How To Tig Welding Sheet Metal
This is especially useful for carbon steel.
How to tig welding sheet metal. When it comes to welding sheet metal delta techops treats most applications except aluminum as it would titanium. Lens crafter always use a tig torch with a gas lens. He uses a small piece of copper sheet for backing. Ditch a 1 8 inch tungsten electrode for something much smaller like 1 16 inch tungsten.
Because it will have you a lot more control over the whole process and it is more forgiving in case you do anything wrong. This means that 1 amp should be used per 1 thousandth 0 001 inch of thickness. Tig welding sheet metal forget the larger 1 8 inch tungsten electrode and use a smaller one. It should also improve bead appearance.
For welding sheet metal in aerospace applications 15 cup or larger is required. Don t attempt to weld thin materials like sheet metal with flux cored wires which put more heat into the base metal. Sheet metal tig welding tips 1 for 1 rule. I have a hobart 135 with 023 wire that works perfectly on 22 gauge body panels.
A large cup gives better gas coverage of the weld puddle and heat affected zone which reduces total heat input and improving bead quality. Personally i hate to weld with low frequency pulsing like this. The easiest type of weld is the fillet two metals jointed at right angles. The next is the lap weld which is two metals resting flat against each other.
Tig welding takes allot of practice to master so don t get discouraged. You can count the pulses and its exactly 3pps or 3 pulses per second. Vise grip type sheet metal clamps are used to hold everything together and pulse tig is used to weld. Getting the knack of tig welding is mostly in getting the weld pool to form at the same time on both pieces of metal.
The mig welder also gives you a free hand to hold the heat sink with. The best two electrodes for welding auto body sheet metal is either ceriated tungsten or thoriated tungsten. The best way to estimate the heat input needed for welding is by applying the 1 for 1 rule. Titanium always requires shielding the backside of the weld to prevent oxidation.