Another Newbie

[aRZed350]

G'day from Ontario, Canada. My hobby is restoring old motorcycles, mostly Japanese from the '70's and '80's. I've been at it about a dozen years and manage to complete a total resto in about 2 years - it's just a hobby - but I think I have Serial Restoration Disorder. I do all my own wrenching, painting and fixing, but farm out the machining and powder coat. Most of my projects have gas tanks that look like they've been used as a football. I've had several tanks repaired by a metal working wizard in the past but unfortunately he's no longer able to do them for me, so I know what's possible, I just need the time, patience, skills and knowledge to learn to do it myself (not asking for much, eh)

To that end, I've bought a TIG welder and learned to weld - sorta. Bought some oxyacetylene torches and learned to make a mess. Restored and modified an Eagle II dent puller. Bought a stud welding gun, made a fixture to hold the tanks and made 17 different shaped picks to get them hard to reach areas.

I've watched hours of youtube, Ron Covell, Ron Fournier and even took a 2 day fabrication course with Eric Gorges but I really think I need different skills and knowledge to fix 40 year old rusty and dented tanks. I've learned quite a bit from my mistakes in the last 12 months but it sure would be nice to get the perspective of people who have already "bin there, done that"

[Peter Tommasini]

Hi Sean welcome to the forum
Peter

[HEATNBEAT]

Hi Sean and welcome!
Sounds like your headed in the right direction!

[David Gardiner]

Hello Sean, welcome to allmetalshaping, you should persevere with the gas welding it's the most versatile welding method. I weld with gas almost exclusively. I show a little of the technique and results on my youtube footage.

David