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Thu Aug 07, 2003 1:07 pm

Before my current job I was blessed enough to work at a fabrication shop. I really love to work with my hands so learning the press brake and shear and welding, etc was really cool. We did alot of our fabrication with stainless and I was learning and picking up tig welding very quickly. I was welding seams with just the welder, in other words no rod. Are these welders useful in the autobody/resto garage or is a mig the way to go? Is it too hot for panels or do you just do the typical spot welds in alternating spots until the seam is fully welded? :?:

Thu Aug 07, 2003 1:27 pm

ok.. TIG is good but to EXPENSIVE in a body shop. I have used them on a aluminum budied car.. but oxyfuel and TIG you can still hammer them out. Mig to brittle for hammering
good tig machine.. 2k plus... Pkus alot of tungston and rod more elec. bottle
good mig.. 600.. wire and bottle... plus ease of use

Fri Aug 08, 2003 2:46 pm

As Chill says, TOO EXPENSIVE.

You really won't NEED TIG for VW repair.
Would be like getting an 18 wheel tractor-trailer rig for a trip to 7-11.

Sat Aug 09, 2003 8:15 am

I agree MIG is the way to go although there are scratch-start dc inverter TIG sets available from £400 inc torch here in the UK good for all but the thinnest of metals.

Sat Aug 09, 2003 12:47 pm

go with gas welding in my opion its a dying way of welding cause you have to know what your doing know the right tips to use and so on to make sure you have perfect welds with no shrinkage but its all i weld with even for tight spots .. I love it i know of another on this site that would agree fully with me on that.. where as we are probably the only 2 who would here... But if you learn how to do it oxy/accet setup youll have a vast variety you can weld and can do more than vw's .. just my thoughts .... only key is practice a ton before you do a car of any sort or motorcycle as shrikage is a big problem with newbies to gas welding. anyone can weld with a mig or even a arc set up tig takes a tad more skill but most discourage ags due to the amount of skill and knowledge of metals to be able to do it right. anyways im rambling to much on something you werent asking about.. but its cheaper than the rest to get .....

last note for gas spark arrestors or flashback protectors inline is IMPORTANT, and never light the oxy first ...

ok thats it now ..

Sat Aug 09, 2003 2:12 pm

I would agree in any VW or any regular car defor 78 or so. High Streght stell (HSS) and Ultra high streght Steel (Uhss) are use in unibodies of today and Framed cars/truck. They HATE! heat. lose the strenght.. hel you can only have a welder on a truck frame for arounf 90 sec, befor the rail should haev just been replaced.. Frame menr rarely even use heat.

With that said. I would agree that oxy would be a very good weld if your goin' custom. you can hammer the weld without worrying about splitting.
NOw if you don't know what you are doing your cuaseing more bad then good. the heat zone is larger when oxy fuel welding and cuases distortion the fast.. meaning more filler on the car. make since?

levi

Sat Aug 09, 2003 2:19 pm

like i said practice practice practice .... and you wont have any distortion at all what so ever :D

Sun Aug 10, 2003 8:16 am

Here is a link to an article I wrote a while back on the subject:

http://www.type2.com/library/body/wlsh.htm

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

Mon Aug 11, 2003 12:49 pm

Wow, gas welding. I did that for years. Great way to get an education on any type of welding. I mostly use MIG now but every once in a while... :-&

Fri Aug 15, 2003 1:28 pm

Thanks for the input folks...