Finishing your weld?

[Mathius]

Not sure what that means about not cutting correctly?? If you do not have tools to cut sheetmetal you are about 5 steps behind and do not need the welder or clamps??


Simple shears or $2.00 cut off wheel on your grinder are about all you need.

That's because you're obviously basing everything on your own setup. 0.23 wire is going to need a VERY precise gap as opposed to a bigger wire, because your tacks are going to be smaller. You may even choose to run a bead over a short distance with 0.23 wire.

Grinder is not that expensive, but a compressor is. Not everyone has access to one that is going to run a die grinder. They take LOTS of air.

You can go electric, but I personally have never seen an electric die grinder. I know they must make them, but it isn't something you're going to find in a local store.

You can use a sawzaw to cut the old material out of the car, but you can't use it to trim your patch panel. You'll vibrate the hell out of the panel and cut nothing and probably hurt yourself.

Big angle grinders aren't going to give you precision cuts.



Etc. etc. etc.

You're right on one thing, preparation is 100% more important than the weld itself, if you intend to grind it down. But once you've cut a panel too short, you either have to keep cutting and make another patch panel, or try to span the gap with whatever wire you're running, which is a lot harder to grind down.

Mathius