Well went with the eastwood 135 Mig, should be here in a few days or so. I just need to get a bottle of argon now right? What can I expect to pay and where should I look? I'll definately do some practice welds first. I'll take any advice I can get! Anything better than my dads "point and shoot" method! Haha.

 

Your best bet is to go with a major welding supply outlet. Tractor Supply handles some gasses, don't know about argon. Compare their pricing on gas to TS. TS is proprietary, their bottles, they fill only. Bottles are sometimes available on ebay and CL but check with your gas supplier about filling those bottles purchased elsewhere. Check the date last certified. A lot depends on how close to a supplier you are. I bought my bottle and gas from a local major supplier and it was $100. plus.

 

You don't want pure argon unless you are going to try MIG welding aluminum (very problematic without a spool gun).
You want 25-75 Ar-CO2 mix shielding gas for MIG welding steel. You can use pure CO2, but it makes a hotter weld, making it less suited for body metal. You can buy or lease the tank from a welding supply house or Tractor Supply, then return it when empty to exchange for a new one. Get a full size tank (~4' tall), not one of those mini tanks. It's nearly the same price to fill the large one as a small one which holds < 1/2 as much, and you'll run out far more often, usually on a holiday weekend when you can't get a refill. A welding cart is a good first welding project and makes it easier to move the welder and tank to where you need it then out of the way when you don't. A welding table is also a very useful project. Check around to see if there is a metals recycling yard nearby and/or a metals fabricating shop where you can pick up small amounts of metal shapes and sheet. Don't buy galvanized sheet steel.

 

It would be well worth your time to come here, I can have you making good welds in an afternoon, otherwise you'll be making more holes than welds. Where are you located? You can bring your welder without the gas bottle and we can hook it to mine if you want to learn on your machine. It's about the size and weight of a carry-on bag.

 

On the picture of the driver's side front, pull the dimmer switch plate off too. My 54 has about the same amount of rust there and also has some under the dimmer switch. I have pics at home, but haven't loaded them to the puter yet. I'm looking at a similar repair to the cab mounts on the front on both sides. I have a Century 155 that I bought years back that I'll use to weld in stuff. Century went out of business and I think Lincoln now owns the company.

 

I am in Swansboro, im about 2.5 hrs away from you i think. I actually stayed in Raleigh on the 19th and 20th for my wifes birthday, it snowed that night, went to the cheesecake factory and spent some time at the mall, nice place! Id love to come down sometime, im sure i could talk my wife into going to the cheesecake factory again

 

I have sine pulled that dimmer plate as well, everything is pretty good under it, at the bottom of that plate is the worst of my floor problems. I think it should be pretty easy to fix, just a square piece and should be good!are you planning in replacing any cab mounts?

 

Now that I have my Welder on the way what would be the best way to cut metal? I have a grinder and just recently bought an 8000 dremel from lowes which i am very pleased with. If done a little bit of cutting with the dremel but it eats up the cutting wheels pretty fast, do cutting torches make pretty straight lines?

 

What about a sawzall?

 

I need to replace the front cab mounts and some sheet metal on the floor around the mounts. Otherwise the cab and floor are in pretty good good shape.

 

I use an air nibbler and there are also air or electric shears for metal.

 

Good choice, I think I have one of those in my tool box. I'll have to use it on my floorboards.

 

On cutting the metal, if you have an air compressor I would get a cheap angle grinder or die grinder and use cutting wheels with that.

 

depends on what type metal and if you want to cut a straight line or some shape. For heavier metal in straight lines I use a 14" chop saw with a carbide toothed blade. For thick and intermediate thicknesses and shapes I use a 4" angle grinder with 1/16" abrasive metal cutoff wheels (buy in quantity and be sure to wear leather gloves and face shield minimum, they will shatter if they bind or are twisted) I use this method often enough that I own 3 of the angle grinders: I keep a cutoff wheel on one, a fiber sanding/grinding disk on the second and use the third with other abrasives or grinding wheel as needed. For sheet metal 18 ga or thinner I use electric shears, electric jig saw, small air recip saw. I also use compound and standard hand metal shears. I have a plasma cutter but hardly ever use it. A fire axe (cutting torch) would be my last choice unless I need to roughly remove heavy metal (i.e. cutting off a large frozen bolt) or to quickly reduce down the size of large scrap. I use my Ox-Ac torch for heating metal to bend it, loosening rusted fasteners, and shrinking stretched sheet metal. I also have an industrial die grinder, air powered right angle grinder and an air 3" cutoff tool. Obviously I have a lot of tools dedicated to metal cutting and shaping so I can choose the best tool for the job.

 

I've used an old beat up skills saw for years to cut metal and concrete with the appropriate blade. It is my poor mans chop saw.