This is a good video, how to mig weld. It's an actual college presentation.

 

don't know if it is mentioned in the books, but never ever use brake clean to clean parts for welding. when heated brake fluid turns to hydrogen chloride and phosgene gas, both of which are deadly if inhaled.
also, never weld galvanized without having a good fan the blow the welding fumes away from you.

 

Thanks for the warning! The last two days I've been struggling with a lung infection, a mild one. It's a timely warning. What do you recommend I use?

Watched a YouTube video on replacing an old truck's floor pan. The fellow marked the outline of the pan and then cut about an inch below the line, leaving that inch lip to support the pan. Then he pushed the pan against that lip with his hand for each spot weld. He had cleaned and ground the metal bare. Looked like a good job to me. Not difficult at all. I learned with the sticks and the oxyacetylene torch, so this wire feed setup is gonna be a snap for me.

Don't know how I"m gonna do the pan where it meets the door openings, 'cuz they are rotted out, too. Guess I'll figure it out. I'm really great at figuring stuff out. Take it apart until I've got all the rust out of there, then rebuild. Yep, gonna be fun!

Gonna buy a welder's cap.

 

i use grinder and wire brush to clean.

 

Oh, yeah. I gotta buy those, was lookin at grinders online at Lowe's website. Don't know if they will have stainless steel brush. Will probably have to pick that up at the welding shop. Is it Wednesday yet?

 

This one looks like it might work. It's 9-amp.

Shop DEWALT 4-1/2-in 9-Amp Paddle Switch Corded Angle Grinder at Lowes.com

 

harbor freight 4 1/2 hand grinder. $21.99
Heavy Duty 4-1/2" Angle Grinder

i have 3 of them one with grinder wheel, one with cutoff wheel, and one with wire wheel. cheap price, but the oldest is going on 10 years now and still going strong.

 

I never ever heard of Harbor Freight until I started researching for this F350. There's a HF store a 20 min bicycle ride from my apartment. That's a great price! Are there certain grits I should be looking for? Do you think I should get the fine or coarse wire wheel?

I guess it's fairly time-consuming to change those parts out. At $22, I ought to buy 3 of them myself. I do that with drills - I have two of them - one for drilling, one for screwing.

Seller called me. He's willing to come down on the price, wanted to know why I didn't want to buy it. I told him because it's not got enough power for me, told him about what I'm planning to buy. The Lincoln 140 is twice the machine of the 100.

 

Do you think 18" split leather sleeves will be enough protection, or should I get a shirt?

 

The reviews on the helmet I selected at Lowe's say it's a cheap POS, to spend $20 more than its $50 price to get the good one. Do you have a recommendation?

 

well, i really will not recommend a helmet because like i said i use a $450 helmet
a cheap one will do, but the better ones are better. you want to be able to turn the power off to save batteries, and having adjustable darkness is nice too.
i do not wear sleeves, i wear a long sleeve dickies work shirt with 18 inch welding gauntlets like these:
i have only set myself on fire twice in the past 45 years, once a long time ago when i used to wear denim jeans, the knees were wore and frayed, and a spark caught the frayed ends setting them smoldering.
and then about 10 years ago i was laying under a trailer putting a gusset plate on the spring pivot and had a spark land on my chest burning a hole straight through to my skin.
i had the full leathers there, but told the kid i was teaching how to do the repair to put them on.
of course what better way to teach safety than to set yourself on fire and burn a big hole in the middle of your chest??
for the grinder i get the 24 grit metal wheel 10 pack:
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-in...-pc-69235.html
the cutuff unit gets the 40 grit 10 pack:
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-in...-pc-61195.html
and lately i started using flap disc instead of a wire brush in the third machine, with varying grit from the 36 grit for weld cleanup to the 120 grit for finish before prime/paint. i get these in the 10 pack also, but for some reason i can not find them on the website.
36 grit:
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-h...isc-67639.html
60 grit:
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-in...isc-69602.html
and 120 grit:
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-in...isc-69604.html

 

I'm having buyer's pre-purchase doubts. Like, what if the transmission has a problem, or there's a clunking sound in the rear axle, or the truck can't come out of 4wd? What if it doesn't fit on the auto transport because it used to be a dually and now that it's a SRW, it's still too wide? I didn't test drive it - the plow would only come up 3". I guess I could ask to test drive it when I go there Weds. He's supposed to have the plow in the bed by then.

 

If you're wondering if you'll have problems with the truck, rest assured. You will. If I'm keeping track of everything right you're paying $1500 for a 30 year old truck that you know has had parts taken off it and other parts put on it. Does that make it a bad truck to buy? Not necessarily. But if you want a truck you can just use and not worry about having transmission or rear axle problems, you're looking at at truck that's about 27 years too old and costs about $35,000 too little.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a solid truck that's pretty easy to maintain, it could well be a great deal. Just go into it with your eyes open and know that you will have to fix stuff.

 

I thought it might be a good truck, but I've been concerned about things he's said to me that contradict other things he's said to me. Last night I asked if he would measure the distance - the overall width - from outside of tire to outside of tire, both front and rear, because the U-Haul Auto transport I had reserved for tomorrow can take a regular cab F350. But this truck was an incomplete truck from the factory. So I needed those measurements to see if it would fit on the trailer. He was not willing to do the measuring. Instead he spoke fast for two minutes telling me two distinctly different stories in that two minutes, that the truck had been a dually, has a narrower frame, the front axle had been altered to compensate for losing one of the rear wheels, and the rear had been converted from DRW to SRW. Without even pausing he continued that the truck had not been a dually, and why would someone want to alter the truck to make it a single wheel rear end. It was stupefying. I told him that after he said that I could no longer believe anything he said and was not going to buy his truck. I can't help that. He almost had a sale.