Totally off topic.... welding

[Hugz]

Hippy van is rusting out.

Have an arc welder so thort I might weld a few plates. These days I know they use them new fangled tig but figured 40 years ago they wern't around. Could probably rivet some roo pelt but MOT might not like it. So, what rods do I use and which amperage?

[Horsley-Anarak]

Buy your self a mig huggy

H-A

[Chilli Dog]

use the smallest (thinnest)(should be about 1.5mm).all position rods you can get . Try at the highest recommended setting on the packet set up with a gap( same as rod thickness )and a backing plate on the inside of the patch .
make sure you have a solid earth connection and strike arc like a match . Good luck bud .

[Horsley-Anarak]

use the smallest (thinnest)(should be about 1.5mm).all position rods you can get . Try at the highest recommended setting on the packet set up with a gap( same as rod thickness )and a backing plate on the inside of the patch .
make sure you have a solid earth connection and strike arc like a match . Good luck bud .

Buy yourself a mig Huggy.

H-A

[Keith.P]

I have only just got myself a mig, admittedly its not new, even though I have used them for years at work, I never got around to getting one, but I think this one was £25 well spent and its a lot easier than lugging my Oxford about.

[Rex NZ]

Hugz

Stick arc welders put alot of heat into the job & will burn sheetmetal into oblivion. Basically, the job is too thin for stick welding.

Alternative methods like MIG & TIG will get you roped into hiring bottles, Disposable bottles are ridiculously expensive for the gas within

However, if you go with MIG, then you can use gasless flux cored wire, or, CO2 gas. You can setup CO2 cheaply with soda stream bottles. Also you can convert a CO2 fire extinguisher for a bit more volume. Refils are really cheap. I have a monster 25kg CO2 cylinder in the workshop. Only cost about $100-NZ to fill. Being liquefied a bottle holds the equivalent volume to several bottles of Argon blend gases.

Used MIG machines are dirt cheap. Warning tho - make sure the machine is rated for CO2. You'll have buttons or knobs on the front to set the induction. Alternatively the machine will be factory pre-set, this will be specified in the instructions. If there is no mention of CO2 with a machine then it's doubtful if it'll run nicely.

TIG gives you have alot of control & can do SS & Alum. However, needs 2x hands, &, painfully slow

Rex

[Niander101]

mig is easy but i still need to get one that said i can do alot using stick but ye very thin steel can be a problem

[Hugz]

Well that was entertaining!!

Started with 100 amps and the hole got bigger and plate melted away. Dropped down to 40 amps and was too hard to strike. Settled at 55 amps but alas the damage was done. I did manage to weld the door to the wing though . No rust hole there now, as the panel has all but disappeared. Fortunately I disconnected battery and alternator so diodes are intact.

Think I'll stick to being an Electrician. Thanks for all the advice. Will do makeshift repair while investigating a gasless mig. Would this work for my basic needs?

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/newport/ ... 1018225874

[Rex NZ]

Hugz

Yes the MIG in your link should do the job

As for your rust repair, maybe scour the wreckers for a panel in good nick, then chop out that section of bodywork. Lap joining into your vehicle will make a better welding job than butt joining.

Rex

[Hugz]

Blah! Had a couple of new front tyres for MOT and organised a wheel alignment. Wheel alignment refused as the steering wheel had 3% play before the wheels engaged. This is a forty year old transit van with a worm drive steering box. Must admit the van looks rough but mechanically excellent. I'll do it myself. I watched this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZoL1gaWedA

With an old van with leaf springs front and rear does it matter if the the old girl is on the level?

[Collector Inspector]

Sadly yes...............level.

Road camber is accounted for by alignment.

B

[Rex NZ]

Hugz

Age of the vehicle doesn't have much to do with anything, except prestige & B/S like that.

If the steering box has excess working clearance, then, have a look for an external float adjustment. However, don't reduce the clearance to zero, there must be clearance in all steering positions.

[Hugz]

Woo hoo! Got through MOT. Thanks Rex re advice re clearance, something I hadn't considered.

Tinky is a mark 1 transit van that was co-designed by Ford German/English in the sixties and Ford Australia did the Aussie thing influenced by the yanks and dropped in a high compression 4.2 litre six. Bathurst 4 speed top loader box....pulls 70 kph (43 mph?) in first gear and no pollution gear.

Feel like going for a fang and blowing off kids in their worked skyline eights. Though, built like a brick she dies at around 150k's....

[Collector Inspector]

Anything like my HQ 308 and dying at 150 - 160 (Geared for 160 @ 5750) the dying bit was trying to STOP it!

We drove accordingly however of course. If the rear wheels did 10KPH more than the front ones, it was a safe night

And we survived somehow...........................

MOT aye?

Very

B

PS: Here in WA there is no MOT. Pay rego on a clunker until you get a work order is the average fare.

[Niander101]

Just picked up a gassless mig welder I don't want to be bothered with buying expensive gas!