How To Prep Metal Sheet For Welding

Essential tips on how to weld auto body sheet metal take it slow when welding auto body sheet metal.

How to prep metal sheet for welding.

A good rule of thumb to remember when preparing a surface for welding is slower is often faster using slow speeds to control friction helps to reduce surface and weld area contamination. Joint preparation is a more technical term used in the welding industry to describe how you prepare metal for welding. Inherently mig welding steel does not need the metal to be perfectly clean. How to prep panels to achieve the perfect butt weld using eastwood s perfect panel prep tool.

The following easy to follow tips will help prepare metals for either type of welding. Also it will ensure that you don t get any warping of the materials you are working on and no burn through as well. Proper technique will come with practice and experience. See when you weld something you are usually welding two pieces of metal together to form a joint.

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 along with some tips and tricks. Use a wire brush to remove thick impurities. High surface contact speeds can generate excess vibration causing the abrasive material or brush tips to skip over surfaces allowing impurities to remain. Here s a few tips on repairing rust holes in car body panels.

In mig welding the metal sheets are not completely cleaned. Once the metal is clean you can start with joint preparation. On the other extreme tig welding aluminum requires contaminant free metal to create a strong clean weld. If you are welding thicker metal the edges of the joint should be beveled.

Sheet metal welding techniques. If you are welding material that is 3 16 inch or less you don t have to do much prep. In order to weld sheet metal or patch panel you have to follow certain rules and use specific techniques. When you are new to the whole process of welding auto body sheet metals it is preferable to go a bit more slowly than you can handle.

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. To start the type of welding you are doing will determine how you prep the metal. In this video im showing you the process i use to do small rust repairs where a complete panel.