Ya..... All I have to do is apply it now Greg!!:D

Any tips for the rest of us newbies?

I'm always looking to learn some tips and tricks....dont be shy Mario....

Well my mistakes were numerous! First the wire I'm using is .35 I had to change that to .23. My gas preasure was to hi I had it at 40 brought it down to 20. I also learned.... SLOW DOWN and keep everthing cool, very important.. Jason also told me that he prefers not to but the metal up to tight he likes to leave a little gap. It gives the metal a little room to move around. I will start with the recomended settings on the machine and then adjust from there. I was all over the place with my wire speed and voltage. Make sure you can see what your welding!!! This is one of MY biggest problems, it sounds crazy but it sure does make a difference I tried it a little yesterday. Bought some new lights and man I can see!!!! Then we got into grinding the welds and I never thought of this. Jason uses a angle grinder with a cut off wheel instead of a grinding disc to first grind his welds. This knocks down the high spots of the weld with out thinning the surrounding metal. A big problem I was having,as I was grinding the weld to knock it down I was thinning the metal around it so when I wanted to fill a little spot I would blow right through and then start wandering all over the place chasing the holes I kept making. Next thing you know I have this big blob of sh^t . Now I have more of a mess!! I really liked this tip from Jason I think this is going to help me alot.. This may be basic stuff for alot of you guys,but it really set me straight and gave me direction instead of being all over the place. I have a starting point now. Now its up to me. I can't say enuff about Jason he was a huge help to me.

Awesome! THanks for taking the time to summarize!

Mario, to clarify, I do fit up everything tight, Tig Or Mig. Fit up and lots of tacks as you go so the two planes of the metal are perfect and hold dimension is the most important thing. I said I like to tig everything and hammer and dollie the weld as I go. If you don't the heat and cooling will draw them together and start warping panels. Thats why you need to stretch the metal. But,If you can't tig or just have a Mig It can be done. You want to set the machine as low as you can but still get a good bead and penetration. And I don't mean pull the trigger and take off. On off on off and cool the weld. Trigger in the right hand blower in the left. If you start with a gap and just start tacking away the cooling will just draw the part closer as you move down the piece. Just try to fit it tight and lightly score it with the edge of your cut off wheel after it's tacked up if you need to . If your blowing through it's to hot or your torch angle or approach to the weld is wrong. If it bird turd and poor penetration it's to cold. I found you can get good results with the mig if thats all you have but the welds will be more brittle to hammer and dollie. A good 110 mig and 023 wire (no flux core)is all you need. Those 180's and 210's are just to big for light gauge work, they like alot of heat to work.

The mandrels you want to use are the Matco part #HMANF15.

Hope this helps. Don't know if info is right or wrong but works for me.

I did'nt have my notes.:_paranoid I was just going to change that. I think your results speak for them self Jason:wow:

These pictures from Tyler's 50/50 car might give you some idea of how it is done. The fit is CRUCIAL for Tig welding. You cannot get great results with a Mig. You can do OK, but not what you can with a Tig. The fit up is super important. Then you need an air hose and and lots of patience.

Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice..... You can always improve
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super cool-whiz-bang- Michelin slicks. Rims are ugly though.
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As for a gap.... I was told that with MIG you should have a gap about the same size as the wire diameter....always seemed a tad wide to me.... I try to shoot a bit less than that.....

So for MIG stuff....when do you hammer and dolly it? say you are doing a square patch panel 6 x 6 inches..... do 4-5 tacks per side and then hammer and dolly?....do you grind down those first tacks before you do it? hammer and dolly direct on the welds....all along the edges? work from the middle and work out.....I dont have much experiecne on the hammer and dolly stuff....

Ned ---

Nobody hammer and dollies MIG... it's too hard. You end up just wrecking a perfectly good body hammer. LOL

If you do this -- you have to be QUICK -- weld an inch - drop the torch - grab the hammer and dolly and work the weld flat. The dolly is an "anvil". Doing this wrong and the metal grows and you have warpage... hot metal tends to be more pliable... it's why we heat stuff cherry red to bend it etc... when you apply this principle to thin sheet -- it becomes an "art form".

It's a skill that needs to be "acquired"... ya have to mess up a few panels and have someone with you to show you how it should be done.

It's like grinding welds.... there are some that can see what they're doing and only knock the weld down -- and others that just run the grinder and end up with a places the thickness of tinfoil... they just don't know it. LOL

Funny about this hobby.... it actually takes some skill to do some of these things and we all - including me - want to be fabricators - welders - suspension engineers - engine builders... and do all of this one hour per week with no prior experience. <belly laugh inserted here>

Try long enough - and you can get the hang of it. That's why it's a great hobby!

I'm saying this not because I can actually DO any of it -- I'm saying it because I've tried and failed enough to know some of the pitfalls and the learning curve can be quite steep. I only wish I could be a clone of Tim... or others here. It's why I keep telling the shops "I'll work for free - I'll sweep the floors - just so I can hang out and learn some of this stuff". So far... no takers. They seem to be smarter than that. :faint: