self teaching welding question

[deanj309]

Well I'm weldinding in y floor pan(well trying!) My question is, after I fill the spot weld hole and gring it down I'm finding small pin holes in my weld should istill weld up the tiny pine holes I'm self teaching so I don't know if this is norm thx!

[Silver R/T]

you can weld them up and grind it down. If they're not all the way through it's not critical, you can use some spot putty and epoxy primer over that.

[Charger RT]

does your welder use shielding gas? holes in your weld is usually lack of gas.
Tim

[deanj309]

Yea it all bottled up,is it suppose to be a clean burn? does it mean anything when it keeps poping.what does a good spot weld look like ect

[69rtse4spd]

Could be to little gas flow, whats the book on the welder suggest. I assume your steel is clean, what dose the book also suggest for the heat setting, could be to cold. I am buy no means a professional welder, self taught myself, there are more qualified people on here then me. .   

[c00nhunterjoe]

Popping is a very vague term regarding welding. Could be to high a gas flow, too slow a wire speed, heat too low..... its really hard to say.

What wire thickness are you using and what gas mixture?

[deanj309]

er

Well I can hardly see to write this,but I have a hobart 140 and its set at 2 for heat and speed of 30 and my gas is runnin at around 22 with .024 wired....but iam new to it ...so new I now have to wear patches over both eyes with gause and medicine because I raised the welding mask and welded a few.now I will be taking a few days off work and a short pause on the floor pan thx for the replys. will be continued after I can see!!!!lesson well learned!

[AirborneSilva]

er

Well I can hardly see to write this,but I have a hobart 140 and its set at 2 for heat and speed of 30 and my gas is runnin at around 22 with .024 wired....but iam new to it ...so new I now have to wear patches over both eyes with gause and medicine because I raised the welding mask and welded a few.now I will be taking a few days off work and a short pause on the floor pan thx for the replys. will be continued after I can see!!!!lesson well learned!

WOW    First thing you need to do is get a GOOD self dimming welding helmet and NEVER look at the arc, but I guess you know that now...  I have a hobart 125 handler w/gas kit and it sounds like you are close (I should say I'm not an expert).  Are you finding you're burning through?  I would think that on sheet metal like that it should be on 1 w/wire speed around 4 or maybe slightly higher but without being there or seeing the welds it's just a guess....   

[garych11]

put potato slices over your eyes. works well i have done it to!!!

[Dino]

Be careful there, you'll not only ruin your eyes but you can seriously burn your skin. 

Seems to me that the wire speed is a bit too fast so the wire keeps popping.  Pinholes can be welded shut but you need to focus on not getting those to begin with.  Not to say a pinhole won't occur at all but on a spot weld there shouldn't be any.  Have the wire go fairly slow, start in the middle of the hole and make a small circle to get a nice, wide and flat weld.  Practice on scrap, not on your car.  How big did you make the holes for the spot welds?

[deanj309]

My eyes are slowly healing and still dialated.....but I used 3/8 hole for spot welding in floor pan

[Dino]

My eyes are slowly healing and still dialated.....but I used 3/8 hole for spot welding in floor pan

3/8 is fine.  Did you get drops for your eyes?  It'll help speed up the healing process and will feel good.

[bill440rt]

Get some scrap steel to practice on before trying to weld in a floor pan on your car. 
You should hear a nice even "sizzle" as you are welding. You'll know you have good penetration on the scrap steel when you have an even bead on the backside of the metal as well as the top side.
As you are welding, slowly turn the wire speed up or down until the "sizzle" evens out. You'll know you have proper wire speed when the weld sounds right. You can then play with the heat setting so there is no burn thru & no "bird sh*t" welds. You may have to adjust the speed setting again. I like to mark the setings on the welder with tape so next time it will be at least very close of a starting point.
If you are plug welding, I like to start in the middle of the hole & spriral outwards (work in-to-out), rather than out-to-in.

Too many variables between welders, material, etc to give you a straight heat setting & wire speed answer, but hope those tips help you some.
AND ALWAYS WEAR A WELDING HELMET!!!!!!       
Good luck! 

[AirborneSilva]

I was told the "sizzle" should sound like bacon frying - made sense to me 

[HOTROD]

sheet metal poops after you welded it
turn the heat up.
screw the  sheet metal down to hold it in place temporally !

