spot welding problems

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Oct 7, 2010 | 05:09 PM

82airborne82

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Joined: Mar 2010

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From: fort bragg, North Carolin

spot welding problems

hey guys, can anyone give me some advice or tell me what im doing wrong, i cant seem to make my spot welds stick! i am using a hobart handler 140 mig welder and i cant figure out what im doing wrong and why the spot welds wont take any advice is appreciated thanks!

Oct 7, 2010 | 10:12 PM

cmoritz

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From: Westminster,Md

The single, most important thing is will be obtaining a good "ground" for your machine.
No paint,scale,rust etc.
What are you welding and to what are you welding it to? If welding on the body,and your ground clamp is on the frame..you will have high resistance thru body bushings.
Does your welder work? I know it sounds like a dumb question..but try joining two pieces to gether on the bench.
Crank the heat control up, slow the wire speed down and try for a good burn.
Are you using argon/mix?...Is your tank empty? That always leaves a poor weld.
If using the flux-core wire...switch to an argon mix. That's all I've got for now..

Oct 8, 2010 | 11:34 AM

eatfish

Mountain Pass

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Just to add... if you are using gas (mig), galvanized or aluminized metal can be harder to weld. I use a broken drill bit ground flat on the end to "clean" the metal on the back side of the spot weld before I weld it. This also works good to get rid of paint or rust back there also. Not as much of an issue with fluxed wire but you don't get as nice spot welds with it either.

Oct 8, 2010 | 12:14 PM

gfw1985

Cranky Old Guy

Joined: Mar 2008

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From: Raphine, Virginia

Not enough heat sounds like the problem, but all good advise above. If you are joining two diff thickness of metal, the welder needs set to the thicker gauge. Start on it and allow puddle to flow towards the thinner metal.

Oct 8, 2010 | 07:37 PM

82airborne82

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From: fort bragg, North Carolin

thanks for all the help I forgot to mention ive been spraying the parts with a cold galvanizing product from rustoleum it think its supposed to be like 92% zinc Im wondering if i should stop using the spray

Oct 8, 2010 | 08:19 PM

steve41

Trailering

Joined: May 2001

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From: Central FL

Definately stop spraying that stuff. A mig welder likes clean metal. Make sure your metal is clean of paint and rust also.

Good luck with your project. BTW, what is your project.

Oct 8, 2010 | 09:12 PM

82airborne82

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From: fort bragg, North Carolin

I got a 77 f250 loaded with rust! I mean this thing must have been stored in a swamp or something because it is rusted every place you can think of. but the whole point of this project is to learn body work on Im not going to build a show truck I am just trying to learn how to do body work and welding. when I get out of the army I want to do something along that line of work so im going to plug away at this truck and learn all i can especially with all the knowledge thats floating around this websight. eventually I am going to order one of those body solder kits from eastwood what do ya think