Meet Ralph - 1970 ST project

[rich73]

New welder to play with too,

2021-11-29_01-16-28 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Wire feed looks like quite a step up from my current welder.

2021-11-29_01-16-43 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[rich73]

Almost there cleaning up the wings, they were in really pretty good shape with just a few minor repairs needed. Seems to be taking forever, I really hadn't appreciated now complex they were. Around the headlamp bowl being particularly challenging.

2021-12-01_08-52-03 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Being the originals at least I know there should be a reasonable chance of them fitting well.

Bowl repairs.
2021-12-01_09-00-57 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-12-01_09-01-11 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[AVI_8]

Nice work, I’ll be interested in seeing how well you find the Paton on thin steel.
My PSI 200 arrived this afternoon from WSD, unfortunately it looks like the courier had dropped it from a great height, Tom is sending out a replacement tomorrow, just need to get the electrics in my new workshop so I can begin to learn how to use it.
Are you intending to mainly use mig or tig with it on your car?

[deano]

I decided against trying to join my rear wings back together, mainly because one of them incl. its B post needed work, and just bought a new pair. However, having been switching between TIG and MIG for the last 10 years and appreciating the pros and cons of both, I think I would use MIG for this job and join with a series of tacks. Here is my thought process: tacking with the MIG is going to be the easiest way to avoid distortion, covers more distance per weld and uses a lot less gas. Tacking with the TIG is slower because you have to feed the rod in by hand and wait for the puddle - ultimately, this generates more heat than MIG tacking, and uses a lot more (expensive Argon) gas. Of course, you can lay down nice short weld sections with TIG, even without the rod, but this is much more difficult to get right when its not flat on the bench I find, and creates a lot of heat that needs the air hose to cool it. MIG tacks are going to be your friend on these vertical panels! Use plenty of small neodymium magnets to keep the panels flush initially - the heat will force the panels to become less flush, but you can fix this between tacks with a sharp flat tool or panel hammer. If your sheet metal is completely solid along the edges, which I assume it is, this will allow you to increase the current and the MIG tacks welds will be pretty flat and will only need a tickle with the grinder afterwards. I find that the copper plate tends to prevent good penetration at the back - you really need that weld on the back, else your tacks won't join together and you will see the panel edges here and there.

That idea proposed on Youtube seems to work OK, but having watched it carefully, I still think personally that templating the repair piece in cardboard and making the repair piece fit the hole perfectly e.g. using the flat side of a cutting disc is still the way to go. Neodymium magnets are your friend here, again, to hold the repair panel flush in the hole. The Youtube idea will keep an even gap though while you join the panels, but you have to faff about cutting the tack welds to get the panels flush again. Magnets dont hold the gap even, but you can fix the gap with tools as you initially tack the panel in place. Just my opinion...

[rich73]

Hi there,
The Paton looks like a really well made welder but I've had issues too, 2 have arrived not faulty/damaged. Customer servicer Welding supplies is really great and but after the second one arrived damaged I went for a refund and should have an Rtech arriving today. Hopefully you have better luck on your replacement, I would have really liked to stuck with the Patton as some of the additional features looked interesting. Have you sorted our gas yet? After years of using BOC I now use albee rent free bottles that work really well for me.

I would guess that probably 85% of the welding on the shell is with MIG, 10% TIG and 5% oxy. One of the most useful things I've found to get to grips with is plug welding. Couple of things I've found recently that helps is to use a 7mm hole(I find the standard punch/joggler hole is too small) and to really think about which side you put the hole in. Oh and plug welding upside down is really difficult.

Sounds like your in a similar position to me deno with MIG and TIG, after a few years on each I found my own pros and cons and they pretty much match your thoughts and and what others think. Might have to try magnets again, I had issues with them messing with the arc when welding so stopped using them , presume I was just getting too close. Going to have a bit more practice on my old Golf wing before I go neat the arches though!

[deano]

Good point, I should have said that TIG doesn't work near strong magnets - the plasma becomes de-focused. Solution is to move the magnets away a few centimetres until the plasma is able to focus back on the grounded metal.

[rich73]

Hoping to get the rest of the media blasting done this week and any remaining repairs on the shell.
Found this horror hiding in the corner this morning.

2021-12-06_09-42-54 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-12-06_09-42-27 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[rich73]

Bit of a clean up....
2021-12-06_10-46-14 by richard cannings, on Flickr
2021-12-06_10-46-29 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-12-06_10-46-37 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Though I might be looking at a lower Quarter repair panel at £144 but the complicated bits seem to be part of the B post panel that I've already bought.

[rich73]

Decided to keep the top of the b post as it was solid.
2021-12-06_01-59-18 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Wanted to blank the engine release though.

2021-12-06_01-59-29 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-12-06_01-59-39 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[rich73]

All going to plan, new lower B post section now welded in and I've started repairs to the lower rear wing section.

2021-12-06_05-25-45 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[RobFrost]

Are those holes in the last image are ones you've punched out to form plug welds, or drilled-out spot welds? I have this same repair to make in mine on both sides. If I could drill out from the back and keep the holes in the rear wing that small, I'd be very happy.

[AVI_8]

Hi Rich, I hadn’t got gas sorted yet but after looking at Albee gas I see there is an agent for them just a couple of miles away so I’ll give them a visit. My first welder arrived just in its cardboard box with no packaging which is just crazy so it was no surprise that it was badly damaged, the second one arrived with the welder box inside another box surrounded by polystyrene peanuts thankfully fully intact.
Look forward to seeing how you get on with the Rtech, that was one of my contenders along with the Paton.

[rich73]

Hi Rob,
The I ground away the B post rather than drilling out the welds and them drilled holes for the plug welds. The original spot welds weren't cantered on the seam and were uneven. I've never had that much success drilling out welds, I often end up with the metal tearing.
I used a power file and a mini grinder disk and a cheap air cut off tool.

2021-12-07_04-41-13 by richard cannings, on Flickr

This is the remains of the B post seam.

2021-12-07_04-41-25 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[rich73]

Getting on well with the Rtech welder, quite different to my old transformer welder but I'm getting used to it. It seems much less prone to blowing through than my old welder and not just because the power can go lower. There seems to be some sort of soft start too.
Must admit that I would have preferred the Paton as it did seem to have more configurability and I liked the digital display. Really happy with the lower power output, I've found that even on 1mm butt welds I'm not going down to the minimum setting using 0.8 wire.
Maximum output is ridiculous(180A), just a shame I wont be using it much.

Rich

[rich73]

Covid booster day so nothing too strenuous.

2021-12-07_06-29-05 by richard cannings, on Flickr