[Steve91T]

Hello, my name is Steve, and I just bought a welder. I've never welded before, but have always wanted to. I've watched Stacy David enough to have a clue, but that's about it. I just purchased a cheap, less than $200 MIG welder with .035 flux core wire from Northern Tool. Should have just enough power to get me into trouble (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Anyway, I have Corbau racing seats in my 97 Camaro. The brackets suck. I did give one guy $200 to "fix" them. He promised me he'd cut and weld them to allow for a lower, and more reclined seating position. All he did was add washers to lean the seat back. I'm kicking myself for even giving this guy money.

I'm going to get some metal stock at Lowe's to practice and then once I'm not as scared, I'll start on the passenger seat. I figure I'll get better and will do a better job on the driver's seat.

I think Friday is going to be the day I give this a try. I would love it if you guys could give me constructive criticism. I'll post pictures and update as I go. You won't hurt my feelings. I'm fully expecting some of you to say things like "my grandma could do a better job!" That's fine with me.

So, will you guys help me? I know this forum doesn't have the most traffic, but I know that you guys know safety and are very experienced with this kind of thing. My goal is to rework the brackets to give me a lower, and more reclined seating position, along with making the brackets safer.

I'll take the passenger seat out tomorrow and start taking pictures.

Thank you,
Steve

[Steve91T]

Damn this is cool! I can't believe how hard it is! I didn't have much time to mess with it, but for now, here's what I got. A lot of splatter, and also it seemed as if the welder was loosing contact and cutting on and off. I was holding the torch fairly close, so I don't know.

Here's my first attempt! Beautiful, huh? (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Welding/Firstweld.jpg)

Here's my first tack job. Looks the one on the left didn't penetrate enough. Right one looks better.
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Welding/tacking.jpg)

Here's my best bead so far. I'll have to get used to my $50 auto dimming mask. I had a hard time seeing where I was going.
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Welding/bestsofar-1.jpg)


This is so much fun. I can't wait to go round up some scrap metal tomorrow and practice. I really hope I can get good enough to weld my own seat brackets, if not, I'll tack them and pay a pro to do it. I'm going to watch some more youtube video's and see if I can't learn something.


Now that I have an idea of what it's like, I've got some questions. How do I know if I'm going too fast? What is proper penetration?

Since you guys are helping me so much, I thought I'd offer some advice that you guys probably didn't know.
1) It is a bad idea to wear flip flops while welding, no matter how hot it is in your garage!
2) Welding on a wooden work bench will set it on fire!