A Butt Weld Success Story – The Second Book Two

In the last episode we had successfully welded both the floor panels to the cab framework. However, there was this three quarter inch gap between the panels that needed to be filled.

The first task was to fabricate the filler piece. I started with a piece of sheet metal and cut it into a strip the correct length and width. Next, I started bending it into the proper shape with my pliers and other pieces of metal. This is Hillbilly fabrication in action.

I clamped it into place and was about to start welding when I remembered the advice from Chuck _inDurham, he wrote a welding primer and said, “he always does some practice welds before he starts on the real welding”. I dutifully spent 15 minutes practicing on an old fender. This allowed me to dial in the voltage and wire feed rate. It turns out the difference between not enough penetration and blowing holes is very small. It also got my grove going on how fast to move the torch.

With the part clamped in place I started with the tack welds, placing them about an inch apart and alternating the welds to avoid any warping. Next I started filling in the gaps, being careful to let the welds cool so as to not warp the panel. In between, I would grind down the welds and repeat the process. I only had one blow out and easily filled it.

The next thing I knew the welding and grinding was done. The last step was to used my two-inch angle grinder with a sanding disk to smooth it all out. I would give myself a C+ on this job, which is a great improvement over the F- on my previous try at Butt welding.

The next thing I did was screw down the transmission cover plate and put in the battery cover plate. Dayum, the cab floor is starting to look real pretty.

Today was one of those days that energize you to come back to the shop again. I can’t wait.

Spot Weld Adventure – Book Two

“You don’t know what you don’t know”. I will attribute this to Confucius since my friend Google does not know who said it first. The floor of the cab is rotted out with fifty years of rust and must be replaced. Earlier I purchased the replacement floor panels, both the right and left side. If I had been a little more observant and not so damn cheap I would have just bought the whole floor replacement panel. I did not find out until I was putting them together that the two half’s are an inch short in the middle, how would one know? My project just got a little more complicated.

I was cutting out the old rusty floor and having trouble as usual when Dale came by and said that Eastwood has a spot weld cutter to make the job easier, how would one know? Thank god for friendly advice, this tool is right up there with the Ronco Veg-o-matic - except it really works. For you English teachers out there, spot welding is similar to using a hot glue gun. Except instead of melting glue to stick two things together you use an electric arc to fuse the two pieces of metal together.

As you would expect it is a mother to take the already welded together panels apart. Enter the spot weld cutter. It surgically cuts a nice little circle off the top piece of metal and Voila, we have separation.

Since my Butt weld technique is a sad story, let’s just say my truck is still wearing Mom jeans to cover up my sorry work, instead of the low rise thong showing jeggins.  Recognizing my limitations, I decided to use the spot weld method to attach the floor panels to the frame.  Never mind that I had never spot welded or even hot glue gunned before, I was convinced it would be better. Did I hear someone say “you don’t know what you don’t know”.

The way you spot weld with a DIY home welder is to drill a hole in the top piece of sheet metal, then clamp the two pieces together, and then fill the hole with the glorious pool of shimmery molten metal. Dutifully I drilled about a hundred small holes in the floor panel, got it properly positioned and did my first spot weld. After I finished the cigarette, I spot welded a few more.  Deciding to test my handiwork, I pulled up on the floor panel to see if it worked. Well, guess what, the panel came up so fast it nearly knocked me unconscious.

Reading the instructions again, I figured out my mistakes. I have to use advanced welder speak to explain the first one; I did not get enough penetration. I think this means I have to give back that cigarette. Now in English, my hole was not big enough – the second mistake, and the weld was not hot enough to get through to the bottom piece of metal.

It turns out I had my welder voltage set to “scared as shit” and the wire feed rate was on “miserly”. Inspired with knowledge I set the voltage to “river of magma” and the wire feed rate to “fill-your-boots”.

To fixed my other problem I went out and bought an Irwin step drill bit to enlarge my tiny holes - careful Jane. I have converted to the Church of Eastwood and their doctrine is that any problem can be fixed with a very specialize and expensive tool, Allahu Akbar.

Well with everything set up, I started spot welding. I am sure there were a few of the 72 virgins dancing on my shimmery pool of molten metal and I successfully filled up every spot weld.

With a little grinding and a coat of primer, it looks as good a new.

August Huntsville Times Column

My August column is out “Everglades trip leaves a lasting, soggy memory”. I think you will enjoy it.

http://blog.al.com/times-views/2012/08/everglades_trip_leaves_a_lasti.html

Welding With Gas

Over the last month I made good progress on the cab and was well into my welding apprenticeship. In fact there is so much to write about, I think I will do a welding post trilogy. We all know that the third post will be the happy ending where I slay all the welding ogres and ride off into the sunset in my truck with Daisy Duke. This post will be the first installment and all the others will be the middle one. I know - more than three you say. Traditional trilogies are three books but many authors now start a trilogy and extend it to four or five books - must be due to inflation.

