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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.

Finding out What Kind of Welder do I Need for Steel?

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Acquisition of more skills and expansion of knowledge makes for a better individual. That is an acceptable idea if how a person can improve himself and make himself better and well rounded. And I think everyone would agree that to improve one’s skills and character should be one of the aims that everyone must have in this life. Most would probably even agree that it should be the norm, and that no one should really be contented with what he has or knows. So it is of no surprise that people are always pursuing to add to their knowledge or to the skills that they possess. There shouldn’t be any surprise to that, and people who aren’t so keen about it should start changing their minds.

I decided that I would do just that and add to the skills that I already posses. The kind of skill that I decided to learn was more on the practical side since I was inclined to do a lot of work around our home. This is both for recreational purposes and also for more serious stuff, like actual repairs of things that need to be mended. For that reason I chose welding, which is in many ways very exciting for me. Choosing it is something of a surprise, even to those who have known me for a long time. They would say that they thought that I did not have the patience or even the slightest inclination to do it. If it was a few years back, they would probably be right, but I have changed a bit since then. My views about the things that I should learn and add to my skill set have also evolved somewhat.

Looking for the Right Welder

It is very common for beginners in welding to ask around or research about the best welders that they can use. As I am still in the learning process, I am interested in knowing as much as I can about the different welding processes there is, although I obviously cannot hope to be adept at all of it in just a short amount of time, for that is just impossible at this point. I’m specifically wondering what kind of welder do I need for steel, since that’s the kind of material that I would like to use first, and then probably aluminum as well. But that would only have to come after I have gained a fair amount of knowledge about properly welding steel, stainless steel.

From what I gathered from my research, it has become clear to me that either a Metal Inert Gas (MIG) Welder or a Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welder would be just perfect for my needs. Since I am still a beginner, and also for the benefit of all other beginners, it seems that the best option for me would be to use a MIG welder rather than a TIG or any other type of welder. It would also be best for beginners to only go for well known welder brands, and I figured it is just as well since I would at least be getting the best possible quality.