wifesaysimadumbass

alright i'm a noobie to this whole welding thing and have never welded sheetmetal any tips or tricks would be great. i'm making a set of half doors for my 85 thanks in advance

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Practice. Practice. Practice on something the same thickness as the door metal and get where you can do it with relative flawlessness before you go and try welding on your doors.

Some classes at a local junior college might help you get the basics (this is what I did many years ago) as welding on thin metal leaves less room for error than on the thicker stuff.

Mess up practicing, not on the doors!

kyle_22r

low heat and go fast!!!

RobT2k

Yeah, classes are definitely where it's at. I'm in one right now, and it's fun to just screw around with all their equipment and endless supply of steel of all thickness'. I haven't even given thin metal a try, but I'll check it out next week while I'm there.
I figure by the time I'm ready to do my own welding/SAS I'll be ready to buy a newer/IFS first gen. Then it's all about keeping up with the dumbasses!

Napoleon047

if you feel like winging it rather than practicing (not recommended) then tack weld every few inches, and then tack weld halfway between the tack welds and keep doing that untill the whole thing is welded. this will keep the metal from getting too hot and warping.

wifesaysimadumbass

alright i suck i practiced a little and said good enough so i proceeded to burn alot of holes in it i'm definately going to have to work on it some more

crawler#976

that's it in a nutshell. I've also used a 1/4" overlap and tack welds, then ground it smooth and used body putty to smooth the transition...

wifesaysimadumbass

alright i kind of figured it out. it's amazing when you clear your head and use your logic things actually work. short bursts and the lowest setting on my welder worked much better. when i held it there and tryed to weld the length of a seam i just burned through. short almost tack welds strung together worked best. i just let it get hot enough then stop and wait two seconds and go again. i'm sure all you pro welders would laugh youre arse off at me but hey i dont care to admit that i suck at some things...... thanks for the help you guys rule

SloPoke

What are you welding with? Stick? Mig?? Can't offer much suggestion for stick but if your mig'n it, use thinnest solid wire you can (.23?) and use an Argon mixture gas supply.

Either way, Napoleon's suggestion of a bunch of tack welds is pretty much the way to do it.

Crawler's suggestion of the over lap is also a good one.

Another option along the lines of the overlap is....you can also tack a backing plate to it so your not butt welding the seams. Kinda like this...

(alot of tacks!)

When it's done this way (or the overlap), it yields a much stronger weld. That may be more trouble than it's worth for a set of half doors though.

Probably the best and easiest thing/trick for you to try to keep ya from burning through so easily is a thick brass block behind the welding spot. The brass lets the weld puddle up and keeps it from burning through. Works really nice. I've always used brass but heard a chunk of aluminium works good to.

Happy !!