[Wicked72]

make sure the surface is nice and clean. any paint or oil will screw up the welds. making pin holes. also the wire speed and heat need to be played with to get that frying bacon sound which will make perfect welds. another tip is the distance your hold the welding tip away will effect it as well i want to say i hold it about an 1/8 of inch or closer. just dont hold it to close or youll weld the tip up and the wire wont feed. the best tip of all make sure you can see what your doing!!!! get some lights shining on what your welding it will have a massive diff and an auto dim helmet!!! gl 

[AirborneSilva]

make sure the surface is nice and clean. any paint or oil will screw up the welds. making pin holes. also the wire speed and heat need to be played with to get that frying bacon sound which will make perfect welds. another tip is the distance your hold the welding tip away will effect it as well i want to say i hold it about an 1/8 of inch or closer. just dont hold it to close or youll weld the tip up and the wire wont feed. the best tip of all make sure you can see what your doing!!!! get some lights shining on what your welding it will have a massive diff and an auto dim helmet!!! gl 

I also wear reading glass' when I weld, getting old 

[lexxman]

Yes  NEVER weld with out a helmet and a long sleeve short. If your machine sound good try moving in a circular motion. Sometimes doing plug welds you'll get hold if you stay in one place. Arc flush can hurt,remeber you only have one pair of eyes.

[rattlehead_74]

You will also want to make sure your ground is as close as possible to your work area..The smaller welders like the ground to be real close to get the best result.You might try grinding paint off in the center of your work area,and tack welding a 3/8 or bigger bolt  to that area and hook your ground clamp to the bolt.Also,use good ventilation,,but dont let air move across where your welding,,That will def cause pinholes.

[deanj309]

Hey everyone, well my eyes are healed.I havnt finished the floor yet,ran out of gas.but I hav a new question. I have to put in a speaker shelf and rear window channel can these be body panel glued in thx!_veryone

[Cooter]

Personally, I would "Panel Glue" anything that had to do something other than just sit there and look good like a Quarter panel...

A Window channel really should be welded, as should be the speaker shelf. They have to support weight, not just sit there.

[73charger440]

And I learned  in the winter not wear a insulated flannel ,thought everything was ok till I seen light out the side of my helment then realized my arm was on fire.I always heard the bacon sizzling thing also ,also make sure that ur machine is set up with the same wire gauge as what ur using.and useing a cheap wire makes a differnance.also make sure the they gave the correct gas I had the gas place give me streight argon instead of C02 argon mix.and it welded like shit.

[cdr]

look out for fuel lines & other flammable things

[deanj309]

I  picked up new argon gas but I didn't specify what gas,I just said I needed argon.how do I tell if I have the right one and can I use the one I have thx!

[73charger440]

Ill see what my bottle looks like.stright argon is  only good for welding alumuinm.

[deanj309]

Do I have the right one,mine said 75 percent argon 25 percent carbon dioxide

[73charger440]

Yes you do have the correct one.

[squeakfinder]

     Yep. That's the wright gas. I've got a Hobart 135 handler and that looks like the wright setting to start with.
But as mentioned, get a piece of scrap that's the same gauge and practice. You might have to go up and on the wire speed and power to get it wright. Make sure the metal is clean, these wire feed's need a good ground.

[deanj309]

Hi, can some one post a pic of a nice spot weld before it gets sanded down. How far out side of the hole do I go....how big szhould the ball of weld be.....because I will fill the hole with a nice size ball a little bit bigger then the hole and when I remove the screws and weight to hold the pan down tight to the frame rails it pops and the weld dosnt stick.I have. Little weld thru sprayed on it would that stop it thx!

[73charger440]

I have Lincoln it works good but has paddles for heat settings so you can't get between so that kinda sucks.does IRS have a dial?don't have any pictures but the best way to describe a spot weld is smooth and flat.sounds like you maybe not getting enough heat kinda fun welding sheet metal to a tick pcs of frame you get to hot you'll burn through not hott enough and it won't stick.

[deanj309]

Well I just spent the last 2 hrs tryin to dial in my 140 hart welder and its still not right I think,what is the best w[ to push down the floor pan across the main cross member just before the trans hump I can't seem to get enough weight on it I hink that is why my welds are popin iam even crouching down in it tryin to weight in down and weld same time. I massaged it, banged it so now slighty dented.and screwed it in place I'm lost and now I will douse my self in steak juice and run into a wild pack of hyenas!!!.

[Kangerman]

Sounds like you need to turn up the wire feed speed (current or amps). It controls the penetration. The voltage/trim or whatever it's called on your welder controls the width of the arc. Try to keep less than a 2mm gap between part surfaces being welded. Someone already mentioned it, but definately try get your parts as clean as possible. Clean/degrease everything then wire brush..not the other way around.

[squeakfinder]

    Make sure your tip is clean. With it popping you might have slag restricting flow of the shielding gas. But the tip should also be close to the weld in order for the gas to work. Hopefully that will eliminate the contamination that's causing the pinhole's.

     You may have to turn the current up and focus your weld on the heavier frame structure of the car. And ease over to the floor pan for shorter time to avoid blowing threw the thinner sheet metal.

[69fourspd]

To keep the metal down, you may want to put in a few self tapping screws.  I was standing on my trunk pan and couldn't get it down enough.  Once you have some welds, you can pull the screws and fill.  Then just zap them with a grinding disc until flush.  Turned out really nice on mine and don't have many gaps if you were to just push/weigh down.