How To Weld Sheet Metal With A Arc Welder

How to weld thin gauge steel similar to car body panel down to 8mm or 1 32 of an inch thick with arc or stick welder.

How to weld sheet metal with a arc welder.

There is occasionally splatter from the spread of the arc. A wire feed or tig welder is ideal for sheet metal but we will assume that you don t have one. We need to establish what is considered thin metal. As a rule when mig welding sheet metal never use a body filler metal that is thicker than the base metal.

Removing the coating and re spraying or painting the weld seam after welding to regain corrosion resistance. Every surgeon can operate a scalpel but only a few could work with any tool. Don t attempt to weld thin materials like sheet metal with flux cored wires which put more heat into the base metal. That makes this a one handed process.

This adds two operations. While wire feed welding sheet metal go for short bursts of welding instead of a going on a long bead. For sheet metal i use ine welding wire and it is just as good as their flux cored wire if you want you can grab one here. Forget the larger 1 8 inch tungsten electrode and use a smaller one.

Disclaimer due to factors beyond the. To weld sheet metal with solid wires use electrode positive ep or reverse polarity. Try going for a wire of 023 inches when welding sheet metal. I would compare it to performing plastic surgery with butcher knives.

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. Any arc welding process general recommendations the best way to weld galvanized steel regardless of welding process is to remove the zinc coating from the joint. Short bursts or tacks will help. Tig welding sheet metal.

The real trick to weld sheet metal is to use a wire feed. Just kidding this tip is to explain how to weld sheet metal with a stick welder. Yes arc welding sheet metal is difficult tedious and probably a bit insane but it is feasible. Arc welding is a versatile method that uses alternating currents to create a high heat arc that melts your flux.

It is recommended that a welder should use 023 or 024 inch wire for light gauge sheet metal work. A standard arc welder is undoubtedly the best way to weld galvanized steel. Mig or metal inert gas welding aka gas metal arc welding or gmaw also uses a gas shield and filler material however in this case the filler is a wire fed directly through the welder. So you can keep the other hand free for manipulating your materials and other tools.

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.