At 3:09 PM 2/5/96, Vahid Lajevardi wrote: > Dear VWers, > > In my previous email I mentioned about the damaged nose panel on my 80 Westy. > I got a few replies that were very helpful. Appreciate it. > > I managed to pull the nose sheet metal panel instead of replacing it, for >now. > It doesn't look perfect, but it has a character. The chassis as well as the > inner panels were in perfect shape. > > Now I am ready to do welding. I looked into renting an arc stick welder. The > guy says, stick wleding on car sheet metals is really difficult. He is > talking about some other kinds (Mig or Heli-arc) that I don't have any > experience with. Anybody knows what these things are? > Here is my questions: > > 1- Has anybody done stick welding on VW's. If yes what current would you > use? I think Herb mentioned an 18 Gauge stick welding. (Thanks Herb) > At what current though? > > 2- I've found this welder at Orchard Supply for $200. It goes up to > 225 Amps. It is a single phase 220 V AC. I can hook it up to my dryer > outlet. Would this do the job? > > 3- If with stick welding you can easily melt the metal, then how about > gas welding? You'd be much better off with an automatic-feed wire welder. More expensive, but rentable. I've done a lot of welding with a smoke wrench, cause that's what I have, and it's a PAIN to weld sheet metal, because the lower operating temperatures for oxy-acetylene than spark wrenches causes sheet metal to warp. You can compensate for this by "hammer welding" but that requires a lot of practice (I'm pretty good with the 'wrench, but still haven't gotten THAT down too well).
> > BTW, pulling the sheet metal was a lot of fun. I used a turn-buckel hooked > to a steel cable. Worked very well. I used a 2-ton bottle jack and a bunch of 4x4 chunks of wood to push the passenger side doorway back to shape on my 60 Singlecab. Works well, but you have to plan in advance and watch the dimensions. -Tim Parker 93 EV GL (ain't taken a torch to this one, yet) 60 Singlecab (welded in a new top section for this, plus filled holes cut for antennas and similar stupid add-ons) 29 Model A Ford (done LOTS of welding on this, but it's still STOCK, not butchered!)
|
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.