Welding Gaps In Sheet Metal

This video explores some techniques that can be used to achieve.

Welding gaps in sheet metal.

Spot welding is usually used to join a panel of overlapping sheet metal parts that are usually 3mm thick. One thing to remember is that welding will tend to pull the gaps closed. It is better to stitch then going back and welding between stitches. The best two electrodes for welding auto body sheet metal is either ceriated tungsten or thoriated tungsten.

Because it will have you a lot more control over the whole process and it is more forgiving in case you do anything wrong. Make sure to wait between runs and stitches to limit the heat input and reduce warping. Thus spot welding diameters go from 3mm to 12 5mm. Its primary usage is in welding auto body and sheet metal.

Short circuit transfer mig short arc tig and pulsed tig welding processes provide the most control over the heat to address these challenges. In today s video we discuss butt welding vs overlapping sheet metal panels on your project. So putting in gaps will cause stress in the steel and tend to make the repair wavy. Which should you be using.

On the thin sheet metal a fairly fast travel stringer bead works well. If you re fitting a lot of tubes don t be surprised if you run into a gap or two eventually. The second is to do a root pass to fill the bottom of the gap and using stringer beads to fill the gap. This is because the strength of the joints depends on the number and size of the weld.

What the reasons you should be butt we. Ditch a 1 8 inch tungsten electrode for something much smaller like 1 16 inch tungsten. The ration of thickness should not exceed 3 1mm. When welding thin metal the main objective is to avoid warping burn through and excessive heat affected zones while still ensuring the weld has enough mechanical strength for the application.

Overall i ve used both of these methods depending on the situation and the type of metal i m working with. If you burn through do not try and chase the hole you will just end up with a mess. You have to weigh that disadvantage with the advantage that having a gap will allow better weld penetration.