finally have a welder at my disposal, so i'd like to start playing around with it.

first project, mold the roll pan?

its only 1/8" thick steel.

im just trying to find out the best procedure to do this

weld it grind it bondo and sand it?

 

welding a gap in hard and not recomended, welding is meant to fuse metal not really for bridging a gap... umm... how do those street scene ppl do it? idk research that but you would have to weld a plate in there where the gap is to make it work with a welder...

anyways.. what kind of welder is it?

 

i need to look. don't know much about it lol. its a lincoln. and its my dads. so not too sure haha

either way, it would be enough for some mild steel like the roll pan.

 

is is a mig or stick?

 

Hey tyler wouldn't you have to fiberglass that gap in?....

 

mig

and i sure hope not since its a steel roll pan

 

Oh I didn't know it was steel...well in that case can you cut a new piece to fit the distance between each side?and then grind then bondo then paint....that's how my buddy did his fiddy

 

for sure. it is literally snug between the bedsides though. haha

 

Well id grind and bondo it.....if I'm not mistaken and correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't you put a little filler piece behind the pan so you can bridge the pieces togeather?....then from there grind it and bondo

 

post up some close-up pics of the roll pan..I looked at some older threads and it doesnt look like there is much of a gap, so it could work without a filler, but worse case scenario you have to put a filler behind it and thats it

 

If the gap isn't real big then welding it with no filler plate won't be any big deal. Mig isn't all that hard to bridge a gap with as long as its not huge.

 

Ya that's what I was thinking....seeing as how its mig it should be easy to bridge it.....but id feel better about it if I put a filler piece in

 

if the gap is aobut an 1/8 of an inch you can, other wise no. also your going to have to be carefull. your welding extremely thin material and is very sencitive to heat

 

it is sooooo easy to bridge gaps like that with mig!!! you really need to take your time and just spot weld and allow time to cool so nothing melts or warps. you shouldnt have any problems
just start at the top and spot weld on each side of the gap until the welds meet in the middle and work your way down. its not structural so you dont need a solid weld

 

dont burn any holes and take your time letting the panel cool in one spot while you work another and youll be fine. remember welds like this arent gonna look perfect till you grind and finish them so make sure you get a good burn in instead of what looks good at first

 

should always weld things solid whether structural or not. if it's just tacked in a few places, the body filler can crack due to the metal expanding/contracting. a solid weld will keep the metal expanding at the same rate. body filler isn't made to bridge gaps, only to fill minor imperfections.

 

I meant solid as in one pass with the welder

 

never weld sheet with a solid bead it will warp and distort the steal bad it need to be spot welded like stated above letting EACH spot weld COOL before applying more heat to it spot weld it till its all welded then grind smoth touch up if any pin holes are noticeable, grind then skim coat with body filler sand smoth and paint

 

i guess i didn't clarify that when i did my post. just a few tacks here and there until it's completely welded.