The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Anybody try tigging body panels?

Just curious...I'm set up with a lincoln "tombstone" CC power supply, 150A weldcraft torch, and a miller HF-15-WG high frequency box. I really need to master migging together body panels (and learning to finish out bodywork) before I get started into tig, but I'm curious if anybody here has tried tigging together body panels before, and how it turned out (pics if at all possible)

Hey Kris, I've watched many times and the best advice is small little stitches, tacks even. Many of them until it is all welded up. It's beautiful when done but extremely hot as it warps panels real fast keep the panel cool, other than that I know nothing.

Kris,tig welding is NOT the way to install patch panels.The amount of heat (even with a chill bar)would cause to much warpage and a lot of extra work to straighten out the panel(s).I have been tig welding professionally for over thirty years (yikeeeees) and I can tell you this from experiance. Tig welding is a superior weld on critical areas But it is not needed on body panels, besides it is a much slower process. When you start learning this process you will see what I mean.
Good luck and happy arc striking!!!

Steve, tell us more about tig welding... i've been previously misinformed! I used to think that tig welding made less heat, but i guess i was wrong. So, why do the hot-shot bike builders like Jesse James, Orange County Choppers, and others use a tig for fenders, tanks, etc..? What is tig best used for? Best for aluminum, right? Anyhow, I'm just curious about welding- just recently I became certified in stick welding. I'd like to take more classes, one of them about tig, but the only reason I did the stick class was for work.... and they paid for it

Hi guys,I'm not a certified welder but been doing it for a while to say all you need is a desent mig welder.Heat is the killer that will warp the panels.To keep the heat low you can use a smaller diameter mig wire like .028 .I think standard is .035 I also prefer have gas for sheilding than flux coated wire.Another piont also is to make sure panels are kept together tightly.Use clamps or if unabel then use small sheetmetal screws and remove and fill holes later.I also use to braze panels on!! Anybody that old here? Or waht about doing lead?? Hope this may help.
stefanP

I do lead and it,s not for attaching panels just for filling around stress areas such as around door handles and such...doc

From what i understand is that the tig welds are softer than the mig which makes them easier to hammer and dolly straight.

Are you are installing your patch panels with butt welds, so it is like new when done (like it should be)?
I recommend TIG welding for that. No more than about 1/2" at a time, immediately use hammer and dolly to smooth the surrounding area and use the heat of the weld to help you heat shrink as necessary.
I have not tried MIG welding for the same operation, the guy I am learning from says that it can put to much heat in the panel. It is also often an uglier weld and requires more grinding. Yes a TIG weld is softer and easier to work than a MIG weld.

I am not a professional, and I have only been TIG welding for a few months but almost everyday at work. I am getting excellent results with TIG welding body panels, and I would not try to MIG them unless that is all I had to weld with.
Grigg

I have been involved in sheet metal fabrication
and welding my whole adult life (18 yrs) and
would agree with the other "pro-tig" opinions.
It is a much smaller precision weld that requires much less filler rod/wire than mig.
Warping can be easily controlled/corrected by skipping around and immediately hammer and dollying the area. Pretty much the same technique used in gas (oxy/acy) welding, which some old timers will say is superior to tig.
(which I would agree with)
Tight fit-up is critical...butt joints only, no laps. Excessive grinding on mig welds can also
cause work hardening or brittleness of the metal. Not to say you can't do a respectable job with mig, it's just that tig (or oxy) are superior and it is possible to have seams that need very little or no body filler. That's why the big boys use it.

In the oxy/acy welding on panels, what type metal is used for filler?

A mild steel filler rod like ER70S6 is
recommended for automotive and general
steel welding with oxy/acy.

Thanks Ghostrider

Here is something interesting relative to using a mig welder for body panels: http://www.autorestorer.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=111&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 I think I'm going to give this a try.