There are many different types of welders as you would expect. I happened to borrow a MIG welder from an acolyte that was taking an indefinite sabbatical from welding. The G in MIG stands for Gas - like you should use it. However, I had all the confidence of the ignorant and I told my friend that I would pass on the gas, since I was sure one really did not need it.

The first real test came when I put in a patch panel on the cab. The fabrication of the panel went well and the tack welds were excellent, but I hit the wall with the butt welds. As exciting as the term sounds, it is not fun – I was dumb and dumber with a Barbie welder. The truck sheet metal is very thin and when you get it red hot and don’t know what you are doing, you burn a hole through the metal – this is called a blow out. I managed to get a few blow outs the size of Rhode Island.

I was taking one step forward and two steps backwards for most of the afternoon.  At some point I had to stop welding and prime the panel so it would not rust. Well primer shows all the flaws and to my chagrin there were lots of tiny holes in my welds.  Suspecting this was not good, I did a shout-out on the Stovebolt.com forum.

I explained my welding dilemma in a highly technical truckarian manner and got some good advice. At some point an alert reader suggested that we all look at a post on the Ford forum about welding. Now you have to understand that Stovebolt.com is a Chevy forum and it took more than a healthy dose of bipartisanship to cross over to the other side. If Congress started welding they might get a few more laws passed.

It turns out this was the Holy Grail of welding. Chuck_in_Durham had taken on a mission to write a step by step guide on DIY welding. His primer was a godsend and I am frankly inspired to advance my welding skills.

In his first lesson he pointed out that you really do need use the gas.  In simple terms, hot steel is basically a slut and will hook up with any oxygen molecule that saunters by. And, we all know that when iron and oxygen get it on, we have lots of little rust babies. So, the smart guys figured out if you bathed the molten hot iron with an inert gas it would act as a condom and prevent those hot and bothered oxygen molecules from closing the contract.

Once I finished my biology lesson, I immediately went out and purchased my own welder and a man sized cylinder of Argon/CO2 welding gas. With all this knowledge and specialized equipment I was feeling a little evangelical. At a dinner party the other day I was compelled to have all our guests experience welding fist hand.

Everyone loved it especially the women. There is something about suiting up with thick leather gloves and controlling a 100,000 volt electric arc to create a molten pool of red hot steel. I might have to start a religion.

Pinion nut hunt for pickup project more than just a challenge

I wrote about the pinion nut episode in last Sunday's column. Hope you enjoy it.

http://blog.al.com/times-views/2012/06/pinion_nut_hunt_for_pickup_pro.html

Our Crazy Cat

If you have a cat you should like this story.

http://blog.al.com/times-views/2012/06/late_night_issues_mean_you_can.html

I Just Needed a Little Advice

An alert reader sent me a message that the three inch deep crease in the cab was most likely caused by the door being opened with such force as to bend the cab sheet metal. Lots of clues corroborated the diagnosis, particularly the tear in the front hinge assembly and one of the door mounting bolts broken off. In order to ding out the dent I cut out the inside kick panel and even cut out a piece of the front cab to put in a patch panel. Don’t worry I didn’t perform surgery just to get at the bolt, the panels needed to be replaced and I took advantage of the opening.

With everything removed I had a clear shot at the broken off bolt and nut. That is the good news. Since the bolt was rusted into the old nut, my plan was to weld a new nut to the inside of the door frame. That was the plan, but there was still some sheet metal around the hinge assembly and I just couldn’t figure out how to weld it in such a tight place.

Some engineer friends came over the next day and were interested in the truck project. I explained the situation about not being able to weld in the nut, when one of them stated that my captured nut had slipped out. That’s funny I had just had my yearly physical and the doctor did not mention that anything looked out of sorts.

Okay I get it, a welded on nut is “captured”. He had a good suggestion about welding a washer to the nut which would give me a way to weld it to the frame. And another guy suggested an airplane Rivnut which is a pretty cool deal. I was afraid to call Boeing and ask for a quote for one Rivnut, so I went to the Stovebolt forum and there were tons of posts on fixing captured nuts and using threaded inserts. The moral here is you just don’t know what you don’t know and it’s good to have knowledgeable friends.

I drilled out the rusted bolt remnant, rethreaded it, pressed it up against the frame and welded it to the sheet metal with a small steel rod. Hallelujah.

One small task finished. This weekend I am going to get the outside panels welded on, sand off all the paint and rust, and prime the left side of the cab. Stay tuned.