Welded Sheet Metal Gap Filler

As a rule when mig welding sheet metal never use a body filler metal that is thicker than the base metal.

Welded sheet metal gap filler.

Tack weld in place. To prevent burn through and warping don t whip or weave the torch. The quickest way to evaluate the best choice for your welding process. While replacing body panels overheating and warping thin sheet metal is common.

Place the welding tip wire at the gap and tack weld several small spots spacing them evenly apart. Then tack between the two previous tacks. Tack in a few places apart from each other and wait until the panel is cool to the touch. Avoid warping the sheet metal.

Mig wire doesn t. It is recommended that a welder should use 023 or 024 inch wire for light gauge sheet metal work. It doesn t matter as much it it s a bit smaller because if there s a very small gap this can be filled with filler metal. Th sheet thickness mm steel density.

Sheet thickness mm steel density seam length m d1 groove. A 5356 filler metal also works for 5052 materials specifically. Filler metals for either of these would be 4043 or 4943. Techniques for welding sheet metal.

The second is to do a root pass to fill the bottom of the gap and using stringer beads to fill the gap. Calculate the wire metal consumption. There are 2 basic methods to mig welding large gaps the first is to use filler metal to help cover the gap that is cut to size to fill the gap and help make the weld a smoother process. So you won t have much forgiveness if you try to pile weld in the hole and you can end up with a bigger hole than you started with.

Seam length m g root gap mm c cap mm p penetration mm o overlap mm r. Caron first addresses why you should avoid g. Make the replacement metal is not larger than the original metal or it will not fit. Tack welding is the best way to hold the metal in place before you fully weld it to the original metal.

Sheet metal on the body of cars and trucks is pretty thin usually 18 22 gauge.