Stitch Welding Sheet Metal

Projection welding is similar but it can weld thicker sheet metals.

Stitch welding sheet metal.

When welding a long bead on sheet metal you ll put excessive heat into the panel and run the risk of the puddle falling through the panel. The eastwood stitch welder attaches to any conventional a c unit arc stick welder permitting welding on sheet metal as thin as 22 gauge. A good heat setting for 1 8 6011 rods on thin material is about 80 90 amps. Spot welds are used to join sheet metal by using very fine opposing electrodes that fuse the sheets together.

A better technique is to move around the weld seam doing short quick stitch welds that you eventually connect all together. Tig welding sheet metal. Just grab a piece of sheet metal to get the heat set correctly and go to town. This consists of a short weld followed by a gap.

For example along a joint the pattern might be 2 of weld followed by 2 of gap repeating for the whole length being joined. Stitch welding intermittent welding may be used to limit the amount of heat transferred to a part because large amounts of heat can cause part distortion. For 3 32 7018 s it s about the same. Everyone is different but those settings will get you in the right ballpark to weld sheet metal.

To weld sheet metal with solid wires use electrode positive ep or reverse polarity. Welding thin sheet is another situation where excess heat is a problem. With stitch welding these negative effects can be limited. Don t attempt to weld thin materials like sheet metal with flux cored wires which put more heat into the base metal.

It also means less filler metal is used. High heat can also negatively impact a material s chemical and mechanical properties. This 2 part video explains demonstrates the basic techniques and tips for first time sheet metal welders. Forget the larger 1 8 inch tungsten electrode and use a smaller one.

This is typically done in huge production runs of manufactured items where sheet metal is the primary material. In this case the risk is of burning through and creating a hole in the material.