panels and seam welding with a tig

[Tim.duncan]

hey guys

iv never donw any panel work before but i kinda get the idea
i need to cut some rust out and weld in a new part of a panel.

is this posiible with a tig welder instead of mig?
its the only type of welder i have that is all

im hoping if im extra carefull on the prep and have no gaps that it wont be to difficult

also could you seam weld a car using tig?

cheers

[ke_70]

will take a longggggg time to tig seam weld the car.

will look heaps neater though.
slightly stronger mabey?

[Skylar]

If your tig has a pulse function, it'd be super nice compared to straight DC. Puts less heat into the metal but you still get a good weld. I'd still want to put a heatsink behind the metal and tack it in a few spots then seam sealer/3m panelbond the rest or keep doing little tacks until you complete the weld if you're keen on making it solid.

No reason you can't tig the chassis. It's just that the mig is a lot simpler to use and less time consuming.

[n2866]

tig will have a sink back when you weld the two pannels together i guess doesnt matter just take a while and would put alot of heat into the car and may warp it...hence the heat sink

[Tim.duncan]

ok cheers guys, so its doable just with more care and time

its an ac dc welder but i think the pulse fuction is only for the non ferrous welding? i could be wrong... might have to have a play

[n2866]

should matter should it? material is just the filler rod?

[Tim.duncan]

iv only ever used the pulse when in ac welding ali, ill have to have a crack in dc and see what happens

[Dish]

DC setting will be fine for seam welding. Keeps amps relatively low (30-40 odd) and try and stay away from simply fusing it. This what I was planning on doing to mine. Mild steel always fucks tungstens fairly quickly so keep it nice and sharp for neat runs.

Try and get a good flick technique to flick off any molten steel sitting on the tungsten too. Otherwise you'll find yourself sharpening it every 2 welds.

Edit (Don't use pulse settings, it's cheating!)

[Skylar]

I think you're getting ac confused with pulse. Pulse is always dcen but the current is switched between the high and low settings for the amount of time set. Ac is when the electrode cycles from dcen to dcep and back. Ac is used for non-ferrous whereas steels can be welded
on dc. Pulse just decreases the amount of heat going into the metal and yeah, it's cheating. You don't need it but it makes welding thin stuff a lot easier.

[cri_ag]

tig is rubbish for car panels, to much heat in a concentrated area. to slow. maybe for seam welding, but i think a mig would be beter

[MAGIC MAN]

no need to use pulse unit on dc welding, i've used a tig for seam welding, the only drama i had was making sure the metal was clean, really need to have an acid dipped shell so the metal is super clean, i've welded heaps of panels using one though, for that i prefer it, you can buy heat sink paste from welding suppliers to help minimise the panel warping.

[Tim.duncan]

cheers for all the imput guys very usefull! now to go weld