That heat spreads out making the metal expand.
How to tig weld sheet metal without warping dvd.
Mattm warped metal when welding is a constant struggle we all deal with regardless of thickness of the material.
When mig welding sheet metal it is important to set the proper parameters to prevent warping and burn through or else it will create excess heat and easily blowholes on the metal.
If you re welding thinner materials like automotive sheet metal it is more critical that you keep the heat to a minimum when welding.
Then as the bead cools and solidifies it contracts but by this time the metal pieces are fused together.
I had to tig long seams in sheet metal quite a few times making my muller flasks furnace parts etc.
Top ways to keep metal from warping when welding.
Yes it is challenging.
The best two electrodes for welding auto body sheet metal is either ceriated tungsten or thoriated tungsten.
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.
The weld wants to shrink as it cools to room temperature but is restrained from doing so by the adjacent cold base metal.
Keep in mind during the welding process it is important to direct the arc right at the center of the weld puddle and don t do movements like whipping or weaving as it may cause warping and burn through quickly.
To prevent warping it is important to get the the pieces clamped into position and make many many tacks.
This restraint creates high residual tensile stress that causes the weld to act like a stretched rubber band with the workpiece holding the ends figure 1 for this reason when the clamps that hold the workpiece are removed the base metal is allowed to move or spring.
Tack welds stitch welds then.
In this video i did a bunch of weld tests on sheet metal to see how much it would warp by the different styles of mig welding.
October 4 2019 by.
The more metal inserted into a joint the more susceptible it is to distortion.
Arc welding mig and tig entails fusing a filler metal with the materials being joined.
How to weld auto body sheet metal with a tig welder.
Ditch a 1 8 inch tungsten electrode for something much smaller like 1 16 inch tungsten.
Tig welding is preferred where practical because it is neater and cleaner than mig welding which introduces new material into the weld joint.
I did use some sort of backup at the seams to prevent burn through but did not expect that to control warping.