stupid tech

Decided I would tell how I made my own spoon for welding up trim holes and such. The other night I was needing something to put on the back side of a hole I was welding up on my 54, I couldn't find anywhere in town that carried any sheet type copper to make a spoon out of so while I was digging around in some***** I had I found a length of copper 3/8ths tubing so I decided to try and use that. I cut a piece about 8 inches long then took a ballpeen hammer and smashed one end of it flat for about 4 inches so that it would***** right up against the hole I was welding up. It worked great when I welded up the hole so I made another one the same way except this time I used a hack saw and made a cut about 4 inches down on my 8 inch piece of tubing about half way through then took some tin snips and split the tubing down to the notch I cut. Next I used a flat head screwdriver to bend the tubing out enough so I could smash it flat and have a wider spoon for bigger holes.

If I can I will take some pics later of what they looked like because they worked great. I know its kinda stupid but it was all I could come up with to weld the hole up. Maybe this could help someone out sometime.

 

For smaller holes you can jest use a nail, it has its on little handle. Jest put the nail head up to the hole weld it in and then grind of the naile shaft ( courtisy of Duke Massey) Pretty kool kustomd.

 

I use like a 1/2" copper pipe, about a foot or so long and one of those little slip on copper 90 degree bends for filling holes. The round part of the elbow fits perfect in the back side of any hole.
I've also used aluminum plate for larger holes. I filled one that had about a 1.5- 2" diameter the other day with a flat piece of aluminum wedged onto the back side and just welded over the aluminum. Then you just rip the aluminum off when you are done.

 

I'll second the 90* bend on one end, it works real nice. I have a piece that is flatened about 4" on one end and about 2" on the other end. The 2" is bent to about a 60* angle and the 4" is about a 25* angle, which make it good for gettin into tight areas or pipe.
-Jesse