General Fabrication

@orbot those welds do not look at all like shielding gas is the issue, they look more heat related. I'd be willing to bet that if machine settings havent been touched from the 'good' to 'bad' then wire feeding issues is the culprit(therefore making things too hot). I bet you are seeing long wide arc cone and a lot of crackle/pop when trying to weld..... yes?
Check to ensure the contact tip is good and wire feeds free (easiest to unscrew it plus feed out a few inches of wire and see if there's any resistance when sliding the tip up and down the wire by hand), if the tip is good then make sure the welding gun lead is as straight as possible. A kink/twist in the liner will lead to feed issues. And lastly ensure theres proper drive roll tension on the feeder. Too much tension on the rollers and too little can both cause issues. If all the aforementioned is in good working order, when was the last time the gun liner was replaced? If the machine sits around a lot the wire gets dirty/corroded while sitting and that will clog up the liner and add resistance in the feeding.

Edit. I guess one more thing would be a loose power or ground connection either in the machine or at the ground clamp

 

Good info! Thanks guys
Learning on my own aint easy

welds got better but have to get use to the gun angle only likes it at 90’

 

@orbot do more prep, sand/ grind to bare metal, remove all rust and mill scale. Don’t necessarily need to wipe down with solvent for mig but can’t hurt

 

Cleaned with wire brush but pic doesn't show it

 

Clean the weld area and surrounding area with a wire wheel or lightly with a flap or sanding disc. You want clean shiny metal

 

Can you guys suggest a thickness and aluminum type for this. I’m going to send off to sendcutsend (thanks for this suggestion) but I’m not sure which type and thickness as I’ve never done anything with aluminum before.

I have these two projects. First off these aren’t my “wheel wells” but I’m planning something similar. I’m going to cap off the open areas with aluminum plate and mount various items off of it. So it needs a little thickness. I’ll be mounting the fuse box (with a support) some bus bars, hood struts, etc.



Then in the rear I am going to attach this aluminum to my bed cage and hang my electrical stuff off it it. So a couple bus bars, switch pro, master switch, fuse block, etc.

Thing in the bed will be like this. Ignore the measurements. I tried to use my phone and it didn’t work. Blue is the battery and green is the plate thing. Which might change depending on how much real estate I need.

 

from what you describe I'd probably do 1/8". decent strength but not overkill and not strictly cosmetic.

 

Thanks! Sounds about right. Not up to some of the stuff you guys are building but I’ll post it anyway once done.

 

yeah i would say 1/8 is good, i made full removable panels for my wheel wells and did it out of 1/8 and then bent it to fit where i needed, than powder coated them....just cut it all out now to go with a full engine cage but oh well

 

It pains me to think about having to cut those out and start over. Was a really good job.

Side note. Your remote battery connections - where are those from (still trying to decide how to do mine)? And the little zip tie bracket things you have. Not sure the correct name for those. That’s what they look like though.

 

Which zip tie brackets? I had some tabs that were designed for zip ties..otherwise I’m not sure.

 

Those are the ones. I’m dumb. I should have just googled it. Found plenty of them.

 

yeah im gonna try some of the bolt on ones that tmr customs sells. i like that they make them in stainless.

 

Those are nice. Thanks for posting about them. I might go that way too. They also come in aluminum.

Edit: just ordered the stainless ones. Good call.

 

Someone school me on mig gun nozzles
Is longer better?

 

Longer nozzles where the contact tip is recessed into the nozzle are used for spray transfer/high amperage stuff. If you’re doing short circuit stuff, you’ll want a nozzle that’s almost flush with the contact tip as it gives you a good view of your wire and the puddle while still giving you proper gas coverage.

 

Gotcha
Thing is that im having a hard time welding for example upside down or sideways where the gun has to be at 180 or pointing up

 

Having a hard time like not being able to see or your welds aren’t turning out good?

 

with over head welds you gotta turn down your heat and feed speeds otherwise your puddle will just fall out which I’m assuming is your problem.

 

Welds arent that good
But that lowering speed and voltage makea a little bit of sense, will try it