[xpsyclonex2002]

or you could forget about all of the welding and just use panel bonding adhesive. It will save a ton of time and is pretty hard to screw up. As a newb i tried welding a bunch of lower quarter patches and had a lot of warpage no matter what I did to prevent it. I worked at night for days and days on all that. Then I bought a gun and a tube of panel bonding ahesive and tore through the quarter panels patches in 2 nights. I was limited by how many clamps I had. I will never spend all that time fighting a welder again for non-structural repairs. I used Lord Fuzor brand and would recommend thier stuff to anyone.

[panelwagon62]

what about when it comes to doing things like shaving door handles? can you use body adhesive there cuz i have seen that come through before. I have always welded them in.

[xpsyclonex2002]

I would think that that is the perfect example of a good place for panel bonding adhesive. That much welding in that small of an area would probably be no big deal for an experianced welder but for guys like me who have just a few hours of welding under thier belt can turn that into a nightmare of warped metal. You would just have to cut out a piece of metal to be about 1" bigger than the hole you are filling, flange the edges to flush it out with the door skin, and glue it. Use 4 or 5 screws to hold it in place (remove once the glue is dry) or possibly wedge something from behind.

Again, for the high end builders, this probably wouldn't be considered the "right" way to do it, but for hobbiest and newbies like me, I think it's the way to go.

[cranky1]

Good welding comes with practice, practice, practice! Having good equipment helps too....

[xpsyclonex2002]

I think my low end welder is part of my problem. I started off with a flux core unit then swapped to gas when I realized what a mistake that was. But I still stuck with a low end model from Northern Tools. It works. That's about all I can say for it. There isn't very precise tuning for it so getting it dialed in for what you are working on is a crap shoot. I don't use one enough to warrant dropping $1000 on one.

[cranky1]

Having good equipment pays for itself and quickly.....not only in frustration but in the job they help you do.