Tig Welding Sheet Metal Without Warping

The best two electrodes for welding auto body sheet metal is either ceriated tungsten or thoriated tungsten.

Tig welding sheet metal without warping.

Another alternative is to surround the area you re welding with an anti heat compound that will block the heat from spreading to the rest of the panel and potentially reduce warping in the panel. Weld along the neutral axis. This is especially helpful if you re welding in an area that is very critical and could lead to oil canning. Correctly sizing a weld not only minimizes distortion but also saves weld metal and time.

Limit the number of passes. The bigger the weld the greater the shrinkage. When welding thin metal the main objective is to avoid warping burn through and excessive heat affected zones while still ensuring the weld has enough mechanical strength for the application. Fix problems before they permanently set.

The fact is that no matter how good or careful you are metal will warp when you re welding on sheet metal. Use intermittent welds instead of continuous welds where possible to minimize the amount of weld metal. We ve heard all of the tricks in the book but none of them completely stop the warping. Here s a list of tips that help reduce warpage in sheet metal fabricaitons.

Learn why mig pulsed mig tig and pulsed tig are the ideal choices when welding sheet metal. Design and welding should be addressed to minimize this sort of warping. Intermittent rather than continuous welds help as does minimizing the amount of filler metal used. So here are 11 ways to prevent sheet metal from warping in tig welding.

Short circuit transfer mig short arc tig and pulsed tig welding processes provide the most control over the heat to address these challenges. Ditch a 1 8 inch tungsten electrode for something much smaller like 1 16 inch tungsten. Though weld shrinkage cannot be prevented it can be controlled by following these steps. Use clamps to control expansion.

Minimize the amount of heat put into the weld. Move around on your project. Tig welding tips questions equipment applications instructions techniques tig welding machines troubleshooting tig welding process 12 posts page 1 of 1 settings for thin sheet metal.