plugging holes in thin 304 with CD welder

Greetings Slim, Though I have no experience with capacitive discharge welders and can't comment on them I do have experience with transformer type spot welders and think one of them would work. Do you have access to both sides of the work? I have spot welded 304 sheet with a hand held spot welder and it worked fine but I wasn't aiming for a hermetic seal. The copper electrodes kept air from getting to the area that got hot enough to melt so oxidation wasn't a problem. But if you can only get an electrode on one side of the weld there may be problems with oxidation. So you may need to use shielding gas to insure a hermetic seal. If the current pulse is large enough and long enough and the ball is kept under pressure as it deforms from the heat I think you should be fine. If the ball is held against the sheet with enough pressure then I think it will be making contact all around the edge of the hole so I'm wondering why the cap discharge vendor thinks it won't work. Maybe you can find a jeweler with a cap discharge welder and have them weld a few test pieces. Eric

Thanks Eric, I should have said: the parts are only accessible from one side. I'll try a CD welder as soon as I can get my hands on one...

Have you considered sllver brazing?

Dan

We have a similar problem blocking holes in sheet steel to make them IP65+ rated. We use a special 'pop-rivet'.

Supplied by Rivco here in the UK. I'm sure similar will be available in your area.

Much, *much* quicker than welding or brazing.

JB