Anything welding

So, who here has built a Mad Max truck? :snicker:

 

Got to break in the eastwood today. Practically built a hay ring (it was an old one and in 5 or 6 pieces i put back together) and i was impressed how well the welds looked even in the spots i couldnt get good and clean. Then i made a platform for the machine to sit on so the side door could clear the brace on the cart we had. This was prolly a top 10 weld for the day, had a few better and alot worse but over all really happy with everything. About 4 hours of cutting grinding and welding total.

 

Just realized that pic looks severely undercut but its an optical illusion. Its actually just more than flush.

 

I liked my Eastwood till it randomly blew up a couple weekends ago.. hopefully their customer service is decent as said to be. Replacement is even more badass and if they replace the eastwood it will be a backup or home machine

 

Oh hey everyone! Relatively new to TW and super new to welding. I saw a few posts about this, but does anyone around Denver/Aurora know any good spots to pick up cheap/free scrap steel to practice on? Finally got my mig setup going and now am super antsy to stick some metal together. I'm guessing junk yards/scrap yards or maybe fab shops but google maps didn't really make much obvious...? Thanks a bunch, this n00b greatly appreciates any help!

 

I don't know about Denver, buy my local steel shop has a "seconds" yard. Basically they take the cutoff, or cancelled orders and set them outside. They sell the pieces by the pound at that point. I would try calling up your local steel supplier and see if they offer something similar.

 

Oh sweet, I'll call em up and ask - thanks a bunch! Really digging your build with a massive shovel!

 

Not a bad idea, thanks!

 

K&K, this is the spot you are looking for and will be there often Scrap and new steel as well, $0.50/lb for scrap.

http://www.kksurplus.com/

 

Awesome, I'm gonna head over there today. Thanks a bunch everyone for the responses!

 

Welding on doors sucks when the mig doesn't have the precise settings option lol.

 

I've got machines with taps as well as rheostats. I actually find the machine with taps does a better job on auto sheetmetal.

As long as I have been welding, i still need to practice on some scrap body panels to get the myself and the machine dialed in.

 

Well I'm using a Hobart which only has a 1,2,3,4-12 option so getting dialed in wasn't an option. Definitely don't wanna do auto sheetmetal work with it again lol

 

Nobody just starts welding on body panels. It is much harder than structual iron. It just takes practice. You'll get eventually. Keep at it.

 

Definitely not the most precise welder for that. I tried the same thing back in highschool trying to reweld some patch panels on. After that i decided id leave it to professionals if i ever needed patch work done again, ha.

 

I use a 100 amp Lincoln mig for body work. With small wire I can dial it in great.

 

Small wire is key. Makes it much easier.

 

the sheet metal project that.drove me insane lol

 

The first project I've been designing and managing at my new job is finally getting welded up. I ran into a few hurdles, so it's been a lot of long days. I like the overtime though. I think we scrapped over $2000 of 304 12 gauge due to the k factor in solidworks not matching our press brake bend allowance.


All of the tabs lined up perfectly and this whole thing was tacked together without any filler rod. Only fusing at the tabs.

 

That's sick! I want a job like that