A few things that may help you out. First of all, kudos for showing what a complete novice will experience the first time out. There's nothing wrong with learning. Second, slow down. Getting a proper weld requires letting a pool develop, which takes some time. Sheet metal is not the easiest thing to start learning on. Lastly, don't start your weld with the welding rod in contact with the surface. 1/8" away from the surface is enough and will allow you to control the pool. Practice, practice, practice. Don't be afraid to play around with your angles, how you hold the gun, tip angle, feed rate, etc. It's a skill that takes time to develop. I took a course at my local community college, and it's something worth exploring if for no other reason than having someone who knows what they are doing help you to get the basics down.

I'm a welder. But never done any welding for auto body work. I never thought that you could use flux core on auto body work. But with time and patience, you did a great job. Keep up the great work!

Good for you for always embracing new challenges and advancing your skills. Most repair shops will never take as good care of your vehicle as you will. Anything you can learn to do yourself is a win 👍🏽

Awesome!!! Thank you for sharing…one of the most realistic DIY videos I have ever seen that is from someone who has limited welding experience

Thanks for posting your learning journey. I know it’s not easy as there are so many anon trolls ready to criticize everything on the interwebs rather than help and encourage. Watching you work through things and gain experience is much more relatable to us beginners and helps us learn from your own “teachable moments” and successes both. 🙂

Great job. Brought back memories of doing the rockers on my moms 2002 Cavalier. I went through the same exact learning curve as you. Once i was done the garage that inspected it complimented me on how great a shape the car was in. Plus the guy who bought it was a professional body man for 30 plus years and complimented me on the job. If you take your time to learn you can do a great job with flux core.

My welds were turning out like yours to begin with. Awesome progress and turning out a really great looking finished result!

Looks like a profesional work. A win win, you fix the car and now got a welder for other projects for a less cost than the body shop ask. Last week I bought a yeswelder flux-135 (more cheap than titanium) to do a similar work, but first I practice on a new piece of sheet metal to find the proper machine settings. It's not a profesional grade welder but it do the job.

Flux core wire will weld on dirty applications, should you clean it, yes, but it's been used in autobody repair for a while now, great video!!

I TIG weld at work but that setup has to stay at work because its too big. I just picked up the flux core 125 to hopefully use on automotive panels as well. Ive never Flux-core/MIG before so my first welds with the machine were REAL similar to yours. Awesome Video!

Not bad. As someone who dabbles in bodywork and welding you picked about the hardest thing to start with on both. GOOD JOB though and I really like what you did reinforcing the jack point area.

Looks great, I have a similar project using the same welder.

If you want to learn how to do this sort of thing, I would suggest watching Fitzzies Fabrication, he knows his stuff and I learned a lot from him

Just a Tip, next time extend your rod out more from the tip to Dissipate heat, Don't Touch the stock, slow down and "Stich" like you did the last piece and Pop, Pop, Pop My Brother.

Absolutely a great job! I'm inspired to do the same thing

My first time brother I too did the same thing And I had to go through 1/2 my wire and it’s pretty fun once you get the hang of it ,,,

Glad I stopped here. The do it yourself and "Oh what?" of first time. LOL! Bought a mig welder to work on vehicles in a DIY fashion. Wondered how the Harbor Freight welder would handle thicker metal. Wow that's me and Murphy! LOL! Have looked at a lot of How Too welding of autobody and different welds. Thanks for showing your efforts, and "Oh Dah?" moments!

well done for even attempting this repair, learning to weld is a hard task to master but the fact you done it on such a big repair for a first attempt you should feel proud, great result keep going at this new skill you have learnt.

I’m seriously impressed, nice job, I’m going to be doing the same soon with new lower quarter panels for my S10, I will definitely be practicing with the welder until I feel comfortable as I’m completely new at this myself but I honestly feel like I can do it, once again, nice job and excellent video showing us step by step, thanks

Good job. Welding isn't easy, but you can only improve once you start. You even started with one of the hardest things to weld. Keep it up.

Great video. Really nice job.

I enjoyed the video, thanks for sharing. I just bought this welder too. No specific task, but I've always wanted to learn to do simple weld repairs and fab.

So glad you fix your rust spot instead of letting it eat holes in your bed like a lot of other trucks. For first time welding end results looks great. Hope that ridgeline last you for a long time, like mine is.

Thanks for the video. I have the same problem on my truck and was curious if it would work and you've answered that question, Thanks again

great video! im looking to buy the same welder for the same problem and couldnt figure out how to fix the rotted pinch weld. Thanks for showing your process!

Exactly the type of repair, but on a 97 Jeep and on parts that where integral to holding the rear end in place and the body mounts from collapsing that put me in intensive care for a month, any vehicle made after 1979 is disposable, trying to make it look good will just get you and possibly someone else killed, once rust has gone that far that thing should go to the crusher and get turned into pop cans

Nice bro I like it you just saved your 1,700 bucks and good job as just trying it out seems like it worked out good

This was very helpful…thanks.

Well done for having a go yourself everyone has start somewhere, there’s a lot good comments on here for advice 👍👍

Looks amazing

I've also tried flux core on thin steel and I found I need minimum heat and then play with the wire feed until you get the sizzle. At least then you don't burn through and seem to have reasonable penetration. If there is no penetration, then bit by bit try a little more heat. It is very tricky but when its right its great.

With the machine from what I hear from the factory a lot of the flux core welders are setup incorrectly and you have to swap the polarity around for it to work right.

