I need to buy some sheet steel of various guages, to weld up a number of items, both A-Series and non-A-Series.

However, steel merchants have an array of types of sheet eg hot rolled, and cold reduced.

What type should I specify, for car welding?

Zintec, 0.8mm or 1mm is what I endeavour to find...

ken

i have 2 old 3 draw filing cabnets the steel i good for making patches

Got myself 2 sq m of 1.2mm gauge and 1m2 of 1mm gauge zintec today - for a good price! Sorted and ready to do some serious welding - on an Escort van! Once that's out of the way (with techniques perfected) I'll get onto my AZU.

You will soon find that ZINTEC is the stuff, weld with MIG or spot weld. Don't be tempted to use other zinc plated steel if you are spot welding as the zinc weakens the weld, MIG gives off some nasty fumes (But your lungs won't go rusty). I don't know why, but ZINTEC does not suffer from these problems. Just make sure that when you paint zinc coatings or zinc paint that you have a suitable etch primer.

Thanks for the tip, bobh. Today was frustrating. After prepping the work I needed to do on the Escort van, I discovered that the 15kg of 0.8 wire that I'd bought from Amazon was on a spool that had split, meaning that the wire kept getting stuck and was unusable. Only managed to weld a single plate. Really irritating!

Buying stuff on the internet is, in my experience, usually more trouble than it's worth.

Yep, and not all that cheap either. Find a decent local welding supplier. They're usually a much better bet than internets.

You're right, Russ - I'll get and find a local tomorrow. £26 all in for a 15kg roll seemed like such a good deal when I made my purchase.

Now I'm totally cheesed off that I can't finish my job this weekend. The Escort will have to stay in bits for another week at least, and after I've finished welding I'll still have to sort out the brakes. Times like this I just think I should chuck in farting around with shitty old cars and get another hobby, like cycling or crochet or something.

Time for a beer.

I think that I brought my last roll of mig wire (on a Sunday) from machine mart

even the local BOC depot - not famed for their low prices and customer service - are cheaper then internets