Floor Pan Welding North Central PA?

[clockworkbox]

Anyone know of a shop that can weld Beetle floor pans in Pennsylvania? It seems that all of the shops in the business section on TheSamba in my area have gone out of business or don't respond. I bought a mig welder but it trips the breaker from the only available power source in my garage so my do it myself option is no option. I do not mind driving a few hours to drop it off to someone who knows what they are doing but none of the regular body shops in my area are interested in the job. I have the old pans out and new WW pans to go in. Any help is appreciated.
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'69 Beetle (pieces)
Learning the hard way is still learning...

[bomberbob]

Hi, I had the same problem. The only outlet in my garage is tied to the GFI outlets in the bathroom. Any attempt to weld with the Century flux core welder I bought from Home Depot tripped the breaker. I found that the outside outlet by the front door was on its own circuit, so I bought a very heavy duty contractors extension cord and ran it from the front of the house, in to the garage.
Do you have a gas generator? Not sure how many watts you would need, but I would think if you have a decent sized unit it should run your welder.

Couple of ideas, might not work but sometimes you gotta think outside the box. Hate to see your DIY attitude get flattened by this problem.
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1968 Beetle torn apart again
1990 Jetta GLI megasquirted, burning E85 (currently in storage)
2004 Jetta turbo GLI
Marion, Iowa

[clockworkbox]

Yeah, I looked into the generator route but the cheapest Harbor Freight option that will work with my welder is $800 and I would need a lengthy heavy duty extension cord to reach outside my garage. I have neighbors close as well but I'm still considering it. They haven't complained about my air compressor or air tools yet...
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'69 Beetle (pieces)
Learning the hard way is still learning...

[pondoras box]

Wait you have an air compressor that doesn’t trip it but your welder does? Are you running both at the same time?

But I would not do that work for 800 bucks so buy the generator and DIY and now you own the generator for less money.

If you think 800+ is too much ask yourself why are there no shops doing this kind of work in your area.

But if you want me to do the work for you, I’m in Erie PA send me a message.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[clockworkbox]

Compressor draws 15 amps, Hobart 140 draws 20 but the issue turns out to be the weird wiring in my garage. Long story short, I found the answer on the Hobart website and after changing the breaker, I was in business. Welded the pans in last weekend and the 140 worked perfectly the whole time and the house did not burn down. Not the prettiest welds but they are strong. Thanks for the offer though.

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'69 Beetle (pieces)
Learning the hard way is still learning...

[pondoras box]

Those aren’t bad. Dress it up with the grinder and it’ll look factory. Good job getting it done. Now that you did all that work how much would you charge for it?
_________________
Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[clockworkbox]

The welding was the easy part thanks to YouTube, I would do that for $500 I understand that customer prep is probably not usually the best though so I understand that shops don't believe it when you say it is ready to weld. Prepping everything was what took time. The Wolfsburg pans are nice and I had to do very little to get them to fit properly. I tacked it down and dropped the body on the pan to be sure but all of the holes lined up perfectly on the first try. I had a lot of welding experience with tig back in the '90s but not as much with mig (metal has to be clean either way) and it took me about 10 hours over two days to get it all together. The recommended settings from Hobart were almost perfect and I'm super impressed at how easy the 140 is to use. Now I need to figure out what I'm going to coat it with, I thought Por15 but after some research I think epoxy prime and Eastwood chassis black.
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'69 Beetle (pieces)
Learning the hard way is still learning...

[pondoras box]

A shop at 100 bucks and hour would charge 1000 just for the prep time you did. Not to mention fitting and final finish and removing and replacing the body. You probably saved yourself 2500 doing yourself. And yes I “finished” a heater channel repair and had to spend a good 5 hours removing rusted remains of the old channel before I could even begin to fit the new one.

The welding is the easy part of the job. But don’t tell anyone. It sounds scary and you look like some sort of sorcerer to people who do know. It’s all the prep fit and finish work that’s time consuming.

POR 15 is crap! If you can get it Master Series paint is the best. It’s only sold direct and I have heard people are finding out there is a waiting list to get it.
_________________
Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk