Welding Cracks In Sheet Metal

Crater cracks occur in the crater when the welding arc is terminated prematurely.

Welding cracks in sheet metal.

The truck is a 95 and has more than 200 k miles. The heat of the arc will burn off the zinc coating without problems. I used a piece of pvc pipe a vice mount miniature metal break and body hammer kit. These are generally the result of longitudinal shrinkage stresses acting on weld metal of low ductility.

The problem with concave welds is very similar to that with crater cracks. Transverse cracks are perpendicular to the direction of the weld. Forget the larger 1 8 inch tungsten electrode and use a smaller one. For sheet metal i use ine welding wire and it is just as good as their flux cored wire if you want you can grab one here.

Short bursts or tacks will help. The sheet metal floorboard of my truck has developed stress cracks where the seat bolts through the floor. After slicing the patches out with a cutoff wheel next came the bending hammer and dolly session until the patches matched the holes and fit snug and flush into the flanged seat. I then used the templates to trace out the patch panels on some sheet metal.

Crater cracks are normally shallow hot cracks usually forming single or star cracks. To weld sheet metal with solid wires use electrode positive ep or reverse polarity. Try going for a wire of 023 inches when welding sheet metal. I think the best procedure would be to repair the cracks by welding them.

However the resulting weld may present many issues such as excessive porosity unacceptable bead appearance lack of fusion cracks and excessive spatter. Don t attempt to weld thin materials like sheet metal with flux cored wires which put more heat into the base metal. In today s video we show you how to repair a crack in a metal tank using tech bond processes and products. If you found this video to be helpful check out.

It generally occurs immediately when welding aluminum where it s often called hot cracking and is slightly delayed in other materials after the metal cools to about room temperature. Tig welding sheet metal. Step 4 place the small block of wood on the outside of the repair and gently tap the inside of the repair with the hammer to close the hole in the metal.