First time I've ever been within 100 feet of a wirefed welder... be gentle

The piece I welded on in place of the non-existant (completely rusted away) rocker panel:



The second piece I welded on... getting a little more used to the welder, a lot less holes:


The third piece... a little better than the last try:


It actually turned out a lot better than I was expecting it to...


And finally, a pic of my Tracker with the new bumper, snorkel, and lights on it:


I figure it'll look a lot better once I get some more fiberglass mat to get it all fiberglassed and some bedliner to get it back to the same color as the rest of the body...

now u just need a grinder to wipe the bugger off that runny nose ur weld has =)..just messin dude

that is sweet bro once u get some liner on there and a few well placed dents u wont even know it was added on =)

I would've ground it a bit tonight, but my POS grinder broke a few weeks ago, and I've been having to use my Grand Pappy's... and he seems to have came and got it Oh well, something to do tomorrow afternoon after work. MMM... I can already smell those fiberglass fumes

Some wire feed welder tips

The best size wire for thin sheet is .023
it's only available in solid wire, so you
need to have the gas (Co2) instead of the flux
core wire, flux core wire is .035 but is filled
with the flux so it's not as hard to burn off
as solid .035 wire, my welder don't like .035
Solid wire, .030 is best max Dia. on a 110V
unit like mine.

I hope the welder you got has a gas kit available
for it, if not you will need one that does and that's
more $$

I like to weld hot and fast, but you need to practice
on some scrap first to get the feel for it.

The sound of the welding should be like sizzling
bacon, steady crackle, if not the wire speed is too
slow, too fast and the wire will push thru the melted
puddle and blow out the weld.

The wire speed and Amp setting are the most
critical and hardest to set, so get some scrap and
get the feel for the heat and wire speed, then work
on your keeper projects

Good for First Try tho

Good Luck

Wild

It's good enough for what it is... until I can get some more practise...

Only one thing to add to Wild's info, all good BTY, MIG welds like to adhere best to spotlessly clean metal. That will help your welds tremendously.

Some other tips.

- Always push a wire feed. Don't pull it like a Stick.

- Sit in one spot for a few seconds until you build up a puddle, then push that puddle across the seam. You will get a nice solid bead this way.

- Like Wildgoody said. Practice on some scrap and play around with the amp and wire feed settings.

Usually when I'm welding steel I turn the wire feed down and the heat up.  But practice and find out works best for you.

Good luck.    

when ever i weld i always liek to practice first even if its just for a couple secondns so i get the feel of it, i like it to be pretty hot but not to fast.