Long lead time for a decent welder

YHT · 2nd November 2019, 12:40

"Yes i thought about it, but i was scarred by the memory of messing up the floor pan of my 1974 Hillman Imp back in the 80’s, and decided against it.

My MOT guy made the point that yes you can spot weld on a complete sill, because that is a complete panel with the strength it should have and the same as leaving the factory, but where a hole is concerned it needs to be seam welded simply to restore the strength to the panel. Spot welding around a hole would still leave the panel weakened. Made sense to me anyway."

That brings back memories of welding sills on the wife's Hillman Imp several decades ago with an arc welder. At least the perforations the welding made let the water out (as well as in). MIG welding seems much more controllable and you can see what you are doing with the self darkening face mask. After some practice I managed to make a weld that didn't look too much like mouse droppings.

2nd November 2019, 12:40	#14
YHT Loves to post Rover 75 Saloon Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: suffolk Posts: 264 Thanks: 46 Thanked 25 Times in 23 Posts	"Yes i thought about it, but i was scarred by the memory of messing up the floor pan of my 1974 Hillman Imp back in the 80’s, and decided against it. My MOT guy made the point that yes you can spot weld on a complete sill, because that is a complete panel with the strength it should have and the same as leaving the factory, but where a hole is concerned it needs to be seam welded simply to restore the strength to the panel. Spot welding around a hole would still leave the panel weakened. Made sense to me anyway." That brings back memories of welding sills on the wife's Hillman Imp several decades ago with an arc welder. At least the perforations the welding made let the water out (as well as in). MIG welding seems much more controllable and you can see what you are doing with the self darkening face mask. After some practice I managed to make a weld that didn't look too much like mouse droppings.