Welding Techniques For Sheet Metal

The best two electrodes for welding auto body sheet metal is either ceriated tungsten or thoriated tungsten.

Welding techniques for sheet metal. The spot welding process is one of the oldest welding methods used. The second technique is to use basic intermittent welding. Its primary usage is in welding auto body and sheet metal. Mig welding uses an arc of electricity to create a short circuit between a continuously fed anode the wire fed welding gun and a cathode the metal being welded.

First you tack weld your sheet metal or plate. For mig welding sheet metal it is often recommended to use an electrode wire of the smallest diameter to prevent burn through and warping. Welding sheet metal can be difficult. The heat produced by the short circuit along with a non reactive hence inert gas locally melts the metal and allows them to mix together.

Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials usually metals or thermoplastics by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool causing fusion. I keep it short and to the point in this welding instructional video and show how ve. Butt welding sheet metal the best way to weld sheet metal panels together is by butt welding which is joining them side by side see picture below. Welding is distinct from lower temperature metal joining techniques such as brazing and soldering which do not melt the base metal.

Making a patch panel. Ditch a 1 8 inch tungsten electrode for something much smaller like 1 16 inch tungsten. Then what you do is weld a short bead on one end of your piece and then weld on the other end and then move back down to another spot away from your second weld until you finish up your weld. This 2 part video explains demonstrates the basic techniques and tips for first time sheet metal welders.

Spot welding is usually used to join a panel of overlapping sheet metal parts that are usually 3mm thick. Butt welded panels withstand stress better than any other type of weld joint. Learn how to mig weld automotive sheet metal in about 5 minutes or less. 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.