How To Weld Sheet Metal Without A Welder

Thicker sheet metal is more difficult to spot weld because the electric current emitted by the two copper electrodes has more space to flow to.

How to weld sheet metal without a welder.

Welding is not an easy process and not everyone knows the proper way to do it. Ditch a 1 8 inch tungsten electrode for something much smaller like 1 16 inch tungsten. The process of spot welding involves two copper electrodes that hold sheet metal together. Getting the tubing hot enough may take 4 to 5 minutes.

To weld sheet metal with solid wires use electrode positive ep or reverse polarity. Want to weld your car exhaust pipe and only have your old grandpas stick welder. It is possible to join metal pieces by methods like riveting soldering bolting or brazing. We need to establish what is considered thin metal.

Mig welding is the preferred method for most automotive bodywork and since sheet metal is the thinnest of metals a large expensive mig unit is usually not required. Try going for a wire of 023 inches when welding sheet metal. 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. Short bursts or tacks will help.

Sheet metal that is not very thick is a lot easier to spot weld on. This is a quick video showing how to weld sheet metal with a stick arc welde. The majority of the sheet metal welding i ve done was with a 90 amp 110 volt welder. While wire feed welding sheet metal go for short bursts of welding instead of a going on a long bead.

This is when the alternatives to welding can come in handy. A wire feed or tig welder is ideal for sheet metal but we will assume that you don t have one. Other than this nano metals and adhesives can also be used to join metal pieces together without welding. Don t attempt to weld thin materials like sheet metal with flux cored wires which put more heat into the base metal.

Because it will have you a lot more control over the whole process and it is more forgiving in case you do anything wrong. The real trick to weld sheet metal is to use a wire feed. Clamp up the tubing and start heating the aluminum with a propane torch. The best two electrodes for welding auto body sheet metal is either ceriated tungsten or thoriated tungsten.