I am cleaning up the enclosed trailer I bought it has a few loose rivets and a few missing. Easy enough to fix replaced a few already. I was looking at the overlapped seams and thinking about welding them closed. Is there a reason I would not want to do this? I think it was not done from the factory because it was not necessary. The rivets hold and that is all that is needed. Or do the seems allow for some flex so the metal does not buckle? This would be using a 135 amp MIG welder with Argon. I am going to see if I can get a bottle to use for a Weekend I don't want to keep it. I have a Argon CO2 bottle that I normally use for welding up fenders.
Welding Aluminium Seams
Jun 04, 2005
2 Replies
I wouldn't. I believe the panels need to slide around relative to each other with changes in temperature and flexing as the trailer goes over the road. Trailers are NOT rigid boxes, the whole opening at the back shows that quite clearly (-: B'sides, you'd have to be exceptionally good to edge weld thin aluminum panels that size out in the open air and NOT warp them (-: If you want to seal against road water and rain use a flexible caulk. Find another project to play hot glue gun on, they're out there waiting.
I believe the skin panels are 2024 aluminum, which is not weldable.
Hence why airplane skins are still riveted.
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