Rivets or welds... can you help me out?

[Rezarf <><]

Thanks for all the help with this, once I got the welder dialed in and I kept a good slow rate... I was able to avoid all warping.

I will still rivet a few panels in place, but will be welding most everything else.

Thanks! Here are a few shots of the progress.

 

[AndrewP]

I think that's smart. Welding is fun, riveting sucks. That alone is enough to sway the direction! Plus welding is way more flexible in application.

I hope you mig welded it though. It would take a long time to tig something that big!

 

[UK4X4]

Drew did you seam seal between the frame and the panels before welding ?



water just loves tight seams to creep into and gently rust away

looking neat, I like the bars on top of the front box...

 

[Mike S]

Lookin' good, Drew!

 

[Rezarf <><]

Drew did you seam seal between the frame and the panels before welding ?



water just loves tight seams to creep into and gently rust away

looking neat, I like the bars on top of the front box...

Nope, I have been doing lots of research on sealers and products for sheet metal panels in the auto body world. And there is LOTS out there for this exact application. I will however, have to seal the inside and outside seams to make it work, but it seems good. There are a lot of great acrylic products that are designed to be thinner than normal to "seep" into the seams for a good bond/seal.

That and automotive paint should do the trick!

Thanks for the nice words.

Drew

 

[Rezarf <><]

Lookin' good, Drew!

Thanks Mike!

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

You should get up to Terry's place and try out his new TIG machine.

He's right, TIG sure would be sweet and aliviate all those problems. My thought is a combo of both, rivel on the outside and weld the corners to make it look super clean. You don't have to be 110$ anal with the metal and rust issues, there are lots of unpainted parts in car bodies for example that rust in open air but are fine. Imagine the inside of your frame tube for example. So I would rivet it, leave the steel unpainted or ground off for hte corners, weld the corners and seams, and paint over... Should do the trick Cheers, Andre

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

spoke too late, very cool!

 

[Rezarf <><]

He's right, TIG sure would be sweet and aliviate all those problems. My thought is a combo of both, rivel on the outside and weld the corners to make it look super clean. You don't have to be 110$ anal with the metal and rust issues, there are lots of unpainted parts in car bodies for example that rust in open air but are fine. Imagine the inside of your frame tube for example. So I would rivet it, leave the steel unpainted or ground off for hte corners, weld the corners and seams, and paint over... Should do the trick Cheers, Andre

TIG welding would be great, but a quick pull of the MIG trigger and I am sitting all good.

Thanks man!

Drew