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Flux wire welders for panel replacement?

Printed From: The Ford Torino Page
Category: General Discussion
Forum Name: Auto Body Forum
Forum Description: Discussion of anything related to body, paint and metal work/restoration
URL: https://forum.grantorinosport.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=7247
Printed Date: 26-March-2026 at 5:42PM
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Topic: Flux wire welders for panel replacement?

Posted By: sabatona
Subject: Flux wire welders for panel replacement?
Date Posted: 28-April-2012 at 6:08AM

Hi all.

Its been a while since I did rust repair/panel replacement (about 25 years).

Last I did this on my Mach 1, I spot welded the new quarter in place with an overlap seam.

I then braised the seam full length from the outside, grinded the weld down, then did most of the filling with lead (yes, I was taught lead work while in tech school for auto body repair).

Im thinking that there must now be an easier way......I hope.

I found a "flux wire welder" at Harbor freight that says it will weld from 18g to 3/16", so it sounds like it would/could weld about anything I need to do on the torino.

Here is a link to the welder: http://www.harborfreight.com/welding/mig-flux-welders/90-amp-flux-wire-welder-68887.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.harborfreight.com/welding/mig-flux-welders/90-amp-flux-wire-welder-68887.html

I googled this welder, and found many comments from satisfied users...

My question is: has anyone used this type of welder for panel replacement, and if so, is this the way to go?

I would like to do a "butt joint" seam on the quarter panel replacement so I can reduce filler needed, and hide the weld in the trunk area.

If this is not the ideal type of welder for this purpose, please recommend something else. Im looking for something reasonably priced. I already have a standard arc welder with an "eastwoood" spot welder attachment.

Thanks in advance for your help with my research.

Replies:

Posted By: Zebra 3
Date Posted: 28-April-2012 at 7:21AM

I have one of these wire feed welders from Harbor Freight and I think it great!!! I have done quite a bit of welding with it. Make sure you practice on a couple of scrape pieces first to get your wire speed and High/Low setting where it needs to be.

I built a 3/4 ton utility trailer ( one of those Tractor Supply ones that comes with a frame, axle w/ tires and wheels and springs, tongue and hitch)...I welded in an expanded metal floor, extended the tongue and put on a box (like what you would find in a pick up box) and installed side rails.

There was a few places where I wanted deeper penetration , so I beveled the seams and laid down multiple weldments to build up the weld area and provided for deeper and more penetration.

I'll be using mine here real soon on some patch work on the Torino....I'll be dialing back the wire speed and "possibly" going with the low setting....again I will get it figured out with some scrap pieces first.

Remember: Prep the metal do avoid a contaminated weld...spot welds...don't weld in one area to long to avoid warpage....your not going to be able to perfectly fill the gap with welding material...let your filler of choice do that!

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"I deeply admire the men who founded this country, and I think we ought to know more about them and how they lived and the force and courage they had.
Henry Ford. 1926
Brian Conn
'76 Torino

Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 28-April-2012 at 11:25AM

they Harbor Freight welder might do the job but I won't buy any Chicago Electric crap as i seen too many of it being returned at the store for warranty so i try to buy stuff that is economical but with some quality and i would recommend the Eastwood Mig for $300 and ilyes just bought one

they look just like the Lincoln and in fact Lincoln could very well be making it for them and just rebadged for Eastwood. i know the Lincolns work great a my buddy in Florida has one and used it in my shop for awhile. I think the Eastwood is the same and would work just as great but will last and outlast a HF welder i'm sure

Posted By: robot9000
Date Posted: 28-April-2012 at 12:28PM

Yeah, I'm looking at that and the one from Tractor Supply. Similar spec's and cost. For the amount of welding I plan on doing, I think that would work fine. I just don't have other projects that call for a welder so I am not going to spend a lot of dollars if it will do the job I need.

There is a coupon in this months issue of Popular Science that puts that welder at $80 (probably worth the $5 bucks to save $20 (or $15 depending on your grade in Econ, lol).

About $50 bux more with similar spec's and reviews.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/jobsmart-reg-125-amp-mig-fluxcore-welder-1128762

Posted By: legend onirot
Date Posted: 28-April-2012 at 1:55PM

i have a lincoln. LOVE IT! i had limited welding experience with a stick welder 25 years ago. i bought mine specifically for my car. had to learn from scratch. i dont do it perfect, but it gets done

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malcolm
1973 gran torino sport (formal)... "Stacy Lynn"
1972 gran torino (formal)... "Mackenzie"
1973 gran torino sport (sportroof)... "Leela"

Posted By: sabatona
Date Posted: 01-May-2012 at 2:31PM

Thanks for the feedback. I looked at the review on the TSC welder, and they seem no better than for the Harbor Freight unit. Since I have a HF store about 10 minutes away, I might give theirs a try. Reviews stated to use the Hobart wire for better results.

These welders will be on sale early June for $89.99, will probably pick one up then.

I will let you all know how it goes, not quite ready for any welding quite yet, working on mechanical at the moment. Thanks again.

