body work for a newbie

[Ken Hughes]

Hi speedy, some good advice here so far,practice on some old unwanted metal of the same thickness for a start(so yo do not bugger up the good stuff first)till you get the hang of it.
Also be care- full not to grind too much out of the weld when cleaning up the weld as it will crack and you have to do it all again.
Check out metalmeet dot com as well.
Do not hesitate to ask questions as there are a lot of talented people on this site .

[colin jones]

Hi Mike, lots of great advise here if you already have the basics of mig welding. Set your gas at 15-20 make sure the material is clean from paint and oil and if its thin body work keep your amps low and spot rather than trying to do long runs as apart from heat distortion you may run the risk of thinking it all looks good then 'plop'! you've got a big hole. If you are a novice then it will be a bit of trial and error. If you are welding a truck cab then I would use .6 wire. This will reduce the amount of heat generated while welding. Wire speed to amps is very critical and you will need to do some test pieces to familiarise yourself to the machine. Even a experienced welder would do a couple of small runs to set the machine. Lots of little spots can achieve great things. I also use 1mm cutting discs for cutting and flap discs for grinding.
Regards and good luck!
Colin.