I usually have panels fairly flush, no gap bigger than 1mm however I like them hard up against each other. but I'm using tig so I can control the heat and get the right penetration because I can watch the puddle. If you find you aren't getting the penetration then you can up the Amps for TIG, or voltage for MIG. however a much better welder then me well have more advice.

Edited April 1, 20242 yr by wenisman

So here is an example, I'm using 0.8mm cold rolled steel. Starting on the right I went too fast and you see the weld is proud and almost shiny. Then I slowed down and let the puddle form and you can see the change in the weld, goes flatter and the filter rod flows into the parent metal. 

There was no change to the settings, no change in gas, I just slowed down a little. Flipping it over, again right to left with the metal butted hard up against each other I didn't get penetration because I was too fast. but then looking right to left you can see I get good penetration once I slowed down.

Hope that made sense and it helps

Edited April 1, 20242 yr by wenisman

Thanks for that.  I had a fun afternoon.  The key thing I found was keeping the mig wire short out of the gun to the contact point.  And starting the next spot off the edge last one.  And as you say going slow and giving it a chance to puddle.  

I have a fan to blow away the fumes though as it means i am getting pretty close to the weld, and when I lift the mask to have a closer look i was getting a good breath of fumes.

Love watching your work!

Thanks parrot, glad you are enjoying this thread. I'm still learning a lot and there are mistakes a plenty, but I'm just taking my time to make sure the work is still of a decent quality.

are you using gas shielded mig or gas less mig? If you are running the argon CO2 mix you might need to move the fan, it will blow the argon from the weld area and can give you a poor weld. 

Can’t believe I didn’t think of that!  Was lying bed last night thinking about getting a bigger fan. Oh well, better welds or better lungs?  Perhaps I’ll just be sensible and allow the fumes to clear before looking at the weld!

there are powered welding helmets that give you a nice clean air supply; I believe the air supply part is generally called "PAPR"? They're not cheap but they're probably cheaper than whatever the argon etc eventually does to you

I've heard that they also help with fogging if you're a glasses-wearer

If you watch Cutting Edge Engineering on YouTube (recommended!) you'll occasionally see that guy using one

Great to see some more progress here 🙂

edit: found one.

 

Edited April 8, 20242 yr by pogopins

Heya, I do watch cutting edge engineering as it's amazing to see how they repair such massive pieces of equipment. I have seen those helmets but you are right they are not cheap, but they are required if you are a professional welder or if you weld over 300amps (you will need to check me on that, I'm not in that league so I'm not totally sure. Could be more or less...). 

But for me the thing is to keep the metal clean before welding. They means sanding the paint off and I usually Scotch Brite right before I weld. If parrot is working on a scuttle he may not be able to clean the back side so the fumes could be burning paint, but a respirator helmet is a few hundred and could be worth it.

I watched the "blade skin & slide rail" repair, from end to end last night, & it is truly amazing, to watch, despite many bits been intentionally sped up, in places.  Thank You for posting.

Cheers Banjo

Edited April 9, 20242 yr by Banjo

On 4/2/2024 at 9:04 AM, parrot said:

Can’t believe I didn’t think of that!  Was lying bed last night thinking about getting a bigger fan. Oh well, better welds or better lungs?  Perhaps I’ll just be sensible and allow the fumes to clear before looking at the weld!

weld closer to the door way to allow the fumes to escape easier & better air ventilation is always better for ur lungs... keep up the good work... love KE26 wagons! i use to have one 30yrs ago LOL... maybe i should show u my KE25 sprinter almost finished after 8yrs...

Well I took a clean template from the side I haven't touched yet before I started to weld the pieces in.

Once the measurements were taken I then grind flush the tacks and did my stitch weld process to minimise the heat in the panel

This is also a good time to get the hammer and dolly out to lightly tap the weld and release any tension that had built up.

Then I went back over and completed the weld

The finished product turned out ok, it was a bit funky welding at different angles as the replacement panel bent over curves. So my welding went a little astay in some sections. 

But a little grinding to get everything flush and I will need to go over the whole thing and get the file finish I'm looking for. But the front turned out ok, 

The back I'm still working on but you can see a little warping in the bottom of the panel, but I'll be cutting this but off anyhow. 

But as I draw closer to having the repairs to this tailgate done I am starting to think about some of the requirements/upgrades that I would like to have for this tailgate. 

- but more strength : I will put some extra bracing in the door frame as previously I noticed how bouncy the panel was. I have a plan for this one so stay tuned 😉

- Central locking : this will take some thinking. I'm open to suggestions

- rear window wiper + nozzle : I will try get a kit and see what it looks like. I know the VW/Audi hatches have the nozzle in the spindle for the wiper so this could a neat solution

- reversing camera : this should be easy enough, but I'm just thinking of a way to mount it cleanly beneath the Toyota badge. 

 

Most of these will require some modification to the tailgate, but this is the perfect time to plan for them

 

Edited April 14, 20242 yr by wenisman
Typo

On 4/14/2024 at 5:16 PM, wenisman said:

- rear window wiper + nozzle : I will try get a kit and see what it looks like. I know the VW/Audi hatches have the nozzle in the spindle for the wiper so this could a neat solution

this does sound like a neat solution but my experience with the VAG squirters has not been good

Thanks @pogopins, that's handy to know. I will continue my hunt then, if anyone has a recommendation then please let me know. 

 

So this week was a mixed bag of results. I decided to just remake the while bottom of the frame for the tailgate, but I didn't have a piece of steel long enough and I didn't want to put in a weld to get two pieces in when I can do it with one. So I'm holding off on the bottom until I get the steel.

However I finally found someone willing to remake the rear quarter window seals. 

So using some rope in the locking channel, using that as a guide I took some basic measurements, lengths of each side, each angle and I even made a plywood template of the window.

But then I sent all those off and I eagerly awaited the results. The photos sent through looked good

So I now to remove the window and do a test fit when it arrives. If this works I'll order the same for the other side. Hope this works (insert gulp)

Edited April 28, 20242 yr by wenisman