My career has been in the pipe trades, first as a grunt in a plumbing shop, then through a Refrigeration Mechanic apprenticeship. During my apprenticeship, I took a semester of arc and a semester of gas welding. I am not a certified welder, by any means. My gas welding abilities are not that great because I never really had much need to use them. Now, I can braze or silver solder with the best of 'em. Doesn't look like there is alot of requirement for that in restoring a truck. It looks like MIG welding is the way to go with most of the things I will do to this truck. I have never done any MIG, but it looks like MIG won't have the overheat problem that arc would. Any of you done MIG on your ride? If you use shielding gas, you can use wire. If not, you must use fluxed rod. So, it looks like the gas or the flux makes the weld flow. No problem there. But which do you use for what? I am lucky enough to have a MIG welder at work which no one uses. I can melt some metal there to get the feel of MIG.
I've used a mig to replace teh cab corners on a truck it works good you have to go slow and just spot weld adn spot weld inbetween the spot welds to not heat the metal and warp it.move around too. cowboy
From what I'm told, the gas shield or flux in the wire is there to keep the weld from oxidizing as soon as it's put down. With flux core mig welding, the flux produces slag which coats the weld bead to keep it from oxidizing. Gas shield mig welding uses an inert gas(usually carbon dioxide) to shield and protect the weld as it is made. I haven't done either yet, but I'm taking a welding course at my local college so I'll get to test out both methods. I've heard that flux core mig welding takes longer because of all the slag, and accordingly, it's also much more messy. Just go have a good time playing around! --TrustyRusty :7
Thanks for the ideas, guys. Appreciate it. Looks like I will be able to borrow the MIG from work and take it home. Kewl. All I have to do is supply the gas(if I use some)and my own wire. New question: Looks like .030 is about standard size. Think it is okay for what I want to do(rockers, pans, corners, etc.)? How about temp on the welder? I have no idea what temp to use. I will melt some metal at different temps to see what works for what, so maybe that is the best way to learn. Jump in with both feet and see how much trouble you get into. See ya around.
