Quote:
Originally Posted by DRJDVM's '69
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....
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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.