The right way to plug a hole in a car body panel...

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

[slusher]

I agree, the right way to do it…

[Rob Hall]

A buddy of mine in college would 'fix' rust holes by stuffing the holes full of wadded up newspaper, duct taping cardboard over the hole, then smearing bondo over that until smooth then primer and paint.  I think over a 6 yr period he flipped maybe 75 used cars to pay for college. 

Edited January 28 by Rob Hall

[Ace-Garageguy]

15 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

A buddy of mine in college would 'fix' rust holes by stuffing the holes full of wadded up newspaper, duct taping cardboard over the hole, then smearing bondo over that until smooth then primer and paint.  I think over a 6 yr period he flipped maybe 75 used cars to pay for college. 

Any means to an end, right?

[johnyrotten]

This is the way. Some forget to de-burr and clean the back side as well. I would have tigged it, but that's just me. And Beverly shears are awesome,  I love mine. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

7 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

This is the way. Some forget to de-burr and clean the back side as well. I would have tigged it, but that's just me. And Beverly shears are awesome,  I love mine. 

Yup, TIG would be the best if you have the equipment and know how to use it, but this just shows it's entirely possible to do a clean clean clean job with MIG, and the same technique of tacking closer and closer together, then working the welds flat with hammer-on dolly (which helps to alleviate the shrinkage introduced by the heat of welding) works equally well with oxy-acetylene.  

[johnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Yup, TIG would be the best if you have the equipment and know how to use it, but this just shows it's entirely possible to do a clean clean clean job with MIG, and the same technique of tacking closer and closer together, then working the welds flat with hammer-on dolly (which helps to alleviate the shrinkage introduced by the heat of welding) works equally well with oxy-acetylene.  

I've learned with sheetmetal, controlling the amount of heat soaked into the panel goes a long way to saving work later. Hammer/dolly work is just about a lost art, something I made sure i learned and practiced, I've even done old school "lead" filling,  though the stuff eastwood sells is not exactly like the old stuff.

Edited January 29 by johnyrotten