Posted By: Zebra 3
Date Posted: 01-May-2012 at 3:35PM

...Yes, use the Hobart wire (or any other top rated ,name brand wire) and be sure to keep the tip as clean as possible. When the wire starts to get jammed up in the tip everytime you go to use it, it is time to replace the tip.....try and replace the tip with one from a welding supply store...a little bit more expensive but worth it in the long run.

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"I deeply admire the men who founded this country, and I think we ought to know more about them and how they lived and the force and courage they had.
Henry Ford. 1926
Brian Conn
'76 Torino

Posted By: fordpower
Date Posted: 02-May-2012 at 6:15AM

I borrowed a harbor freight it was the cheep one. only run90sec wait 10min I seem to get a lot of splatter though I don't know much about it.

Posted By: robot9000
Date Posted: 02-May-2012 at 8:14AM

I picked up the HF unit and was practicing on some 22 G sheet steel last night. I've never welded before so I did the usual netucation and gave it a shot. My thoughts:

I need to get better at cleaning the metal.
I need to get my stick out and wire feed mojo going. I burned through a lot at first, then just didn't get good welds.
I think I am going to find .030 Hobart wire. From what I've read, that makes a big difference. I don't think I need .035 for sheet metal.
I would like to find some 18ga metal vs the 22 I am practicing with.

Again, I've never done welding before in my life so this is an interesting learning experience.

Posted By: Rockatansky
Date Posted: 02-May-2012 at 8:24PM

if we're talking Flux Core? then .035" does not correlate to .035" in a shielding gas machine. there's a lot less actual metal in the wire of flux core than there is in solid wire, it's just a wrap of metal around the flux material like the wrapper on a straw... that's all the metal you're really getting

flux core does run a lot snottier that shielded metal arc too, you'll never get a nice looking bead like you can running gas

i tried the same thing, went to .030" FC wire to try to gain more sensitivity on the low end of the dial but it's backwards thinking according the dude at the weld supply. more material(larger dia wire) will require more power to burn the wire, at the lowest setting a smaller wire will be easier to burn and will be more able to blow through, according to welding dude

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72 GT Ute

Posted By: 72BlackGTS
Date Posted: 03-May-2012 at 1:58AM

I run .025 with shielding gas on my Lincoln 175. We were using that at the body shop for most everything dealing with sheet metal. We tried all the different sizes of wire, FC and shielding gases to find the best combination for penetration and cleanup (grinding). We found the shielding gas with the .025 wire worked the best.

The FC wire just created more spatter on the vehicle and tools, clean up was worse due to spatter and the penetration was hard to continuity in the weld. Granted we did not run long beads really and a lot of our welding was drilled or punched spot welds done for panel replacement but easy time we tried the flux core the initial strike would send spatter every where.

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Ron
1978 LTD II Sport-Green
2003 HD Road King Classic 100th Anniversary

Posted By: fordpower
Date Posted: 04-May-2012 at 2:10AM

makes me feel better.I was making a mess.

Posted By: sabatona
Date Posted: 04-May-2012 at 3:07AM

thanks for all the comments on this shread.

So then... is the concensus that it would be better to spot weld panels in place, then continously braze the seams as I did 25+ years ago?

Just trying to use as little heat as possible to reduce distortion, especially when I replace the lower rear DS quarter panel.....

Since I am not looking for speed/production like in a body shop atmposphere, I do not mind a little more cleanup with the flux core setup if it will give me less heat and potential distortion....

Thanks in advance, good to hear feedback from guys using the stuff rather than just on line reviews.

Posted By: 72BlackGTS
Date Posted: 04-May-2012 at 3:29AM

You would never be able to braze todays body panel seams. The thickness of the metal is just so thin compared to cars of the 60's and 70's. It would be like striking a match to tissue paper. I can dial my heat down on my 175 Lincoln with the .025 wire to get good penetration but still not get the distortion in the metal even with todays sheet metal thickness. If you are doing a seam, you won't run a bead, you'll spot tack and bounce around back and forth allowing time to cool between sessions until you have a continuous bead made from the spot tacks.

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Ron
1978 LTD II Sport-Green
2003 HD Road King Classic 100th Anniversary

Posted By: sabatona
Date Posted: 04-May-2012 at 3:47AM

since I am looking for this for my 73 torino I would think the thin metal issue would be a mute point

Since you are saying that you cannot do a continous weld, sounds like the heat to the panels is similar to brazing as I had to "spot braze" seams years ago for the same heat/distorion reasons...

Have you done a "butt" seam with the flux welder? Im looking to do a butt seam for the quarter and lower fender repairs especially. thanks.

Posted By: 72BlackGTS
Date Posted: 04-May-2012 at 4:00AM

No, I've never used a flux welder to do butt welds. We used the flux core for a very short time in the shop and no one liked it. Yes the welders are cheaper but I've found over the years that the better tools you use the better results you will have and less scars on the knuckles.

The metal issue comes into play when you talk about some of todays patch and repair panels. Even for the older cars the sheet metal patches and panels are thinner than the original metal. You weld a cheap repair panel to a thicker panel and you'll get a lot of blow through on the new panel.

The brazing with a torch and the weld with a mig you cannot compare. The heat to braze is much hotter than the instant arc of the mig.

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Ron
1978 LTD II Sport-Green
2003 HD Road King Classic 100th Anniversary