Should I learn or just fork over the money

[jdiesel33]

Hey Everyone,
Just a quick opinion type question. I am restoring a 68 R/T that needs new floor and trunk pans, along with some other various body metal replacements. From all the research I have done, it is going to cost me a small fortune to have someone do all of this for me. Question is, I can get a welding machine for $300-$400. Is it hard to learn to weld? The kind of welding I need to accomplish my goals? I know it would be a heck of a lot cheaper. All I know at this point is that there is TIG and MIG welding. Can a MIG welder do everything I need it to? Just wanting some opinions from you guys before I go any further.
Thanks Guys

[runningman]

I learned on the job.  I had no welding experience at all when I started.  I had been watching a lot of the car shows and figured that it wouldn't be all that hard.........and so far it hasn't been too difficult.  So far I have done the floors and I am waiting on some AMD panels to finish up the back end.  I have a Miller 110 that would probably handle anything you would need to do on a vehicle.

[rt green]

sometimes vo-techs offer night crash courses. something like that could prove useful.

[SFRT]

I had zero experience a year ago, and all the welers i knowmade it all sound so hard and wanted oodles of money. most of them seem to be tweakers on top of that.. I read a few books, bought a welder and started fooling around. it isnt really that hard, just takes some common sense and prep time. go slow, be methodical, its not really hard at all. recently, some of my welds have been coming out as good as the pro dudes I know, since they are always in a hurry and skimp on materials and prep time and stuff.

get good tools, take your time. you might even enjoy it.

my

[PocketThunder]

I had zero experience a year ago, and all the welers i knowmade it all sound so hard and wanted oodles of money. most of them seem to be tweakers on top of that.. I read a few books, bought a welder and started fooling around. it isnt really that hard, just takes some common sense and prep time. go slow, be methodical, its not really hard at all. recently, some of my welds have been coming out as good as the pro dudes I know, since they are always in a hurry and skimp on materials and prep time and stuff.

get good tools, take your time. you might even enjoy it.

my

  welding is like making sweat love down by the fire, just take your time and make every move just right and you will have the results you were looking for.  If you fall off the bike, just get back on and keep riding brother....   

[six-tee-nine]

I learned body panel welding on my own when I was 17......and yeah I made a hash of it sometimes but after starting over and over again it worked out well after a while.

Get into the paint/body section and find every thread you can find about body work and replacing sheet metal. read it all (you'll be busy since there are/were quite alot of rotted chargers around)
Then go ahead and try. Of course you want to try a floor or trunkpan first before you start on a quarterpanel or roofskin.   

[LoneStar Mopar]

I have to agree with rt green. If you can find a vocational school, or a Jr. college near you that teaches welding it will be well worth the effort. That way you can learn the basics and actually get a feel for welding; before working on your car. You WILL make mistakes at first and I am sure you wouldnt want those mistakes to be all over your car.

[bull]

Trunk and floor pans are a good place to learn. They get covered up for the most part anyway.

[dodgecharger-fan]

I just finished up a welding course at the local college. Well worth it, but I'll tell you what I learned:

1. Safety. How to set up the tanks, proper equipment safety etc..
2. Some basics of what works where - we did stick welding and there are different rods for different jobs - but in the end, we were told. "You won't remember all this so just read the manual or ask your welding supplier if you're not sure." In your case, you'll have wire on the MIG. So, read the manual and go with what works for your machine - for the most part.. If you can get shielding gas, do it. It makes life so much easier. If not, you'll have more splatter and slag to clean up with the flux core wire - but it's not totally horrible.
3. You won't get good at it unless you practice.

Actual time spent on explaining technique: about 25 minutes total. Everything else was: get in there, try it and see how it works.

It's really something you get the feel for rather than learn.

All that said, it's not that tough.

Get yourself a welder. Read the manual and maybe a book or two so that you're comfortable with the gear.
Get the right safety gear: mask, gloves, etc... I did my entire course with an old jean jacket and regular jeans. Unless you're going to be welding all day long, welding leathers are overkill. I think.. But get insulated gloves. As much as you think you won't pick up a hot piece of metal - 'cause only dumb dumbs do that - you will... and even the heat given off while you weld is enough to heat up your hands through insulated gloves. They're not much more than uninsulated.

Grab some flat stock and start laying downs some beads. This is the best way to practice the technique.
Then, grab some scrap pieces of sheet metal and start playing with it. It'll be different than laying beads, but you need to see it before you really get it... tack, skip, tack, skip... go back and fill in...

