Total beginner, trying to teach myself to weld over the past week or two, so I can build my own chassis for my project. Using an ESAB caddy MIG welder, gas at 10lpm, wire speed approx 6 m/m amps around 90-95, 2mm thick 40mm box section. latest efforts below:

...

Same piece from different angles below.

 

 

 

Any tips other than stick to your day job....

not bad... more heat required

haha i was waiting for this thread Mike  

 

look forward to seeing more of your "works of art" hahaha 

haha i was waiting for this thread Mike

 

look forward to seeing more of your "works of art" hahaha 

 

Yep, need the chassis to hold together on the project long enough for the next victim to buy it.. or frighten you sensless which ever comes sooner  

 

Desperate to improve, which is difficult when you don't know what you are doing... I'm presuming more heat is needed as the "bluing" of the surrounding metal isn't sufficient or even on both sides of the welding in places. Indicating a lack of penetration??...

Yep, need the chassis to hold together on the project long enough for the next victim to buy it.. or frighten you sensless which ever comes sooner  

 

 

Will duct tape not suffice?

 

 

Im guessing the metal needs to be at a sufficient temperature so that it flows and penetrates properly?

 

My experience with Soldering Electronics, is if you dont apply heat long enough the Solder doesnt flow and can just stick to it but can chip off, Apply heat for too long and with Tin/Lead solder, you burn off the Lead and you get a dry joint, that can again chip off and break.

 

Its a matter of getting the metal hot enough for the solder to flow and penetrate but not enough that it deforms the metal or causes a dry joint.

 

Im guessing its the same principles with Mig welding?

are you building a car as a first project?

are you building a car as a first project?

 

yep a mid engined nutter mobile, in the style of a caterham, with a supercharged duratec engine strapped in the back, giving anywhere between 300-440bhp depending on if it holds together,  couple of images below:

 

 

 

 

You're brave.....

yes brave, you ought to be using cds seemless box section too tbh, i would suggest gettiing some proper tuition if i'm honest, or even better i would tack the frame together and then get it properly tig welded for the ultimate strength.

 

i reckon you  will bottle it with 400bhp on tap  you'd be amazed how quickly things on the horizon are go past you with that sort of power to weight ratio

Seriously though...

What could possibly go wrong?

yes brave, you ought to be using cds seemless box section too tbh, i would suggest gettiing some proper tuition if i'm honest, or even better i would tack the frame together and then get it properly tig welded for the ultimate strength.

 

i reckon you  will bottle it with 400bhp on tap  you'd be amazed how quickly things on the horizon are go past you with that sort of power to weight ratio

 

The chassis is being built to a predetermined specification and has been well researched, MiG and ERW steel is fine for the chassis. Check out this site if you are interested, http://www.midlana.com/ I obviously will make sure my welding up to speeed before I start on the chassis hence the post amongst other things.

 

As for bottle etc, this was my last impreza turbo engined kitcar, and my arsehole coped with that one just fine...

 

Thats a thousand times better than the crap i accomplished on my first attempt.

As said, not terrible for a 1st go, needs more heat/amps. Need to see what the penetration is like on the inside though.

 

Make sure you are prepping your surfaces properly, too.

The chassis is being built to a predetermined specification and has been well researched, MiG and ERW steel is fine for the chassis. Check out this site if you are interested, http://www.midlana.com/ I obviously will make sure my welding up to speeed before I start on the chassis hence the post amongst other things.

 

As for bottle etc, this was my last impreza turbo engined kitcar, and my arsehole coped with that one just fine...

 

 

Woohoo! Ashford

Woohoo! Ashford

Thought so!

 

Seem to remember you was only building this one last year, what happened to it?

Not a bad effort at all! Did you chamfer the meeting edges first? Biggest thing to remember before you even pick up the welder, is make sure you clean the surfaces properly first. The difference between welding dirty/scaly steel, and good clean steel is like night and day.

 

As above though, bit more heat required.

Seem to remember you was only building this one last year, what happened to it?

 

Got too familiar with the AA man as there were too many inherent design faults which wore me down in the end. Exit strategy implemented; car now has a new owner.

 

Typical roadside scene below, this one in France somewhere...

 

 

Decided to move on and create my own pile of poop so I've only got myself to blame when it goes pearshaped.

Woohoo! Ashford

 

Yep Ashford, here's another outside the kit car company's premises with the owner looking on....

 

I need a ground anchor making if you fancy some practice Mike. 

I can email you a very simple design 

Yep Ashford, here's another outside the kit car company's premises with the owner looking on....

Haha, dymchurch funfair! Know it's summer when that's open!

The chassis is being built to a predetermined specification and has been well researched, MiG and ERW steel is fine for the chassis.

 

yes, i was glad to see you were using a jig to keep everything square too, interesting stuff on that site

 

the part i'm really interested to see is using a fwd engine and transmission in a rear engine configuration, i'll follow this topic with interest

yes, i was glad to see you were using a jig to keep everything square too, interesting stuff on that site

 

the part i'm really interested to see is using a fwd engine and transmission in a rear engine configuration, i'll follow this topic with interest

 

Tom, I wasn't planning on a build thread on briskoka, though I occasionally put a piccie or two up for the south east possie in the meets section, if you wanted to follow the build, best to follow my build thread on the midlana forum http://www.midlana.com/forum/

 

Nothing new in using a tranverse lump in the back, Elise and MR2 have a similar setup. I'm using a Mazda 3 MPS 6 speed box with an LSD which can take the power, been a pain to mate to the duratec but its good to go now. The engine has the potential to put out around 440bhp but I'll keep the wick turned low for longevity,.. around 300..ish. Its esssentially the same spec engine as the Caterham 620R, which has been detuned btw. Big brakes all around as well to stop the thing, other than that pretty much the same as the original builder built.

yes, i was glad to see you were using a jig to keep everything square too, interesting stuff on that site

 

the part i'm really interested to see is using a fwd engine and transmission in a rear engine configuration, i'll follow this topic with interest

They do it in the atom, with a civic engine

It was just an idle curiosity really, I'm just about to start working on a rear engined chop rod using a transverse Volvo t5 engine in a friends car, but I'm looking for inspiration for the rear drivetrain setup... The answer is already in this topic though I think... An mr2 rear subframe maybe or an mgf I guess?