DIY welding -which part of the car?

[escaflowne]

yeah because of the intense heat..it is advisable to keep drinking water.
One of my fren..go gatal weld without the shield..and he look at it...that nite eye pain until need to go hospital

 

[sam1741]

wow... so many ppl also wan to do welding.....
next time can u help me weld my car?


anyway... must remember to protect the most important organ.. your EYEs

 

[prodigy]

Great to see some of us here are pretty well versed with welding. I'm from welding background also, though not very good but i know some theories.

To begin with, you need to use a MIG welding set to do seam welding on your car chasis strenghtening. MIG welding is a lot quicker and cleaner as compared to arc welding. That is using electrode to weld. Electrode will leave a black slag behind and you need to clean it by chipping it off using a hammer. MIG is the way to go for chasis strengtening but the downside is, a MIG welding set is a bit more expensive than arc welding set.

As for clothing, you cannot wear too thick clothes during welding. Its blardy warm when you put on the gloves and welding apron. However, you can make do without the apron, just that don't wear your Armani shirt there la. I've got a couple of pants and shirts destroyed just from welding. Gloves and headshield are A MUST. Headshield is to protect your eyes from extreme bright arc. However, the fumes from it is still hazardous. Its important to wash your face and eyes after welding and this will reduce the chance of you catching "Arc eye". I've gotten arc eye few times and let me tell you the feeling sucks. Tears from your eyes will come out like water pipe. It'll be swollen and red. So be prepared if you're welding the first time.

 

[ken yeang]

Bro Prodigy,

Wah, Prodigy, I didn't know u have background in welding. If little brother here get stuck donno how to do welding, can I consult u? (I can belanja kopi and roti gula..no prob) thank you in advance. hihihi...

Yeah, I agree with you that arch welding is very crude way of welding, esp for car. but somehow, this arch welding set is what I have for now. I recently have asked abt some MIG welder set. The smallest set cost from 2 to 4k. They are intended for DIY. The heavier grade cost like 7-10k. Whoooar!! Cost 10x the cost of my KE30 liow......The top grade, ultra efficient welder -the Plasma welder cost even more....I almost shitted in my pants when the sales girl told me the price of the plasma welder.

I've been told that the fumes from wleding (any type of welding) can be nasty and hazardous. I intend to use some cheapo old table fan to blow the gas away myself when doing welding later on. I oso will wear old long sleeve shirt, faded jeans and sneaker when welding. definetely not Armani.... Oh, I'm going to get myself a cheapo fire extinguisher oso just in case of.....fire-fire burning bright....LOL

Anyway, thanks for your advice and I'll keep my fingers crossed for the DIY welding this weekend....

 

[Dremel]

Nice attempt. This should be interesting. Please post some pictures of the weld job and the results. Supposely regarding any improvements on handling. Good Luck mate.

 

[prodigy]

kenyeang,

We're sharing infomation. I'll be more than glad to help you out and give some ideas. However, i'm not an expert welder.

Stick electrode(arc welding) definitely is not the right machine for chasis strengthening. I wouldn't recommend you at all. What i'd suggest is at least a cheapo MIG set. The weld quality and finishing is big between those two, unless of coz you're a really good welder. Plus, its so much faster using MIG. RM2-4 K for a cheapo set is fair i'd say. I've seen and play around with MIG sets that are about RM20K. Thats one hell of a welding set, a Rolls Royce of all welding set. Ultimately, you get what you pay for. But for a start, RM 2-4K sets are fine, really. Plasma welding set are totally out of the question.

There's absolute no reason at all for you to even think about plasma welding. Its mainly used in high production, high efficiency and thin welding beads application. Example of plasma welding is in APM Shock Absorbers whereby they need the welding bead to be thin and still have penetration and strength. And yes, i myself nearly choked when they told me how much is their investment on the plasma welding set. However, i do think you are confused with plasma cutting whereby plasma cutting are commonly used to cut thin materials without damaging the properties of the materials and more importantly to cut stainless steel. Plasma cutting sets are commonly seen in engineering company and few exhaust modification shops. JFA Motorsport uses plasma cutting. I know 8 out of 10 exhaust shops uses a motorised saw and some even using oxy cutting and the finishing is not that good. It just shows the investment JFA puts in to make sure his quality is there.

As for fumes, MIG welding will produce abit less fumes and i'd say exhaust fumes are pretty hazardous. For you and me, its not that we weld every day, so its fine. However, its a good idea to blow away the fumes with a fan but ultimately, you should drink more water and wash your face after welding. Else, you will get terrible arc eye syndrome. Fire extinguisher is not really that important la. Unless the spatter gets into some paper and it burns but thats really unlikely. Of coz you have to be careful when you're welding car chasis as you have petrol and stuff like that but i trust that you're smart enuff to drain off the petrol before doing anything at all.

Hope it helps abit. Good luck with the arc welding testing this weekend, its a good way to start off before moving to MIG welding.