I've tried 2.0mm 6013 rods @60-80 amps and they are slowly eating my car.

Has anyone had good results using arc welding, if so what thickness and type of rods were you using. - I'm slowly getting the knack, There is some metal laid down that is an actual bead of weld, I'm very proud of that bit. Sure the rods are too thick,
going to try the 1.6mm 6013's

any chance the rods were wet or stored in a room with quite high moisture levels??
you could try 7013 rods, those should weld a little bit better but 6013 will work too, just make sure the rods are really dry! if they are damp/wet you can bake them dry in a oven for 2hrs @ 200degrees

Stick of all kinds is very difficult for car bodywork, FWIW, MIG is difficult for bodywork. Stick you should be aiming to use sticks around the size of your metal thickness.

You can get away with clean metal using larger sticks, the other day I managed to glue the Corset's exhaust back together (don't ask... the shops were shut and I needed it for work) using 2.5mm rods. *However* the steel was very very clean, amazingly so infact. I spent a fair bit of time moving my current around so that I got penetration without atomising the exhaust, but I did that on a spare piece of 0.8mm I had, not the job. The reason car welding gets super hard is you are normally welding stuff that is rusty, not only does this make it impure and get dirt into your weld pool it also makes the 0.8mm the car is made from get even thinner. So, you end up trying to weld to 0.2mm steel with a 2mm rod.

Stick welding isn't a great plan to learn on for bodywork. It is good for lots of other things, just not thin.

On the other hand, I think you are welding with too many currents. I was using 70ish with my 2.5mm rods to not blow holes but still got good penetration. Miller suggests 35-60 for 2.0 6013's on mild, which ties in with what I've found so far. http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/ca ... ulator.php

How much welding have you done on sheet that isn't your car yet?

Zero: I was being rushed, had to just go GUNG HO! at it.

I do have a bit of scrap steel hanging about, I did promise that I would weld up a small cube made of 6" square pieces of steel and keep at it till I got the knack - there wasn't time for such luxury though.

The next rods I get I will bake for an hour before I use them, thanks for the tip.

I did prepare the joints well, I sanded away till I had clean - smooth metal, I cut right back till I had unrusted (inside and out) metal all around the repair, I sanded the patches shiny before offering them up - then I blew holes in my car - (I cant say exactly what ampage I'm using, probably 50odd amps - the dial on the welder is bent, could be 30-90 amps, just cant tell- I just kept adding a few amps till I could get it to arc up without sticking, really used the minimum ampage I could.

MOT is due on the 10th - 48hours to learn to weld and weld.

If you havn't had any practise then it will arc up around 40 amps less than you are using...

Seriously, practise. Otherwise you are just going to be grinding more and more 300 away until you get it, it'll take less time to do your practise on the sheet rather than the car.

grinding 300 away

I will do some practice, lest I end up grinding at the vin plate.

As I understand it, you can stick weld thin bodywork using a reduction diode.

As said, Mig is hard on thin sheet aswell, I usually pulse it which is easier on Mig than stick.

at college i was practicing using 1.6mm dia 6013 rods on 4mm steel plate at 90-100A

Just keep practicing, i've done exhausts with a stick welder fine using 1.6 6013s

I have more welding supplies in the post, car has to be MOTless for about a week.
Gives me time to "respray" it.. still cant afford batteries


What I've accomplished so far:

Welded the back end fine, filled up, sanded and you wouldnt know it was there apart from a bit of weld bead sticking up under under the door seal

Welded the whole inner arch and battery tray, very badly - needs a regrind and 10 more rods or so.

straightened the wing, built up with filler where needed, reshaped the wing out of the filler.

Sorted out cracks in the bumper with a lighter.



Heres what needs to be done as of now:

Tidy up weld on NS sill.
Tidy up battery tray welding.

Pull windscreen out, remove rust, rustproof, paint. refit windscreen.

Sand down whole car

Dig out and fill pinholes and the like, weld up any worrying corrosion not yet found.

get rid of all little dents

fill, prime, sand, paint.

Lacquer the whole thing, leave it for a few days and buff the orange peel out.

Damn I wish I could take photos..