how do I go about this?

[hit_em]

I've never welded thin metal before and am wondering the best way to approach this. I have an old car that I'm going to weld some replacement panels on and dont really know what I'm doing when it comes to thin stuff. I was told to just drill some holes along the edge of the new panel put them in place and tack them in there then fill the visable edge with puddy and you will never know. Is this the way I should do it or is there another and better way to go about this? any information will be greatly appriciated.

[MAC702]

You don't even tell us what equipment you have at your disposal.

[hit_em]

sorry, I have a Miller 251 using argoshield.

[lowestcerberus]

I try to butt weld the panels. I prefer a .024 wire with c25.

[MAC702]

Use .023" solid wire and a C-25 shielding gas for best results. ESAB also makes a wire called EasyGrind designed for this, also.

Use a series of spot welds, basically manually pulsing the trigger to kep the heat input down while making short beads in many locations until finished. this minimizes blowing through.

Also, use some copper "spoons" behind the weld to absorb heat and contain the blow-throughs. The molten steel won't stick to it. You can make some with some copper pipe hammered flat, if you have to.

When welded, grind to almost flush, and then use a fine flap-disk, two passes at right angles to each other, and you'll have a mirror finish when done.

[Winger Ed.]

What I've done in the past to get a good fit for the replacement panels is to zip a few screws into the new panel on the area it's going, then cut the panel out with a saw. It'll be a perfect fit.

Then to keep the new panel from falling through before you weld it, sheet metal screw a little piece of scrap on the inside of what you're patching over every few inches.

You'll end up with a few little holes around the edges of your weld when your done, but they weld up in a second or two.

The last thing I did that way was both rear corners of a 70 Chevy truck cab that had rotted out. It worked so well I only needed about 2-3 tablespoons of bondo for the whole back end of the cab.


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