How To Spot Weld Sheet Metal

To weld sheet metal with solid wires use electrode positive ep or reverse polarity.

How to spot weld sheet metal.

The real trick to weld sheet metal is to use a wire feed. Its primary usage is in welding auto body and sheet metal. Holding the tip too far from the surface will cause the wire to have to come out too far to touch the metal. Insert the metal between the 2 electrode tongs.

Forget the larger 1 8 inch tungsten electrode and use a smaller one. Thus spot welding diameters go from 3mm to 12 5mm. Buy the kit here. The ration of thickness should not exceed 3 1mm.

Hold the handle of the vice grip pliers and move the metal between the 2 tongs. Try going for a wire of 023 inches when welding sheet metal. I like to try and center the weld in the flange or weld seam. Just kidding this tip is to explain how to weld sheet metal with a stick welder.

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. We need to establish what is considered thin metal. You can than take a drill or a metal punch to make holes in the top layer of the metal. Short bursts or tacks will help.

Keep the metal still as you ready the tongs to spot weld and fuse them together. Don t forget to mark the panel before disassembling the seam so it all fits back together correctly. Tig welding sheet metal. Resistance spot welding is the joining of overlapping pieces of metal by applying pressure and electrical current.

Keep the stick out short stickout of your mig wire is important when welding any type of metal but especially sheet metal. Don t attempt to weld thin materials like sheet metal with flux cored wires which put more heat into the base metal. Use 1 hand to hold the metal so you can use the other to press down the handle. Spot welding is usually used to join a panel of overlapping sheet metal parts that are usually 3mm thick.

A wire feed or tig welder is ideal for sheet metal but we will assume that you don t have one. While wire feed welding sheet metal go for short bursts of welding instead of a going on a long bead. This is because the strength of the joints depends on the number and size of the weld. Start by marking out even spacing of where you want your spot or plug welds on the metal.