I need to know if its possible to weld a hole in a car using an arc welder
and welding rods.
I have read up about disconnecting the battery before welding .
Is it possible to weld sheet material with an arc welder and welding rods.
If so do the rods have to be a certain diameter versus sheet thickness.
Would the sill and door skin on a car weld with an arc welder.
My limited experience is arc welding mild steel box section for a trailer.
BTIA
Capstick (UK Cornwall)
snip
Why in gods good name, would i put an enquiry onto a newsgroup,
Only to achieve, No learning whatsoever.
I am sure however, if i wait a bit longer, i may get some more sensible
information.
Big thanks in advance.
Capstick
Yes, yes and yes but not easily or with any chance of nice
looking results.
MIG the way to go for thin material, very controlable, accurate
and less likely to blow holes
Dunno where u are but DJW at Hayle sell Sealey equipment
and usually have something on 'offer'
People get put off MIG due to the cost of mixed gas.
My welds are not for public view so I just use CO2
which I get from a bar which we own - cylinder lasts
us years - if you have a friendly pub landlord he might let u
have a cylinder - they tend to accumulate 'lost' ones
Welding car bodies you will be grinding down to a flat finish
so any spatter from using CO2 won't matter.
I make up chutes & hoppers from sheet which is probably
1/1.5mm with MIG and I've had no training at all.
MIG is much easier than stick as you don't have the problem
of arc striking and 12" of rod to keep control of.
With MIG you are able to concentrate more on the end result
and how your technique is affecting it.
As mentioned previously hole filling can be done by
stop/start welding as you can spot in small adjoining blobs
without needing slag removal that form the backing for
weaving/beading over.
Get an auto dimming helmet - as useful as the welder itself
DJW have for about £90
It is possible. It is difficult. It is also not recommended by the car
manufacturers
because they have switched to HSLA (high strength low alloy) steel instead of
the plain low carbon steel used in the past. HSLA weld strength is a very
sensitive
function of the size of the HAZ (heat affected zone). The manufacturers insist
that
you only use MIG or spot welding to minimize the HAZ during a repair in a modern
car. That's because the sheetmetal bears structural loads in modern frameless
construction.
Even for an older car which has a full frame, and whose sheetmetal is not
structural, you want to minimize the HAZ to minimize *warping* of the panel.
So again MIG would be preferred over arc or gas torch welding, and stitch
welding would be preferred over full seam welding to further help reduce
warping.
If the holes you want to fill are due to *rust*, then further issues arise.
First,
you need to grind back to good metal before attempting the repair. Second
you'll probably want to fit a filler panel rather than just trying to weld the
hole closed. In modern cars, where the area being repaired is structural,
you need to take a very close look at the whole area before attempting the
repair. Best practice may be to replace rather than repair if the weakening
due to rust is extensive, or if the area to be repaired is at a high stress
point.
Gary
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