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Sheet Metal Welding – Tips and Techniques

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Guys, I want to finish up the last post on sheet metal welding tips. I ran out of space in that one, so I want to finish it up before I move onto some techniques to perfecting the weld. Now these sheet metal welding tips are mostly safety related. I know a lot of you will roll your eyes, but guys seriously, this stuff is important. I know us welders overlook this stuff, but it is always good to keep this stuff in mind when TIG welding pipe or whatever other welding we’re doing.

I’ve seen guys do this. Blow themselves off with oxygen from their cutting torch. This is so dangerous, guys just aren’t thinking when they’re doing it. You might as well be dousing yourself with gasoline. So what if you have some metal filings or other things stuck to your clothes. Brush them off if you must. But to potentially set yourself up as a human torch is insanity.

When MIG welding or doing any welding for that matter, make sure you keep your pockets empty. At the very least, make sure that you don’t have any matches or lighters in your pockets. This is just asking for trouble. I’ve never actually heard of someone burning themselves this way, but all it takes is a little inert gas leak, a little spark and you’ve set yourself up for a nasty burn or more.

Lastly, don’t use your oxygen tank to fill up your tires. This a really bad idea. Oxygen can explode, build up heat and is jut not meant to be in tires. Make sure you always have a spare so that you are never tempted.

Okay let’s get to some real sheet metal welding techniques. I want to give you a couple of tips on making a great weld with metal inert gas welding or MIG welding. As most of you know the biggest problems with sheet metal welding especially when MIG welding thin sheet metal is not burning through the metal while creating a strong weld, and also watching for warping and the presentation of a nice clean weld.

So when sheet metal welding use the thinnest wire possible. This will help in keeping the temperature down and giving you better control over the weld. A good rule of thumb is to use a wire of .023 inches in diameter when sheet metal welding a metal that is .04 inches thick or less. Sheet metal thicker than .04 inches can be welded with wire of .030 inches in diameter.

When sheet metal welding try and use the highest possible argon shielding gas. Argon carries less heat than carbon dioxide and this will dramatically reduce the metal spatter which can leave an ugly weld.

This sheet metal welding tip especially for sheet metal MIG welding will sound counter intuitive, but try it, it works. Keep the arc in the middle of the puddle to protect the base metal from the full brunt of the arc’s heat. This is not common practice but will yield very nice and clean welds.

In arc welding sheet metal, weld in a straight line as fast as possible while maintaining a good bead profile. In sheet metal welding, weaving or whipping the torch will not create a clean weld and will cause undue heat stress on the base metal.

The last technique to use for a great sheet metal weld is to use skip welding. This is a great technique not just for sheet metal welding but other welding jobs too. The idea here is to weld 1 inch at a time and skip ahead 5 inches along the complete length of the sheet metal welding job. This helps maintain even heat along the complete weld profile and will set you up for a very nice clean and smooth weld.

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What’s the Best Welder to learn with?

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Learning is fun – a useful philosophy in life. That is what I found out early on and what I have adopted throughout my life. I am happy and even proud to say that it has never ever failed me in whatever I have wanted to do. I’m not saying that things became easier, but it certainly became much more fun to do than it would have otherwise been. From the academic side of my studies, beginning in my grade school days to my college years when I was already deciding on what kind of career I would like to have eventually, learning has definitely been fun for me. And these days, whenever I decide to simply go out of my comfort zone and learn something new, I always have in mind that learning is, and should be fun.

The basic philosophy of how learning should always be fun has been very applicable in my latest foray into learning. That is about and having the skills that are necessary for me to become a capable welder. Yes, I don’t want to simply learn the basics of the process, but I would like to good at it, maybe not an expert but someone who will be capable of doing high quality work every time. I resolved to do that since welding is indeed a very practical skill to learn. If you do not have any plans of making it a career out of it, then you could definitely have a lit of fun doing home project, just little projects that you could do in your backyard or home shop.

Best Welder for Learning

Right before I could commence my study of welding however, I had to decide what process I would have to learn first. Welding has several different types of processes that have similarities and differences. I needed to learn the distinction, the advantages and disadvantages of each one before I learn a particular process. In short, I needed to do my research about the subject, which was exactly what I did.

There are three main types of welding techniques that I could choose from, these are: Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) or Manual Metal Arc (MMA) welding, or more commonly known as Stick welding; Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding; and Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding. In finding out the best welder to learn with, I found out that I would make the right choice by picking MIG welders. First off, it is the easiest welding process to learn. That alone is enough reason for any beginner to choose it, but it offers other advantages like being able to weld all common metals like aluminum, carbon steel, and stainless steel. Much faster welding speed than other welding methods is obtained through MIG welding. For example, compared to stick welding, MIG welding speed is up to four times faster. It is also much more efficient, with 50 lbs. of MIG welding wire yielding about 49 lbs. of deposited weld metal. Compare tat to the yield of the same amount of Stick electrode, which is only about 30 lbs. of deposited weld metal.

Categories: Types of Welding

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