Welding Small Holes In Sheet Metal

When it comes to welding thin sheet metal like car body panels if you are not experienced and skilled enough then you can easily create a mess as blow holes in the sheet and make the metal useless.

Welding small holes in sheet metal.

The most permanent repair to a hole in sheet metal is to weld the hole shut. Holes larger than 1 4 need to be filled with metal. In this video matt goes over how to fill holes in sheet metal using a mig welder and a tig welder. In this article we are taking a look at how people should go about welding sheet meta l what kind of wire and shielding gas need to be used.

Mig welding sheet metal. This may be due to burning through the thin sheet metal welding molding holes fabrication or other reasons needed. Small wire diameter will let you have flexibility if you mess up anything. A small magnet will help keep the filler metal in place while you weld.

Small wires also provide more control over the weld bead and a better chance of recovering from mistakes due to lower deposition rates. I used a piece of pvc pipe a vice mount miniature metal break and body hammer kit. The complexity of welding increases as the thickness of the material decreases. It will inflict less damage on the metal as well.

Weld thru coating many welding operation leave a section of the weld hidden. Never go for a thinner base metal for the auto body sheet welding to get the best result out of it. Fresh welds are more susceptible to rust and oxidation than just plain steel they need to be protected. Always use the smallest wire diameter possible since smaller wires take less heat to melt and heat the metal less.

As a rule of thumb don t use a filler metal thicker than the base. The welding process actually adds new steel to the thin steel and can result in a repaired spot that is stronger than the original metal. In this video matt goes over how to fill holes in a fender using a mig welder and a tig welder. I then used the templates to trace out the patch panels on some sheet metal.

Regardless of the reason you will have holes that need welded shut. Any kind of welder can be used but the best. After slicing the patches out with a cutoff wheel next came the bending hammer and dolly session until the patches matched the holes and fit snug and flush into the flanged seat.