How To Weld Up Holes In Sheet Metal

Make sure to use an electrode wire that is thinner as it uses lesser heat and prevents blowing holes on to the sheet metal.

How to weld up holes in sheet metal.

Try going for a wire of 023 inches when welding sheet metal. Ideally keep the tip of the welding wire about 1 16 from the surface before hitting the trigger. This will keep you far enough away from the weld puddle but give the least resistance for the arc when welding. Tips for welding hole in sheet metal.

When you are new to the whole process of welding auto body sheet metals it is preferable to go a bit more slowly than you can handle. My friend pete shows us the proper way to weld up small holes using a mig welder. In a situation when a welder needs to make a butt weld on a 20 gauge panel and the parts are not able to touch each other not even for even 1 16 inches you will create a gap that is not capable of being absorbed by the heat. Try welding with a scrap sheet metal piece and practice many times until you start working on more important projects.

Fit up and joint design. If you are going to weld on thin sheet metal such as car body parts then you re going to have holes to weld from time to time. The most permanent repair to a hole in sheet metal is to weld the hole shut. Sheet metal on the body of cars and trucks is pretty thin usually 18 22 gauge.

This may be due to burning through the thin sheet metal welding molding holes fabrication or other reasons needed. It takes practice to get it right but once you learn how to do it it becom. Yes it may feel quite derogatory and downright frustrating for you to not able to do much faster. For this reason i always like to use copper backers and welders helpers to back up and quickly fill the hole.

So you won t have much forgiveness if you try to pile weld in the hole and you can end up with a bigger hole than you started with. If you stick to these tips when setting yourself up for mig welding sheet metal you will be much more confident and successful. Sheet metal welding demands really tight fit ups. Essential tips on how to weld auto body sheet metal take it slow when welding auto body sheet metal.

The welding process actually adds new steel to the thin steel and can result in a repaired spot that is stronger than the original metal. Mig wire doesn t.