Anyone ever done any Mig welding working with sheetmetal? Is it worth it or would I profit more in the end investing in a TIG?
May I recommend the Metal Meet forum? They're professionals over there. Here's a thread about welding thin sheet metal. Starting at the top of page 2 of the thread there's a nice little tutorial. (Note: Some forums don't display in line pix unless you're registered. I'm registered at Metal Meet so I don't know whether the pix will show up if you're not registered.) Anyway, look here: http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=798 Cheers -- Gary
Hey, huh? .023 wire on your machine's lowest setting. Adjust wire and heat settings depending on what gage you're trying to weld. Don't waste your time with flux core and thicker wire, unless you're into ugly welds. Swankey devils C.C.
Absolutely you can mig weld sheetmetal very nicely. Just dont expect to hold the trigger open and buzz along without ruining your project. You have to do it in VERY short bursts. Give it a quick 1-2 second zap, move a tiny bit further down, watch the weld puddle and just as it starts to cool hit it with another short burst, so on and so on. Also... move around alot. Don't just keep working the same spot. Let that area cool and then go back and add a little more. It takes patience and practice, but you can butt weld thin sheetmetal with very little warp once you get it down. Then the next step is to learn just when and where to hammer and dolly - while you weld - to prevent any warp.
Ya man, I MIG all my sheetmetal with .025 wire. I'd love to TIG em but I can;t afford a machine, and all I would do is shock myself.
IMO you had better have a lot of sheetmetal to weld if you invest in a tig machine for just that purpose. Although a tig has many other uses. I would consider a oxy/acc. for occasional use on sheetmetal and a lot of practice. You get a softer weld that's more workable where mig is very hard and requires a lot of grinding. Almost impossible to hammer weld with mig. Frank
Thanks very much you guys. That's alot of good information there. I think I'll just stick to my Mig then and try and learn to just deal with the Hammer and Dolly burst process
For the beginner, Esab's EZ-Grind wire works pretty well....easier to grind (DOH! )...although some guys don't like it much, for various reasons. Might be worth seeking it out & seeing if it makes life easier at first. Another option, anyway.
Homespun91 says "For the beginner, Esab's EZ-Grind wire works pretty well....easier to grind (DOH! )...although some guys don't like it much, for various reasons. Might be worth seeking it out & seeing if it makes life easier at first. Another option, anyway." The ONLY place that I could find that wire was Welding Supply Inc. 1161 McCabe Elk Grove Village,Illinois 60007 1-847-290-1070 It was worth the trip via internet. No association with that biz-Just tryin to save you some time as it was a bitch to find in single 10 pound rolls. The local supplier wanted me to buy 40 pounds. Oldmics
If you're a relative newbie to welding (and welding light gauge sheetmetal in particular) then Tigging honestly takes some time to get onto. Which is not to say that Migging is easy. But Migging using a tack and smack method can yield good results if you have the patience to work slow and methodical.
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