Hey guys, first time fabricator here. Ideas and hints from more experienced guys always welcome. I've heard that the wonder bar can be a good addition to the older versions of our cars, and mine being an 84 Z28 it never came with one. I checked the local scrap yards, and none of the third gens there had the bar. So, instead of buying one from UMI or anyone else, I took a crack at making one. Check it out. It's 1" hollow steel pipe with 1 1/4" x 1/8" steel for the brackets. I thought it would be good for my first fabrication to make something that isn't integral to the car! haha.. check it out.

 

not bad at all. especially for a first timer.

 

Thanks very much! It made for good welding practice, that's for sure. Painting it up now!

 

Good work on your 1st fab job.

Looks like your using a fluxcore welder. If you can get a gas mig your welds will be so much better. I used a fluxcore welder for about 6-8 years and got pretty good with it, then when I put my roll cage in, NHRA specs mig or tig welds only so I bought a hobart 140 amp gas mig and just love the way it welds.

 

Thanks very much! I appreciate the feedback, and you're absolutely right this job was done with fluxcore. Luckily, my welder is equipped for both fluxcore and MIG, I just have to get my hands on a bottle and the gas. I have been lucky enough to do some MIG welding in the past at a buddy's shop, and you're right, it's way better. That's the next project!

 

Cool deal.. Get that bottle of gas asap. For fab work the gas and solid wire is just so much better.

You got pretty good welds there with the fluxcore and IMO if you can get welds that good with fluxcore, you will have great welds with the gas.

When I 1st bought my mig, I couldn't afford to buy the bottle, so I rented a 140 cu ft. bottle from my local welding supply house. It was a 6 mo. min contract, $5 per mo. rent fee, plus the $30 gas fill

After the 6 mo. was up, I bought the 140 cu ft bottle out right for $150, and at that time cost $35 to have filled with 75/25 mix... It's about $50 now to have it filled.

You might even find a deal on CL for a used bottle.. Just check the DOT cert date to make sure bottle aint out of date.. If it is, you will have to have it re-cert'ed at fill up. I think it's around $50 bucks to have them re-cert'ed.

If you don't have one yet, buy an auto darkening welding helmet.. Even the cheap harbor freight one.. Those things are a godsend for welding.

 

that's great info, thank you! I hadn't even considered renting a bottle! I will keep my eyes open for a used bottle, and look around town for what companies can re-cert and fill them. The auto darkening helmet is absolutely next! Right now I use a goggle style with a set darkness, and I found initial visibility was a bit low. I am hoping to do lots of welding and fabricating, that's been my goal since I've gotten into the hobby when I was young. A good bottle and a good helmet will b e a great investment. I'm hoping to do LCARB and LCAs for the rear of the car in the future!

 

Your welcome.

Don't weld too long at a time with the goggles! You will get a bad 'sun burn' on the parts of your face that's not covered... Been there myself, aint fun.

Any of your bigger local welding supply / gas dealers should be able to re-cert bottles and most will rent/lease or sell bottles to customers.

Do you have any of the triangle multipurpose magnets? If not get you a few of them in diff sizes.. Helps a lot to hold your parts together while welding.
The harborfreight ones are good and cheap. http://www.harborfreight.com/6-1-4-q...lder-1939.html

This little grounding block has helped me out many times, being able to get a good ground http://www.harborfreight.com/magneti...ock-30754.html

 

Yes I saw those, they looked really handy. I just used clamps and vise grips, but admittedly the magnets would have been better. I got the bar installed tonight and it fits perfect. Just gotta wait for good weather to get out and test it out!

 

wait til you work your way up to tig...lol :facepalm:

 

I have much respect for anyone that can tig! I tired my hand at it a couple times... I DO NOT have the patience for it.

 

i learned to weld with TIG first, lol. my brother-in-law taught me. his theory was, "if you can learn to TIG, you can weld with any machine." he was right. it's all just practice.

 

Now that's a beautiful weld! A welder is pretty high on my list of wanted tools, since you can do so much more fabrication work like what 84-Z28-Canada did.

 

Wow that tig weld looks awesome! Hope to get there somewhere like. It's required for aluminum right? Also, can't tell you how great I feel after welding up that piece, feels like a whole new level of hot rodding!

 

thanx.

its just practice, thats all.

you can MIG aluminum if you use argon for a shielding gas.

i have one of those cheap HF welders at the house. i use it quit often for various home jobs and exhaust projects, etc. lots of 4x4 guys out here always needing something fixed. i like it cause its portable, light and does the job.

i'm thinking of buying a new TIG inverter welder this year. same thing, small and portable. plus you can weld any metal with it.

 

this is one unit i'm considering. all you need is gas and rod.

http://orlando.craigslist.org/tld/4806481736.html

 

everlast makes good machines