Here are some of the clips. Two halves and a whole. the whole one is cracked on top. They are difficult to get off. You have to bend the tab up some to get them off. I will prime them good before they go back on the car. Then readjust the welded tabs

Stripped two of the three finishers on Saturday

This is the rust I am trying to deal with

Especially under the trim

Worked on the finisher trim

Stripped the paint off of them first

Then did some polishing with a hand held wheel and the buffing stand. It turned out really nice so far

I was going to double check that the trim is stainless but my adult kids brought me some illness over Xmas, so I didn't spend any time in the shop today. ?

 

Did some work on the rear end panels

I want to close up the holes so I don't have the big puddle welds again. So I ma going to weld some of them smaller and some I am going to patch entirely then drill a new hole

Here is the latest episode on ugly welds? It's not a gas issue and not a contamination issue. I figured it out, but anyone have any guesses?

I took a grinding die and rounded out the holes and started making small metal patches. I would have finished today but I didn't do anything productive today.

Cody had a great idea on how to make the patches. I took some light card stock and traced the hole onto. I cut that out then I cut a scrap of metal that is a little larger. Then I take a set of small nose welding clamps and clamp them together with the pattern on top. A 2" grinder with a 36 grit roloc and I trim them to shape. I made like nine of them late on Saturday. I have like 25 total to make!

 Charles, what caused those frightful looking welds? I've not encountered one that looks like those. Too much heat? Wrong wire?

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

Here are some of the clips. Two halves and a whole. the whole one is cracked on top.

@Patcon

So are you saying you don't have any good ones from those originally on the car?

 

1 hour ago, Mark Maras said:

 Charles, what caused those frightful looking welds? I've not encountered one that looks like those. Too much heat? Wrong wire?

I'm waiting for the big reveal,  but it sure looks like contamination to me or maybe a bad ground.

2 hours ago, Patcon said:

Here is the latest episode on ugly welds? It's not a gas issue and not a contamination issue. I figured it out, but anyone have any guesses?

Well I don't know, but I'm gonna guess just so I can play the game.

My guess is your wire was slipping in the feed wheel and burning back making a large sloppy intermittent arc.

2 hours ago, Patcon said:

Then did some polishing with a hand held wheel and the buffing stand. It turned out really nice so far

And be real real real careful with this... One snag and you could be in big trouble!   

16 hours ago, Zup said:

@Patcon

So are you saying you don't have any good ones from those originally on the car?

 

I still have the one on the car. We're all good!

15 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

And be real real real careful with this... One snag and you could be in big trouble!   

Yes, this is true!!

My big buffer stand is two speed 2600/2800 rpm. The lower speed works great on plastic, but I am also finding, it is much easier and safer to buff delicate unobtanium at the lower speeds too. It takes a little longer, but better than getting hurt or "losing it" over crimping a beautiful piece of stainless

17 hours ago, Mark Maras said:

 Charles, what caused those frightful looking welds? I've not encountered one that looks like those. Too much heat? Wrong wire?

 

15 hours ago, grannyknot said:

I'm waiting for the big reveal,  but it sure looks like contamination to me or maybe a bad ground.

 

15 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

Well I don't know, but I'm gonna guess just so I can play the game.

My guess is your wire was slipping in the feed wheel and burning back making a large sloppy intermittent arc.

So I started to work on these panels. I tried to lay down the first bead and I was like "What the heck!"

I know I am becoming senile but I thought I turned the gas on. Yeah went through that a couple times. Righty tighty-lefty loosy. All good...

Maybe I bumped the regulator. I turned it way up. I can hear and feel the gas coming out the tip. Plenty of pressure in the bottle.

Maybe it's a contaminant? I had a new piece of copper as a back up behind the hole. You can see it in one of the pictures.

I took it out and it welded fine. Here is the catch. I had the "bright" idea to use a magnet to hold the copper piece in place. The magnet I have is a very strong rare earth magnet. You just about can't pull them off a surface with your fingers. So I held the copper back under there without the magnet and the welds were still fine. The magnetic field was doing that to the weld puddle. So it makes me wonder if my other magnetic holders affect the weld puddle too. I will have to keep an eye on that.

I was going to respond with that very theory last night, but alas was too lazy to post...

I had the same thing happen to me once before while welding up some steel pieces that were being positioned with a large magnet. The weld just popped right off!