How To Weld Thin Sheet Metal With Arc Welder

In order to avoid the usual problems that come with welding thin metal you should carefully consider the process you are using.

How to weld thin sheet metal with arc welder.

It is an arc welding process that where you feed a solid wire electrode through a welding gun. Metal inert gas is then used to protect the weld from contaminants. A good heat setting for 1 8 6011 rods on thin material is about 80 90 amps. Everyone is different but those settings will get you in the right ballpark to weld sheet metal.

On larger thin gauge material spread out several smaller welds over the joint. You are basically burning the rods down on top of the metal in straight lines. Weld in the vertical down position weld 6 in. For 3 32 7018 s it s about the same.

Mig is one of the best ways to weld 20 gauge sheet metal. And then stop to allow the weld to cool down before restarting again. Years ago i bought the stitch welder accessory from them and with the 1 16 electrodes it works well on thin sheet. For instance when producing a 3 ft.

This video shows a basic t joint using 6013 grade. Set up your arc welder to straight polarity dcen that will keep the heat on the rod and not on the base metal dial down to 20 30 amps set up the sheet preferably over two bricks so that the bottom of the sheet is hanging in the air. Welding in a sequence that limits the amount of heat can help minimize distortion in thin material. You ll also need to use an arc welder since a mig welder won t properly join the galvanized steel together.

Mig welding for thin metal. While welding work back and forth over the seam or opening and cover each area twice in order to properly join 2 surfaces together. The stitch welder has a solenoid that pulsates the rod and also a diode that can be engaged to convert the buzz box output to dc. Another thing that helps is if you can temporarily back up the weld with copper.

Mig welding is one of the simplest to use for welding.