Modern Vespa

Smaller, and a bit smoother. Less cut-though at the corners.

BTW I just used my daily setup, since I need a wider range of power for various things.
A 110 welder with shielding gas is ideal. Flux core would be a living hell on this.

I think it just needs to be worn so much as just really thin, right? The idea is to minimize the gap that has to be filled.

I know on my legshield, I used .025 wire and where the two sides were touching, it went pretty smoothly using basically the same technique, but it was a royal PITA where there was a 1-2mm gap.

I like the dremel reinforced cutting discs for fine cuts. It's about the thinnest you can get, though they are expensive. I once saw a video on you tube that recommended a gap the size of a nickel. It seemed to work well but a wider gap requires more weld material which is the part of the repair that shrinks the most.

I used a dremel where I cut out the old metal on my legshield. Not the reinforced cutting disc, just the regular ones you can buy in a 10-pack for the cost of a single reinforced disc.

I used these ones in places where more precision was needed.

They wear out fast, but came in a pack of 20 or so.

Not in this case. The repair panel and repair area are cut separately.
As long as one keeps to the inside of the Sparpie (or whatever marker) lines, it should be a friction fit. I make my first cuts a 16th or so inside and use the edge of the disk to grind-fit the repair panel. Usually takes several attempts.

It's so thin there. Piaggio airplane skin gauge.
This is how I bridge gaps. On a legshield it'll be a pain to bridge any gap. Better to cut slightly larger repair panel and start over.

Since it happens, this is how it can be done:

That's a really interesting technique. The stitches hold the gap open and prevent the shrink from pulling the the edges together. If you just tried to fill it with weld material, it would shrink and pull it together. The little spot welds along the edges prevent the edges from burning through when you bridge the together across the gap.

That's good stuff, Ray.

And I really appreciate you sharing, because I'm now at the level where I can do the work, I just need to know what the plan is for it to succeed.

The hole filling one is great! Those are six little tacks to start?

I realized I burned holes, bc my wire speed was too low.

Using .23 wire. I set both down all the way. That's actually the recommended setting. but it was too hot, I guess.

So more wire speed must cool it down?

That's basic physics. Melting any solid requires a lot of heat, so if you're melting more wire, that absorbs more heat.

Ray - that is some creative problem solving.
The basic tenant - start on the thick stuff - I always remember to do.
Right after I start thin and burn back.
🙂

Good stuff and helpful for others to both follow and invent their own solutions.

nope

Yeah, if you can't get your initial tacks to look like the one circled in red (below), just walk away.

To demonstrate how quickly things can go bad, I went at my repair panel sample with the same settings:

Walking away is a great idea. It's when I get frustrated and keep pushing that everything goes to shit. A mistake on a little panel starts looking as big as a barn door. When you come back again, it looks normal again.

nope