Can't get studs to weld on to my rear hatch

[Bash]

Is the rear hatch made of steel? nothing sticks to the metal. dent pulling studs wont stick I tried to mig weld them on that failed. any suggestions on how to work the metal.

[zyewdall]

I know that i;ve welded stuff to the rear hatch of a '82 wagon, so it was still steel then... as far as I know, all of them are. I just had a little 120vac wirefeed welder.

 

Did you try wirebrushing the paint off first? I often don't do that, but for better quality welds, it helps.

 

Z

[Bash]

I have an 86. My mig is a hobart. I did grind off paint, then used a metal prep cleaner. Nothing sticks.

[Mr. Brat]

Where do you have your ground? Gas or flux welder?

[monstaru]

are you burning holes?cheers, brian

and never use brake kleener to clean anything....happy welding

[Bash]

Gas welder. Low heat, not blowing holes the wire just curls up. Grounded to the hatch, I took off some paint then cliped on the ground. The stud welder is an eastwood. I never use brake cleaner to prep.

[zyewdall]

Wow.... I have no idea. I've never seen that behavior, and I've welded, or tried to weld some really lousy stuff -- rusty metal with paint and grease and what not on it... stuff that was hard to even get a spark started, but once I got an arc, it generally burned through whatever was there and at least made a lousy temporary weld