[GreaseMonkey 102]

thanks for the replies again, I talked to him about it some more today. he seemed more ok with the idea this time, but he still thinks we'd have to do some wiring in the garage for it. we have both 220 and 110 outlets so I dont see why we would have to, is there any reason why we would?

 

and catching yourself on fire haha, yeah I did that in auto shop a few times learning to weld... going to my next class smelling like smoke was always fun

[ForceFed70 14]

You shouldn't need to do any wiring. Especially if you already have a 220 outlet.

[GreaseMonkey 102]

thats good to hear, yeah i think now hes fine with whatever i want to do as long as i pay for it and dont burn the house down... anyway ive been looking around online at different welders, there doesnt seem to be very many 110 or 220 welders out there, am I just looking in the wrong places or something? i know the ones you want would probably be from either Lincoln or Miller, but it doesnt look like either of them have any 110 or 220 mig welders :confused: 115 and 230 look like the most common ones, which seems wierd to me because 110 and 220 seem like the most common outlets. the only 220 one i found was from this company ive never heard of which didnt give me too good of a feeling about it.

 

which ones do you guys use? any youd recommend? i guess now this is my newbie welding questions thread... all i know is how to use em, not so much about the welders themselves!

[Arrowhead 10]

Thats alrignt, your on the right track. 115 and 120 are the same thing, so is 220 vs 230 (for practacle purposes)

 

Generally, appliances are rated for one voltage, like 115v, but he power to your house is rated for 120v. That just accomodates line losses for the power source to you outlet. Nothing to worry about.

[GreaseMonkey 102]

so a 230v welder would work with a 220 outlet and a 115 or 120 welder would work with a 110 outlet then?

[burritoboi5 10]

yep

[Pakrat 1,043]

Yeah. 220... 221, whatever it takes.

[Shutt24 10]

Go to Ebay and search for Mig 135, Mig 140 or what ever number you think may be the size you want. I am getting ready to purchase one myself. I like the Miller 140, a new one cost a little more than I want to spend. I hope to find a used one. I like this one because you can adjust the power in small increments. I have been reading about TIG welding also. I visited a welding forum that was talking about auto body panel welding and most agreed that for a good looking weld job you can't beat the TIG. However, they say it is more difficult to learn.

[Spoofty 10]

You may laugh but I bought my mig at Wal Mart. It's a 110 and I've done 2 quarter panels, 2 wheel wells, shock tower, frame rails, floors, many small patches, and about 6 exaust systems. It's been going strong for over 3 years and only cost $250. It came will flux wire but also had the regulator to add gas. I does recomend a 30 amp outlet for use on the high settings but that is not needed for the body work. I've only used the high settings for the fame rails and shock towers.

[Shutt24 10]

What brand and power is it?

[BlackGMC 10]

Yeah. 220... 221, whatever it takes.

 

Is that a Mr. Mom quote?

 

I think your looking the wrong way. IMO you need to determine how much you want to spend, then buy the most welder you get get. I got my 220v lincoln new on ebay for $425, which is a steal!!!!

[Spoofty 10]

What brand and power is it?

 

Campbell Hausfeld 80amp. My model is no longer made, the replacement is 70amp.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Is that a Mr. Mom quote?

 

Yeah, couldn't resist. Guess my picture X 'd out. :blink: