Have watched a number of How to Mig weld videos many with more welding actually done yet I watch this and the teachings make more practical sense. Thanks for keeping is simple.
Back when I was in high school in metal shop (I graduated high school in 1970) we were exposed to oxyacetylene welding and that is what we did to learn welding two plates together the same way. When you discover that weld puddle and how it is to move that weld puddle, it is like learning to ride a bicycle, you just never forget that basic part of welding. Later on I signed up for a welding class at my local community college and started out by refreshing the oxyacetylene skills and then proceeded to arc welding. Again, the process was to practice, practice, practice all of the different positions. Those students who were going for certification had to weld two pieces of steel together and then the local testing facility would test the weld. The weld had to be solid with no gaps or slag imperfections (people think that you can weld slag out but that is not so). Now beings this was for my own improvement I did not certify as I was not going to enter the trade. But the basic process never leaves you, you may get a little rusty if you do not stay on the practice. When I sold tools (Mac) Mig welders were coming into more use in body shops, and they were actually demanded for modern unibody vehicle as the steel is of a higher stress (so I have been told). You could not oxyacetylene this higher strength steel. I did manage to sell a few Mig welders, but most body shops would still resist buying one as like everything people resist change. Those shops that did buy a Mig welder were satisfied with the performance, and of course if one were taught to weld properly picking up the Mig weld process or even the tig welding process is not hard. Like every trade there has to be an apprentice period to begin with. Paul Revere was a silversmith and the pieces that he made are works of art, but in the beginning he did not achieve that mastery. We are always learning as you have stated but the basics have to be taught, just like riding a bicycle.🥸
Whenever the guy who taught me body work 50 years ago was asked what his job was he`d say he`s an Automotive Metallurgical Re-Engineer. It still makes me chuckle.
Excellent show, Kyle. I learned my sheet metal welding many years ago using oxc-ecetylene( still my favourite, but mig/tig is easier on thin shee)t. Thanks for the many insights you provide. Really look forward to your show- thanks a bunch and please keep doing what you are doing!!!!! Cheers, Richard from England
I learn something new every video. Even the smallest nugget of info is a building block. I do wonder how many viewers got the Mansfield reference? Love ur content.
Thank you Professor Kyle. Outstanding presentation, and good reminders. So glad you took the time to explain your setup with the welder and making pieces with simple tools
Considering that you are not intending on keeping this truck. You are putting in a lot of great work to bring it back to a road worthy status. Also really enjoyed the tips and tricks. Thanks for another great video!!!
The hood damage on the sacrificial hood is typical of that caused by rear-ending a transport truck/grain truck before the dropped bumper guards on larger trucks were mandatory. Most people think those guards are just a step to climb up into the back of those larger trucks.
I originally thought donor hood looked good in the last episode too until you explained later in that episode. The contraversy comes from not watching the whole episode. I’m sure if the hood was better you would have used it
Hiya Kyle. There are channels that show welding. There are channels that "teach" welding. There are channels that show a rot box being turned into a showpiece in stages where welding must have been done at some point, but if it was, it wasn't shown much. Some people talk about their welders and technical specs like we're all in the know in regard to the lingo being used and have used welders for years. Some ignore the act there may be noobs out there looking at what they do and trying to relate to it. Others have shops with a gazillion industry-proven units and tools that help them get the results. In short, there are many other channels out there that either dumbfound with tech or induce catatonia with long-winded explanations that cannot be retained when your eyelids close all the time. Sort of like my comments on your channel really......but I digress. You, mate, are different. You are getting the hang of giving info out in a way that explains what needs to be explained without repeating it 100 times in the same way like others do. Your explanations are relatable, make sense and the practical applications are obvious as a result. This translates to learning something new each time I watch your channel. You intermix your serious stuff with a humorous element - a very dry and dead-pan humour that this fella finds entertaining and brings the attention back full-fold. This is yet another point of difference and another in your favour. You are a number of years younger than me, yet you have an instinctive feel for the metal and how it can be shaped and turned into what you need in a relatively short space of time like you have been doing it for a lot more years than you have. Although I have used gas welders in my teens and twenties and could to magic tricks with fibreglass filler on a rusting shell (that still look perfect over 10 years later), I've not picked up a MIG or TIG until a couple of years ago. I found a TIG welder was second nature to me and laid out a perfect bead like I'd been doing it for years. MIG though - a totally different story. Could not get the hang of the single-hand welding, where if you leave it going too long it blows a hole / puts too much heat in the metal and warps it or too short a time and it doesn't penetrate well enough. This video on its own has given me an idea why things happened the way they did and ways to correct. The other thing is that you stress the need to practise and from a personal perspective, rather than just saying it. This makes me feel less of a failure because I am one who is used to just picking something up and it working for me as intended after a short space of time. I was at the point of just buying a TIG and using that for everything - which would be fine, but not exactly practical in some applications. I am now considering finding a MIG and having another go and persevering until the welds at least penetrate well enough to hold and don't pull the surrounding metal in. I have also learned a few things in metal fabrication from you as you also just use what anyone else has in their garage and don't use the fancy things that a bloke doing the odd restoration could not justify the expense of in order to have available. For all of the above, I thank you for having this channel available to people like me and will also say that I am looking forward to seeing this truck pulled to bits and the progress as its welded up. All the best
I like to cut up pieces of 55 gallon drums to use for patch panels, I find they're usually about the same gauge of steel as car body panels, and you can get a used 55 gallon drum for $10 or less. As far as practicing on thin metal goes, I used to bring home scraps of 24ga from when I was working at an HVAC shop making ducts, and tack it to-gether with a 6011. If you can tack 24ga to-gether with a 6011 and have it be some semblance of solid, mig welding 20ga is practically effortless, if you know how to set the machine.
There's book learning and then there is Experience. Not quite the same. You can be book smart and get all A's. But what you really want is to know what to expect and prepare for it. When things go badly learn from your mistakes and don't repeat a bad habit.
Hi Kyle, these video are great! I recently turned 70, I used to go out fri ,sat and tear it up a little. Now my nights are spent watching yuo and Fitzees. Making that patch panel with hammer claw is feaking amazing! Stay well!😊
After watching you and Scott working on the Stude, I had to come over and subscribe. Started with the “will it run?” on the 48 GMC. I have a LOT of catching up to do. I love channels that don’t take themselves too seriously. Good Stuff Kyle. 👍
Lots of good information Kyle. You get a sanitized version of rust repair on a TV show, they just kind of assume that you know what, and how they are doing it.
It was great to see the video of you spreading (literally) the "good news of the body man" at CWM. The Praying Mantis method was a revelation for me. I wish I knew about that when I was slinging mud, back in the day. Such talent...
My wife bought me a little 110 welder a number of years ago and I attempted to use it a couple times but with no success. Recently I had to patch a rust hole in my 1987 Samurai and had to try welding with zero knowledge or skill. I used test pieces to see what I could do but gave up and found a guy who could do it. With the information you presented here I might have been able to proceed on my own. Now I’m gonna sit down for a month and practice. Thanks for sharing your expertise.
That other hood was a "good" hood, as long as you don't mind lots, and lots of DENTS. It would work to keep the rain and snow off the engine. Sometimes people can't see all the dents in it on camera, but you showed them the dents well this time.
I went off to tech when I finished school, and became a qualified welder (just a cute little A4 certificate saying I'd done the welding + fabrication course, as well as a piece of paper that had my name on it saying I could weld structural steel legally if I was that way inclined.). I learned to gas, arc, MIG and TIG weld 20 gauge up to 13mm plate. (obvs. didn't weld 1/2" plate with tig or gas!) Anyway, I learn more about auto body welding watching these videos, but I only wished I'd done a collision repair course instead
The Bondo holes also known as the "spaghetti strainer" or the "Woody Woodpecker" depending what part of the country you are from. Personally I call it the pecker wrecker because it is such a pain to stop and fix. Every 70's car I've owned was a time capsule of pop rivets, Bondo holes and brazed patches all hidden under an inch of body filler....and most of it wasn't my handiwork !
Thank you for all the great tips. Most of my 40 years of welding has been industrial,very thick metal that takes a beating. I am not a pro and still like to learn . I am wanting to repair a 1961 ford that my Dad owned. I will not touch it till I learn and practice thin metal welding. I respect you for the humble way you show the right way to do this and I love your Cats. Has always I liked and shared. All my very best. Oh and looking forward to the live stream and your next videos.
@@CarterAutoRestyling Your type of welding is like fine art, compared To what I did at work. Thank you so much for the kind reply. It means a lot to this old welder.
The patches are great and I like the idea of checking to see if the sheet metal you’re welding to is not compromised with rust. I’ve seen people who even worked at body shops not check the metal and right up from their repair it would start to show rust breaking out because they didn’t cut it out and have to redo the whole repair. Great tips on welding and setting up the machine are very helpful especially for someone just starting out. Catch you on the stream tomorrow. Later
I'm glad to hear you'll be able to stop by the live stream! Bodyshops rarely have to mig weld things these days, so I'm not surprised they struggle. I had to practice at home on evenings and weekends when I worked in a bodyshop, otherwise I'd still be a lot worse at welding than I already am!
Hi Kyle. Only just saw this one. Excellent tips and tricks. Very helpful to a hack like me. I wish I could get mine as tidy as yours. Practice, practice, practice, I guess. All the best, Mart in England.
Here in the south, I don't get much done outside in the summer, it is just too hot. Not only do we get high temperatures. but we also have a high heat index because of the humidity. After it cools down some, I have 4 vehicles I will need to work on. I wish I had a garage, all I have is a car port and a back yard to work on my projects.
What a great video. I will watch this one many times. I have been Mig welding on cars for several years but I appreciate all of the excellent content you have shared on the video. Well done!!!!!
I've had to patch every vehicle I've owned living in rusty Toronto, my father would shake his head and say a good coat of paint hides a multitude of sins. I appreciate your talent keep it up.
Plain old simple panel beater retired , I worked with a lad one in the 80's a Porsche motor body technician , he had the biggest toolbox I had ever seen at the time I couldn't see in the top box , canny lad he got a lot of stick out of us , the boss was banging on about a repair he had done , I said if I had taken 3 hours to do that repair you would have jumped down my throat , 3 hours you what he went across and chewed him out LOL , I was freelancing a few years later and came across him , he had a small lock up I ended up doing a few jobs for him fell out over a Lancia Monti Carla restoration I priced it up then the panels came they were all had made and crap I wanted more money as every panel had to be sorted out modified a nightmare basically worked a week for nothing swore never again , worked for a couple of people who took the piss so I just walked out leaving them to sort out their own mess out LOL .
Kyle, you should have mentioned that you should disconnect the battery on these old cars so you don’t blow the computer and electronic modules. 😜 👍🏴
Dude, you missed that Anglo-Saxon burial mound over by the master cylinder! As for the heat, we Celts find that an extra T-shirt and some rubber gloves help to keep the excess heat from our pasty bodies. A little woad under the eyes cuts down on reflection, keeping your eye sockets cool. When are you going to do some patch repairs?
Thanks for the advice. Even if there are other MIG welding and car bodywork videos out there, I don't think that there is a problem with making more. There will often be something that has been explained differently or maybe skipped over that hearing from a different teacher or shown using alternative words or examples that will be useful to someone.
