welders?
 

I'm getting frustrated with my Miller mig trying to do body repairs, even at its lowest setting and using a stitch method it tends to burn through. I'm thinking its time to invest in a tig but considering the cost I need to know it would be better for this type of repair. opinions? ( I have never used tig). Ken

Re: welders?
 

Ken - TIG welding will require some hammer welding.
What size and type of wire are you running ? Which model Miller? For the past 10 years, Miller has made some easy to work with machines. Dial in your current
and voltage. .023" wire, er70s-6.. esab also has a .023 spoolarc easy grind
use a .023 liner. If you are welding up holes, make up some plugs. Also get a
chunk of copper to use as a backer. Keep you gaps even. For TIG welding there is more prep work, no gaps, and super clean.
Also check www.weldingtipsandtricks.com

Re: welders?
 

I have the same problem with my Miller 211. Great on thicker stuff,holes on thin. I tacweld sheet metal with mig and then gas weld it. For me it is a lot easier. I do not have a tig or any experience with tig.

John

Re: welders?
 

See if you can locate a welding supply shop and test drive a TIG. You can try it on some test metal at what ever thickness you're working on. My Miller 185 MIG does fine on the thin metal, but can be tedious. TIG can do very fine work, but requires clean material to work on.

Re: welders?
 

If you use a MIG for body panel repair make sure you use the right wire. Most machines come with a very hard S6 wire which is no good for sheetmetal. You end up with a repair that you can't work with a hammer and dolly and shrinking is almost impossible. If you must use a MIG get wire (.023) called "easygrind". Your welding supply place should carry it because that is what body shops use. TIG is best, like using a flame but heat is concentrated in a smaller area and there is NO Oxygen in your weld field. If you can gas weld you can learn TIG with practice.

Re: welders?
 

My Miller is a 130, WGA that looks like a great site to read up on. I am using .23 wire but not easy grind. I also do use copper heat sinc when I can. My Miller heat dial is a click type instead of variable like some but still I figure low is low. I wonder if part of issue is the older metal with surface rust that has gone deeper than you think even after it looks clean.

Re: welders?
 

Tig is an alternative.There will be no tradeoffs.The tig won't be cheap.You will need a machine that starts at 1 amp and goes up.The average entry level machine won't go low enough to give you a nice weld that requires little grinding.You will have blow through with a tig as well without lower amperage.Especially on the edge of a butt weld.You will need a foot pedal a good torch and more just to get you started.There will be a steep learning curve you will require to get in the groove to weld tin on a car. Yes tig is a well kept secret but you won't sit down and get picture perfect welds without a bunch of seat time.You are going to get posts that it will be a cake walk.Not in the beginning.Trying to control the haz and weld appearance will be a tougher task.I have been tig welding for 30+ years and yes you can accomplish it as a reliable process.My suggestion would be sort out your problems with your welder.The number of body shops that actually use tig in their daily routine will be few and far between as mig owns that process in body work.Ask some questions here about how other accomplished mig guy's achieve reliable results and I believe you can have all kinds of good results with mig as a repair in body work.Give some info as to your voltages and wire speed and size,gas .All of this needs to be known to troubleshoot your dilemma.Don't write off mig as it is known to have desired results with the correct parameters.I hope this helps before you condemn mig and jump into the fun world of tig.

Ronnie

Re: welders?
 

I dont think tig is the answer, you have to be really talented to use tig and have good results. My choice is mig 023 wire with arg/co2 mix, dont use straight co2 it will penetrate more than you want causing warpage and causing you to blow holes. I use Lincoln Sp130, it has variable voltage and wire speed, its fairly old, so the number probably been updated to Sp150 or so. Very good welder, make tacks about every 1/2 inch and weld downhill I f possable, if not trigger the gun to keep the weld cool as possable, too much heat means warpage and weld buildup. My biggest problem I cant see well anymore. John

Re: welders?
 

Boy, can really relate to this. Since my cataract surgery, I use 2.25 drugstore readers. I see where you can get helmet glass with the same correction. Anybody have any luck with these?

Re: welders?
 

Ken, as mentioned small wire is very helpful, but when I put a panel in or do a repair, I tack at opposite ends, then find a middle poit and tack, let things cool, and continue in that fashion...when done you will have a solid series of "tacks" to grind down, the better you get at it, the less spots you'll find you missed.

Just make sure the last tacks you've done are cooled to touch to minimize warpage.

Re: welders?
 

I have a magnifier lens over my auto darkening unit, they come in various powers, I too have to use reading glasses, but seems it's hard to keep my glasses, the spot I want to weld and the lens in line many times, ...that's why I opted for the magnifier.

My nephew now had to buy his own helmet;)

Re: welders?
 

If eyesight is a problem get a set of glasses made up at your eye doctor and tell him what you want top do and bingo you can see.Magnifiers in a helmet are two steps above a crutch and a band aid "LOL" I spent $200.00 on a pair of glasses they are a miracle to work with,about 2 yrs ago.Just like reading the newspaper.

Re: welders?
 

With mig, I always ended up welding stuff with a series of spot welds. They do great little spot welds. With oxy/acetylene, I just weld a little section at a time and whacking the weldments down a bit with hammer & dolly as I go. I have a very small Victor torch that I purchased to do Chrome Moly aircraft tube repairs. I ended up getting better results with tig on the tube repairs by far but for sheet metal, hammer welding with the little torch still works the best for me. Shield gas is just not as effective on large flat panels as it is on tubing where you can confine the gas better. To each their own I guess. It just depends on what you are used to using and the skill level you develop with it.

Re: welders?
 

I have both welders. A TIG is a very versatile machine, but it takes lots of practice to be good at thin metal. Miller syncrowave 200 is a very nice machine. I'm still learning.
I also have an older Lincoln SP-100. These are almost like using a hot clue gun.
I use the MIG all the time for body work and the TIG for everything thicker.

Re: welders?
 

Get you a cheater lens for your helmet and an auto darking helmet. I use tri mix with my Lende 225 mig welder. Tri mix has 2% oxygen it makes for a flatter weld. Bought mine in 83 and was recomended for auto collision repeir with the new Hi Strength Low Alloy steel in the new cars.

Re: welders?
 

I found the best aid to my welding was being able to see clearly.

My prescription reading glasses are 1.0. I bought some cheap readers from the supermarket at 2.0 strength and they are great for welding. I also bought a new auto-darkening helmet recently, I was amazed at how much better it is than my old one. If is incredible how much they deteriorate over the years.

Use argon/co2 mix, thin wire, new tips and go slow. But really make sure you can see clearly what you are doing. That is the key.

Mart.

Re: welders?
 

I've been using a magnifying lens inside the helmet for at least 15 years and I wear trifocals. Low amperage tig is still difficult to see. You need a lot of external light on the work; just no substitute for young eyes.

Re: welders?
 

There’s no need to buy a new Tig machine for welding sheet metal … I’ve been using my 300 dollar Ideal Arc at home for 15 years … there’s just no moving it around.:D
I have a high dollar Miller Dynasty at work and can see no advantage when it comes to welding sheet metal.

Mig’s
Use small - soft wire
Use consecutive tacks
Back any gaps with copper - brass - or even aluminum

When you blow threw
Quick pulls on the trigger you can deposit a drop on one side then the other to get a new start.

Re: welders?
 

thanks every one, I just was told to turn up my argon, have been using 10 to 15 lbs. apparently that's too low, I should be 25 to 30. I'm gonna try that to see if it makes a difference plus pay more attention to the condition of the tip.

Re: welders?
 

Ken,

You're not using straight Argon are you?
It won't work for MIG.