Yeah, but I don't like to brag

Far from an expert, but I do OK.
I have a small wire-feed at home, but I would not have tried it on your part, materials too thin. I've tried it on sheet metal, results were

 

If you can’t Tig weld that in 10 minutes, better quit telling everybody that you’re a Tig welder. A real Tig welder

 

What system do you have. I want to buy one if I can get one for a few hundred dollars. There are a lot of small things around the house that needs fixing. I am sure this will get approved by the wife department without much problems

My dad used to be a ME and he was a good welder.

 

Send it to me I will TIg it for nothing but you pay the frieght. It shouldn`t cost more than 20 bucks at most. MIG or Stick will ruin it and soldering or brazing is gonna put a lot of heat into it and might warp it. Take Care Skip

 

You can`t gas weld aluminum, I just finished a new pair of tanks for my super cub and they turned out great. Besides for 25 years I was a civilian nuclear welding inspector for the Naval Nuclear Program and I can assure you the welders in that program aren`t novices.

 

I also beg to differ with bj. I CAN gas weld and did so extensively as a body man before MIG became as fashionable (and affordable) as it is now. I know what gas welds do to thin substrates... warpage, embrittlement. Yes this job was just an air filter base and no big deal but it is very difficult to control heat application and localisation on gas welds even if you are an old hand. TIG is a better way.

 

BTW Skip, you can gas weld aluminum. Not to the quality I would trust on Piper fuel tanks, but well enough to stop a leak on a jon boat, or to fill a rock hole in a Triumph primary cover. I use either a pure acetylene, or rich carburizing flame depending on thickness of substrate and filler wire from a big roll I found at a yard sale some years back. Not FAA approved for sure, but adequate to shadetree standard.

 

I have a Lincoln wire-feed I picked up at Home Depot for just under $300. Easy to use with some practice

 

I've welded miles and miles with gas in the course of 35 years or so and today would not dream of using it, unless tig was not available for all the reasons mentioned.

I've seen 9 out of 10 full time pro welders fail to certify the military spec testing. The sub welders are the best of the best.

I've done the jon boat stuff too, tricky.

 

Anyway guys...
Here's the air cleaner base back on the car. Fits nice and looks almost stock after installation. I have to remove it and paint the base tomorrow.

Then I have to wait for the stock style hose clamps from CC. I have been waiting 4 months for it

 

I agree with you there but it sure isn`t nearly as pretty as a good tig job, I gas welded some old pot metal hinges on an Austin Healey with gas before I bought my tig machine

 

not only are they the best they had to qualify in a mirror on every procedure and it had to pass x ray

 

[QUOTE=noonie;1572443182]Here is the difference between what might have been your $80.00 job and a $9000.00 machine.
And gaps or no gaps 5 minutes tops.

And bj1k, since you can gas weld, you've got the co-ordination for tig down, you might never go back.

Not trying to rag on anyone, but "how much to weld this" can be a very subjective term.

If the work was being performed on high pressure piping, I could see having the welds in your picture perfomed and paying the money but, he was repairing an aircleaner base that can be bought for around $80. The workmanship on the part is totally acceptible to me. I own a Miller Dynasty TIG set-up and do my own work but, I can appreciate the quality of the workmanship you photgrphed but agin IT'S ONLY AN AIRCLEANER BASE so he did the right thing. Raj sorry I missed this post but looking good!

 

Don't bust a guys chops because he doesn't work for the price that you want to pay for what you think it should cost. He may or may not be a car guy like you and it just doesn't matter either way. There are some shops that charge more than others but it is usually based on circumstances that you are not aware of. Overhead on a weld shop can be enormous. Trust me I have been there. I have worked in someone elses shop and have ran my own shop years ago. Customers don't just pay for your time they pay for your equipment, the building, utilities and so on. There is absolutely nothing in a weld shop that is free or cheap. It also doesn't matter how much the part cost that the welder is working on, 10.00 or 100.00 it still take him the same equipment, materials and time to do the job. If you want cheap find someone that has the right equipment that does it as a side line, or a buddy or club, or buy the stuff yourself and learn to weld, then you can be the guy that others come to. You would be amazed at the number of people that will bring you a small part that they could buy new for a few dollars and want you to spend a hour or two to fix for them for a few dollars because it surely will only take a few minutes of your time and equipment. Most people have no idea what is involved to do most weld jobs. I now work for a utility at a nuclear power plant and get calls from our planning department regulary about how long and what is involved to do certain weld jobs. I'm not busting anyone's chops here either, I'm, just trying to point out that not every thing is always easily apparent, and that there are different skill sets out there and you will pay more for a higher skill set. I've been in the business for over 35 years and can still blow it on how long it takes to do a job every once in a while. I would reccomend that anyone involved in this hobby that wants to modify their car to try to buy a decent welder and learn to use it. Keep in mind that not everyone will be a good welder as it takes at least a little natural ability, but most should be able to become competent enough to get by. Then you'll be able to help yourself as well as friends and club members and might even recoup the cost of the equipment doing side jobs yourself.

 

Been doing it for over 40 years. If you are warping it then you have not yet aquired the skill yet and you need a tig. They were designed for people like you. People in my shop always comment " How do you do that " and if you are skilled at gas welding , you can fill any size gap without warpage. I often show people in my shop ( just to dazzle them ) how a good gas welder can continue a weld out into mid air just using a tig welding wire and oxy-acetylene, and yes you can gas weld aluminum. You can even use propane with the proper rods. As I said , most of you are younger and you have never seen it, but gas welding is a lost art and if you can do it then you can consider yourself a welder.

 

I welded thick metal for years with a Lincoln arc welder, but then bought a nice mig welder for nicer welds. Just purchased a tig welder a Harbor Freight for $349 and it welds thin metal really nice. I just made some custom sway bars from 4130 chrome moly hollow tubing and tig welded the end arms. If you can, buy a small mig welder and you will find you can do a whole lot of projects with it. I use mine weekly on all kinds of things, automotive, airplane, household etc.

 

That came out really nice. I had the same repair made on the exact same part this past summer, done by my buddy for my project 68 car. If it wasnt covered in snow at the moment I would gladly post a pic of it. He used his mig welder with gas on a low setting. The repair took a whole 10 minutes.......tops.

 

 

I've been stick welding and gas welding for a lot of years as well. I have a Lincoln Mig that I like on mild steel body panels. I have a Lincoln Square Wave 255 water cooled tig that I use on stainless and aluminum. I have a oxy/acetelene for brazing and silver soldering and cutting. A thermal dynamics plasma for cutting. Each welder has it's place and many (such as gas) overlap with work that can be done with an electric arc unit. Whatever you are comfortable with.

 

[QUOTE=Solid LT1;1572456026] As I said, I had a tig welder and got rid of it. Didn't find that I needed it. I have a large Miller mig welder that I use mostly everyday in my shop on antique and classics , but gas welding is still something that I enjoy and still use it in the restoration business. Tig welding is much easier to use but slower, and if you really want to master the art of welding keep practicing with gas welding. When you master it, you can claim that you are a " Weldor " not welder "as in a machine for welding"