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#26 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
I went out in the garage again for a bit after work and tried my hand at some more welding. The results are very discouraging, I had a few small pin holes to weld up but when I try to weld them, my welds just seem to sit on top and and not get good penetration then the next one I try just burns a hole without even changing the settings. I dont know if it is my lack of skill or my welder or both but now I dont know what to do. I would like to get a tig welder but I cannot afford it. Maybe I should try practicing on some scraps and see if I can come up with some better results. Until then I dont really want to touch my cab again because Im just making things worse. If anybody knows of any good welding how to's, I'd greatly appreciate it. Here is what my welds are looking like now.
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#27 |
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Casselton, North Dakota 58012
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Kyle spend some time on YouTube checking out "how to's" it might be worth it and it's free. You can always search this site for some welding tips as well.
I can't see your picture that well, but if it's not sticking, either the metal isn't clean enough or your settings are a little bit off. Like you said maybe you want to just practice on some scrap. You could even weld some of the metal you cut out of your cab which would be able to dial in exactly the right thickness. Just play around with it until you feel comfortable. Also what size wire are you using? .023 is what I use for anything smaller than my frame basically. I use .030 on my frame. If you are using too big of wire it could cause either too much heat which would burn through thin metal since it requires more heat to melt or its not enough heat to fully melt and penetrate into the metal. Try even tilting your gun at a little angle - this might prevent the blow throughs. Btw I wish I had a tig welder too! What kinda mig welded are you using? |
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#28 | |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
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#29 |
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Location: Casselton, North Dakota 58012
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Yea I hear ya! Man if I was you I would try to swing some new equipment. It makes the job a lot easier. I think I spent a little over 1000 on all my stuff for welding - welder, tank, cart, helmet, jacket, wire, tips, and some random tools with it. So it's definitely an investment, but it sure is a cool one!
You wouldn't have to buy everything I did so it wouldn't be that much. You could get by with just the bare essentials for now and slowly get more tools/equipment that will help you get the job done easier. You could save some coin by just putting a spot light on the area that your welding and you should be able to see good enough. It is nice to have an auto helmet though! I guess as far as flux core and all that I don't know a lot about it, but the wire size seems like an issue to me... I think that is one of your problems, but again I don't know a whole lot. I would search the internet on the how thin of metal to weld with .030. Good luck! Hurry up though so you can post more pics! |
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#30 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Well I have done some research and found some solutions to my welding problems.
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#31 |
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Here
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Looking good!
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#32 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Thanks uncle! I finally got the welder all dialed in and working nice.
I was finally able to finish my lower firewall piece off today. I did end up having to cut out a section in the middle and replace it due to warping from my poopy welds, but I managed to get it completed. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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#33 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
More progress today. I did some measuring from my exsisting passenger floor pan up to underside of dash and when compared to the new pice of the drivers side it was 3/8" higher so Im pretty happy I caught that before I started welding. I cut 3/8" of of my new foot well piece but then it wouldn't line up by the door jamb. So now I have cut 1/4" out of that piece and tacked in a filler piece. Now I've got alot of tack welding to do but im ok with that, gives me some practice on a piece that is out and easy to access
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#34 |
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,:
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Looking good so far, I remember the days of starting out. We may have a how to weld series at the shop here soon.
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#35 | |
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
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#36 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Ok so I was welding again tonight and trying to figure out why my welds seemed to be piling up on the surface rather that melting in. So I figured I would give it a little more heat and cranked that sucker up to 2
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#37 |
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Well I just found out tonight that I clearly didnt do enough research on flux core welding. If I had, I would have know that the polarity needs to be switched. So I have that done now but before I could grind down my mess that Ive created to try out the welder, my compressor started to sound a little off. So I glance over to see this mess. (Picture 1) So then I decided to do a little investigation which lead me to this mess. (Picture 2) Which in the end lead me to this beauty. (Picture 3)
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#38 |
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We have some welds that Im finally pround of
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#39 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Now that I am sure that this is a good welder and that I want to use it, I cant just have the heavy beast sitting on my work bench. Mostly because I cannot always get the thing to reach what Im trying to weld but also, I need my work bench clear for other activities.
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#40 |
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Location: Berne IN
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Nice welds- looking good!
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#41 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
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#42 |
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Casselton, North Dakota 58012
Posts: 1,071
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
How much of that cab are you going to have to fix to make it right? Is there a supplier up there that you get patches for pretty cheap?
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#43 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Im basically doing lower firewall patches made by me, then Im replacing footwells, front floor patch panels, rear floor patch panels, inner rockers. Then I have a whole used cab support that I got off my grandpa that only has 1 small rust hole. Then it will be lower front and rear pillars, cab corners, and rockers. Then its on to mods from there. Haha its alot of work but I enjoy it. All my panels came from lmc truck. They are so-so, some slight mods required so far.
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#44 |
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Casselton, North Dakota 58012
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
I gotcha. Yea it's a lot of work! When I'm working on my stuff I'm trying to figure out how body shops do it so much quicker... and how people could afford that! Good gosh I spent all weekend shaving my drivers side cowl vent and I'm about half done. Unbelievable!
I have to replace all that stuff on my cab, plus some. I finally called a distributor in MN last week and got talked into a complete floor since it was basically like $75 more than all the patches added up. I was gonna suggest something like that for you too. There is still time to reconsider! Lol |
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#45 | |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
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#46 |
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Location: Casselton, North Dakota 58012
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
I'm in the same boat as you man... more time than money. That's why I'm doing all these odds and ends on the cab that don't cost me anything except grinder discs.
Get going on that thing then!! ![]() |
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#47 | |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
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#48 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Well I'm thinking that it is time for an update on here, even if it doesnt exactly pertain to the truck. I got a little busy for a while there with a sidejob. Now that it is all wrapped up, Im back in the shop. Im not quite to the point of working on the truck again yet. Ive decided that the shop needs a few upgrades. I now have my old compressor tank hooked up to the new compressor to double my air capacity. Ive also been working on putting up a fume extractor. Also I was fortunate enough to find a metal frame on wheels at work that will be perfect for a cab cart so Ive been modifying that the last couple days. Here are some pics of the progress.
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#49 |
Senior Member
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Re: My 1970 GMC Project
Tonight I finished up my cab cart!
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#50 |
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Location: Martensville, Saskatchewan
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Today was a good day
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