Those welds you call spot welds are to refered to as plug welds. Spot welds are performed with a spot welder. A spot weld is actually fusing/melting two metals together by use of intense pin point heat.

Thanks for sharing. I'm in the market for a starter welder and I think I will go with the same one you used. I've welded with flux-core in the past, but it's been a good 10 years since. I will be working on new 1/4 panels on a 90 Honda Accord.

Good job

Sorry to say but if this is just a quick fix not a permanent fix. With only tacking your replacement piece in you left large gaps that were not welded. You must take the time to weld the joints completely closed. When the moisture comes back from the inside (and it will) it will start to rust everywhere you did not close the joints. Bondo is not going to help for long. Maybe that's what you were looking for so take this as constructive criticism.

Did a great job for a beginner

Thanks for the video. I'll try not to repeat your mistakes and will repeat your successes. You might want to get some ear protection for the angle grinder work. You'll appreciate it in 20 years.

Thank you

The guy told me one time that you don't weld too hot or too cold but you weld too fast or too slow. And you definitely weld fast.

The sheet metal your practicing on is too thin of a gauge and will burn through , to get a good weld you need to hold in one spot til you get a puddle and sorda drag the puddle as you go with a nice steady pace , good job though definitely learning !!

The HF Titanium 125, the little green machine, is is DCEN Gun negative? A couple people have had their own volt meter and said that the gun is positive. I thought for flux core it needed to be negative.

My girl if it survives the recall is going to need some fluxin lmao awesome video

What was your settings for it? I keep blowing through on stuff even turned down.

Harbor freight wires sucks Try Blue Demon

Damn man that was pretty good

Any issues with the helmet. Also would recommend a welding jacket or sleeves.

rite on brother! go for it and grind and weld and figure this shit out ...A wise man learns from his mistakes an even wiser man learns from others mistakes ...so get to mistaking .oh thats what happens when you get all worked up ! just like prom night over penetration .cut all that rust out till you see great metal and bang your head.no more like that 80s movie ."she blinded me with science ! weird science .who sang that? thomas dolby oingo boingo ? naw that was not Elfman shit irefuse to look it up im old school and force paths of the past to connect

Good job bud

Look like your doing some resale work... I have to do this some times to the cars I sell..

going to fast with it

You should wear a mask though!

That was painful to watch 🫣

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️

Just follow the chart that comes with the machine and you'll be fine

A mig welder works way better for welding

At 9:14 it looks almost as your finger is so freaken close to the cutting wheel. Yikessss.

I understand you wanting to fix that yourself and everything but unfortunately Rust is cancer it’s never going away no matter what you do with it. You would literally have to cut everything apart and re-weld all new inner rockers floors, reinforcements outer rockers take it from a 30 year frame and body technician, it’s too far gone to do anything with but at least you’re learning something. Good luck.

That is not a jack point. That is a rocker panel. Part of the cab. The body. You are supposed to jack from the frame. That you touched in the begining. You are only supposed to jack small cars from the" jack point". And it has a specific jack point in front and rear. Them are not ment to be jacked on even when they are brand new it would dent right in under the weight of the truck. Just thought I'd point that out for the future.

Right off the bat, that's the wrong wire. You will struggle. Bodywork requires 0.6mm wire not 0.8mm. 0.8mm will do your head in - blown holes galore. 0.6mm is harder to source but worth the hunt. Next you need to see will your machine run 0.6.. if it does, Happy Days. You are now free from the expense of buying gas... Congratulations. But not so fast! - Does your machine go Looow on the settings? If you went bought a machine for vehicle bodywork with "Max Power!" in mind - you kinda done goofed. You want Looow power - less is more. 80% of welders, setting 1 is about 2 settings too high,, hence they are garbage right out of the box. Seek out a welder that specialises in "Low". Those are harder to find. You also want to pay heed to Mr Decibels - if your welder whines like a Jumbo on the apron, it will start doing in your head after a few hours - more quieter is more better. Switch it on & it whines, chances are you will go "I can live with this!"..and then discover that actually you can't.. Pick a quiet one. I own a €200 welder that is the best welder I have ever found at running flux core wire - but it is so noisy, I never willingly use it. The drone does my head in after a bit. Instead I run wire through a comparatively silent machine that absolutely sucks at flux-core & cost 10 times as much as well - but it's quiet, I can live with the "Runs flux core badly" - I can't live with the whining drone. You might discover you are the same - so pay heed to how noisy it is.

The first weld was terrible you need penetration im a welder

Man, I'm all for DIY and always learning, but what you did here is dangerous and demonstrating it for the public is borderline irresponsible. That patch is not properly engineered for a support point. Seriously, you need to take this down before someone gets hurt.

I know nothing about anything, but... I understand that you started the video by declaring that you are a complete novice, but...but....but? You are posting on to KZfaq...have you not considered looking on KZfaq for welding how to's?? Have you ever seen welded metal? Have you ever seen new metal welded on to rust? Have you ever seen any one try to weld a line of weld at that speed? Have you ever used any kind of hand held tool before...in your life? Have you figured out if you are left or right handed? Have you ever been allowed near power tools before? Have you ever been allowed outside on your own before? Please...unplug everything, put every thing down...go back inside and watch some tv...for the rest of your life.

Lol it looks like you spattered that piece of metal in I to am learning how to weld great video

Great work. It gave me some confidence on doing my rockers on my ford f-150 crew cab.🤌🏿

I had one and burned the bloody rat up in less than a year. Junk. Voltage and intensity was all over the place. I got nothing good to say about titanium welders

too close and too fast.relax man

Looks awesome