Then grind down the welds and see if you got everything. Check for warping. Pay attention to how much work it takes to grind things down. Check everything and then see if you can tweak your settings and/or technique to help minimize any issues.

When you're happy with what you are seeing and you're getting good welds with not too much clean up, go at your body panels.

[jdiesel33]

Thanks everyone for all of the responses. Very encouraging. I think I am going to give it a whirl. This is one of those skills that can only help you going forward. Who knows, once I get it down, maybe I can make a little extra  money on the side to put back into the Charger.

Thanks

[Blown70]

Thanks everyone for all of the responses. Very encouraging. I think I am going to give it a whirl. This is one of those skills that can only help you going forward. Who knows, once I get it down, maybe I can make a little extra  money on the side to put back into the Charger.

Thanks

You can always get some scrap metal to practice on and work from there.  Trust me not all that hard but I grew up on farm, much practice.

Take your time, and use different setting till your comfortable.

Tom

[Old Moparz]

I just finished up a welding course at the local college. Well worth it, but I'll tell you what I learned:

1. Safety. How to set up the tanks, proper equipment safety etc..
2. Some basics of what works where - we did stick welding and there are different rods for different jobs - but in the end, we were told. "You won't remember all this so just read the manual or ask your welding supplier if you're not sure." In your case, you'll have wire on the MIG. So, read the manual and go with what works for your machine - for the most part.. If you can get shielding gas, do it. It makes life so much easier. If not, you'll have more splatter and slag to clean up with the flux core wire - but it's not totally horrible.
3. You won't get good at it unless you practice.

Actual time spent on explaining technique: about 25 minutes total. Everything else was: get in there, try it and see how it works.

It's really something you get the feel for rather than learn.

All that said, it's not that tough.

Get yourself a welder. Read the manual and maybe a book or two so that you're comfortable with the gear.
Get the right safety gear: mask, gloves, etc... I did my entire course with an old jean jacket and regular jeans. Unless you're going to be welding all day long, welding leathers are overkill. I think.. But get insulated gloves. As much as you think you won't pick up a hot piece of metal - 'cause only dumb dumbs do that - you will... and even the heat given off while you weld is enough to heat up your hands through insulated gloves. They're not much more than uninsulated.

Grab some flat stock and start laying downs some beads. This is the best way to practice the technique.
Then, grab some scrap pieces of sheet metal and start playing with it. It'll be different than laying beads, but you need to see it before you really get it... tack, skip, tack, skip... go back and fill in...

Then grind down the welds and see if you got everything. Check for warping. Pay attention to how much work it takes to grind things down. Check everything and then see if you can tweak your settings and/or technique to help minimize any issues.

When you're happy with what you are seeing and you're getting good welds with not too much clean up, go at your body panels.

Excellent advice, & I have to agree. I took an evening welding class at one of the vocational high schools & it was very reasonable. It lasted 10 weeks & gave me the chance to see what welding was like. The one disappointment was that the equipment they had was not geared towards sheet metal, so I never got to see what it was like to work on body panels. It still gave me the basics, but the only way you'll get better at it is to actually weld more & more. I haven't bought a welder yet, but maybe over the next couple of years I'll have one & get practicing on an old, spare fender.

[Mike DC]

   

I think it partly depends on your motivations whether or not it's worth it to learn everything yourself.



If you're the type of person who likes learning & knowing how to do these kinds of tangible workshop things in general?  If you can picture yourself wanting to use these skills other places (and future cars?) . . . then it might well be worth it to try to learn to fix the body & car yourself.


But if you're not really interested in welding & painting things for fun?  If you're just considering the DYI avenue purely as a means-to-an-end for getting this car completed . . .  then don't try to learn it.  Pay someone to do this car, and don't buy any more cars that need so much body & finish work in the future. 





Your whole life situation matters a lot too. 

This stuff isn't just a welding job, it's a huge PROJECT.  That means higher electricity bills.  Needs workspace.  Even more storage space.  Buying new tools.  Replacing broken tools.  Buying blades/sandpaper/chemicals/extension cords/etc. 

And how stable is your living/shop location, income, and time supply?  Few of us usually get these car projects finished "on schedule," and virtually nobody ever gets the first one done on time. 


Myself, I can't even begin to tell you how many more things I would be doing with my tools/shop if I only had the work & storage space.  If you think you don't like paying $____ to get some stuff welded by a pro right now, then you REALLY won't like paying that much just to store half the car that you've got taken apart during the job.