I'm a retired Die Maker the reason panel vary from side to side is the Die were hand worked a lot with no CNC it was an art to hand work and use duplicators, That's why the grinders are called die grinders. The More you Know LOL
Thank you for this tutorial 👍 it confirms completely how i was taught from the old guy that showed me about this job about 20 years ago.i still use those working methodologies every day,and always works. Keep on Kail!👌
I remember the worst abuse of a drill and bondo I have ever seen was on a Subaru of a customer who had worked as a professor in New York. He had had the glorious idea to pay some of his collage students for repairing a big dent on the lower edge of a fender of his Subaru. He brought the car back to Switzerland. After two years there was huge lump of bondo falling off. Below that there was not only a lot of rust but also a dozen of holes drilled. The chunk hat had fallen off was about ten inches long and 6 inches high. The bondo piece was 5 inches thick.
Hey Kyle, enjoy your sarcasm in every video! Keep it coming. I go and get my sheet metal from old donor cars and my zip disc. Just go and cut some pieces off old wrecks and store the pieces for when I need them. I find 18 ga too tough to work and frustrates me too much lol.
The reason for the holes was not for bondo adhesion. The holes are where they used a snatch bar to pull the dents out. They would file them smooth then bondo the dent
Just think Kyle, if the OEM's put a little effort to put some rust corrosion protection in their product, you would have an easier job or be out of work altogether! 😆
Just want to say thanks for this tutorial, I'm a home garage hack and this video straighted out alot of what iv been doing wrong..your work is exceptional, I'm very impressed and enjoy your no frills approach to the channel..again thankyou.
Thanks Kyle Excellent info. You know your stuff. Great attention to detail Re: looking on the backside of a panel to determine where more rust may occur. I'm really impressed!!
I could almost start practicing and then tear into my Packard, but I know that you make it look easier than it is! Not to mention, I should probably put the motor back together first. 🙄 Is it too hot, or did the pyrotechnics budget get used up for this year? We want to see stuff on fire!!! Preferably Kyle!!! 😂
First you hit me with an extremely well thought out and informative video, then I find out you have actual credentials. If this nonsense continues, I will be forced to write you a sternly worded letter...in ink! I only watch youtube instructional videos for half-assed short-cuts and bikini clad camera girls...not actual information. I expected less from you.. Cheers
At first, I thought this was just another senile grandpa rant, so I was planning to politely ignore you. However, the threat of a handwritten letter tells me that you mean business. I don't want to agitate someone who's willing to go to those lengths (not to mention the cost of Canadian postage) Please accept my generic apology and empty promise that it won't happen again.
Great tips and advice Kyle! I've always enjoyed your tutorials, and they've helped me immensely. Listening to your education and experience helps me see why my welding is definitely less than par. Experience is what I need, thanks again.
UK , I started learning to gas weld doing lines of weld using a sheet of steel about 12 inchs square you had to melt a puddle and then move the puddle along once you mastered that start using a rod line after line until got the hang then went on to joining bits of metal but welding Aluminium had me stumped LOL .
Brilliant. Thank you. You make a lot of sense and I (for one) will give it a try. It's true that I assumed I would be diving straight in but I like your little metal rectangles approach. I just need a sadistic instructor to rip them to pieces 😁 Cheers from Toulouse
Back in high school (late 1970's) when I took auto body repair at the local vocational facility, the first 6 weeks were dedicated to BRAZING 18 gauge 2"x 3" metal 'coupons' together with an oxy/acetylene torch. There WAS a mig welder in the building gathering dust, and I don't recall anyone ever using it in the 2 years I attended classes. Some of us which were already somewhat familiar with brazing were spared the full 6 weeks and could move onto the next 'phase' (metal straightening) while others struggled the entire 6 weeks. We also used body solder (lead) and only used acrylic lacquer paint and primer except for the VERY rare (2 paint jobs I remember) when Imron was used. I'm NO where close to being an expert at auto body repair (though I did a LOT of rust repair in my garage for quite a few years when local body shops didn't want to mess with it) and have picked up quite a few tips from watching your videos to at least give me better direction on my own projects. Thanks for posting the videos.
