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.
How to tig weld sheet metal without warping dvd.
That heat spreads out making the metal expand.
Top ways to keep metal from warping when welding.
When welding steel this weld bead is laid down at around 2 500 f 1 370c.
If you re welding thinner materials like automotive sheet metal it is more critical that you keep the heat to a minimum when welding.
Arc welding mig and tig entails fusing a filler metal with the materials being joined.
Learn why mig pulsed mig tig and pulsed tig are the ideal choices when welding sheet metal.
Tack welds stitch welds then.
Tig welding is preferred where practical because it is neater and cleaner than mig welding which introduces new material into the weld joint.
I did use some sort of backup at the seams to prevent burn through but did not expect that to control warping.
Mattm warped metal when welding is a constant struggle we all deal with regardless of thickness of the material.
Tig welding is an excellent example of the less is more premise producing strength without adding mass and mess.
October 4 2019 by.
I had to tig long seams in sheet metal quite a few times making my muller flasks furnace parts etc.
This restraint creates high residual tensile stress that causes the weld to act like a stretched rubber band with the workpiece holding the ends figure 1 for this reason when the clamps that hold the workpiece are removed the base metal is allowed to move or spring.
How to weld auto body sheet metal with a tig welder.
Then as the bead cools and solidifies it contracts but by this time the metal pieces are fused together.
Keep in mind during the welding process it is important to direct the arc right at the center of the weld puddle and don t do movements like whipping or weaving as it may cause warping and burn through quickly.
When mig welding sheet metal it is important to set the proper parameters to prevent warping and burn through or else it will create excess heat and easily blowholes on the metal.
The weld wants to shrink as it cools to room temperature but is restrained from doing so by the adjacent cold base metal.
In this video i did a bunch of weld tests on sheet metal to see how much it would warp by the different styles of mig welding.
The best two electrodes for welding auto body sheet metal is either ceriated tungsten or thoriated tungsten.
Ditch a 1 8 inch tungsten electrode for something much smaller like 1 16 inch tungsten.