Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

Continuation of the practice welding.

The following pics in this post were not suppost to be posted because these were my initial tries using different ampere settings and two different welding rods but with the suggestion of JayL to also include them in the thread, it may also be useful in giving out some tips or hidden infos regarding the process in welding this thin sheet metals.

So here are the initial pics for practice and I have labeled them for easy identifications, hope it helps :

This plate was my initial practice sheet and have labelled them accordingly of the different ampere setting and the result can be clearly seen as I have opted to post the picture in a large format. The settings started from 120 amps down to 80 amps and one can see the actual outcome of the welds. 😮
By the way the welding rod that I used for this practice was a NIHONWELD E6013 special thin rod.

I made here several strips because I wanted again to try the 80 amp setting and see if the metal sheet can now take the setting strength but as you can see I still made some holes.
TH en proceeded in using the 70amps and 60 amps and the results were surprisingly good, no punch holes on the metal sheet though the weld beads were not yet satisfactory so I guess some more practice is needed. :thumbup:

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

Continuation of the practice welding :

In this post I have just flipped the same two sheet metals used for practice welding to show the burnt marks and full penetration of the welds. :laughbounce:

This is the first sheet metal.

And this is the sheet metal with 80 amps, 70 amps and 60 amps.

By the way I used two different welding rods here, a Nihonweld 6013 special thin rod and a Best Weld 3/32 thin rod, also considered a 6013 rod but for lower amperage setting. :dry:

Again to be continued:

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

Nice thread, Rosy.

I once saw a shop that manufacture cages for small pets (hamster, rabbits, toy dogs...). Their cages are really light and delicate but strong and stable. There is really nothing interesting about it. The only reason i visited that shop is i want to know how they weld those thin metals sheets and thin metal sticks without melting it.

Here is how they do it.
They are using an AC stick welder.
They are melting a thin BI wire with the stick welder and drip it to the spot where they are welding on.

stick welder on the right hand and BI stick on the left(grounded to welder). Melting these 2 sticks while dripping it to the work piece.

Its neat. You can also try it may come in handy on certain situation.

Good luck! you know, once you perfected this skill you can already do a sideline working on car bodies. hehe.. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

HI there ben Q,

Bro thanks for that info, I just love learning new skills, it really comes in handy.
So parang ginagawa nila ay OXY-ACETYLENE sort of welding but only using a stick welder, that's cool.

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

HI there ben Q,

Bro thanks for that info, I just love learning new skills, it really comes in handy.
So parang ginagawa nila ay OXY-ACETYLENE sort of welding but only using a stick welder, [COLOR="Red"]that's cool.

koya, thats not cool, thats really hot! nyahahaha

more more pics!!!

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

To continue with the stick welding exercise on thin sheet metal, I decided to try again practicing on the same thickness 0.98 of prepared scrap metal again color coded with yellow. I was not satisfied with the first practice so here it goes :

I prepared again a new set of some scrap metals still with thickness of again 0.98

The four scrap metals have been grouped and labelled A and B

A closer look at scrap metal plate A, on the first attempt to stick weld, punched a hole on the top of the scrap metal but the subsequent tries went out smoothly. Just have to steady my hands and anchor my elbow on top of a scrap I-BEAM on the welding table.

A closer look at scrap metal plate B, noticeable the bead welds are much better, I think I'm getting the proper hand pulse, steady hands, just wrist movement only.

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

Yes Bro ... looks like at B we're getting there ...

additional info I found

QuikStrike Welding rods 6013 1/16" for sheet metal

Did you know that you can get 1/16" stick welding rods that will let you weld thin sheet metal with a stick welder?its true.
1/16" is pretty small. The rods feel like tiny sparklers.
but they run good.
these little 6013 welding rods run good downhill because the puddle is so small.
Normally, a 6013 welding rod is too slaggy to run downhill...the slag runs ahead of the puddle and causes all kinds of problems.
Keep in mind, 1/16" 6013 rods make a puddle that is only about 1/8" wide.
So if you have some thin stuff to weld and dont have a light duty mig with .023" bare wire and gas shielding, your stick welder might just do the job as long as you have some tiny little 1/16" rods.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/metalworking-hand-tools.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JtNiOKrlEI

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

Continuation of the practice welding:

On this post, I will start with scrap metal sheet A. I have regrouped the tack weld beads in to three groups naman to produce a stich weld on the metal.

On this pic I filled up the three groupings of beads with weld beads to close the gap.

I dragged the welding rod above the weld beads to produce a stich.

I chipped off the slag and this is what appeared

After removing the slaggs, grinded it a little to form a some what long stich

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

Another continuation of the practice welding :

On this post, its gonna be the scrap metal sheet B, here the weld beads were grouped together in to two groups.

The same process was applied here , the first grouping of beads were filled up and then the second groupings too.

Then made a pass over the beads and then removed the slaggs, wire brushed, clean surface to expose the weld.

On this pic I am showing the finished and cleaned long welds of plate B.

Here it is, the last pic of plates A and B welded together by tacking.

I am glad that I am doing this because I am learning a lot from these exercises, joining thicker metal is much easier to do but with thin sheet metal, woooooooh takes lots of patience, determination and hand control plus learning and knowing the proper setting of the amperes.

My next exercise will be on a thinner metal sheet ( 0.95mm ) and some C-purlins ( 0.92mm ) and I'll be using my other welder, 200 AMPS locally assembled welder with amperage that can go down up to maybe 35 or 40 amps. To tell you the truth, I am enjoying this exercises, this will be great practice and preparation for MIG or TIG welding in the near future. This exercise/ practice welding is turning out to be surprisingly very fruitful.

My friend with NC 1 and NC 2 certificates from TESDA says what I am doing is such a great way to practice welding, starting on thin sheet metal which is really very hard and frustrating and then graduating to a much thicker metal, then to a real thick metal. The difference with a thicker metal naman is mastering the proper welds and proper penetration of the welds between the two metals being welded, no problems with punching holes on this metal, unlike in thinner metal sheets, for sure there is penetration and the problem here is controlling it and not to punch a hole or holes on the thin material.

Now my friend would ask me to teach him how to weld on thin sheet metal coz he has never welded on thin metal, its always thick metals sa TESDA training center and its true I guess when you are welding thin metals, ones hand should be somewhat light so to speak and weld application must be controlled.

Well I'll continue the exercise/practice in the coming days, see ya!!!

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

Thanks JayL for the additional infos on that very thin 6013 rod, sorry it took me 3 hours to post this pics,he he he he I would doze off from time to time sa sobrang antok in front of the monitor na I would sometimes jumble up the pics , nawawala sa sequence, so tedious jumping from photobucket and then posting on the thread and then back again, sometimes MY EYES WOULD JUST SHUT OFF, LOL

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

To continue my PIP ( Practice in Progress ) , I've decided to do more exercises on these thinner scrap sheet metals just to challenge myself, maybe pushing myself to the limits and finding out if welding in a thinner metal can be possible without punching a hole or two or more, who knows this could be a very good preparation for MIG or TIG welding in the future.

On these three images posted, I have gone from 0.98mm to a 0.95mm of sheet metals plus some small and large C-Purlins. Also made some strips of thin sheet metal where in I'll attempt to do several ways of tacking, stich welding , doing stringers, single and double pass welding and whatever yet possible in welding these metal strips. :biggrin:

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

On this PIP, I'll be using my old 250 amps locally assembled welder with amperage that can go down possibly to 30 or 40 amperes which is ideal for welding thin sheet metals. 😮 :rolleyes:

This is my old 250 amps welder, amperes setting are very much different from the new portable welders now in the market, but they do work just the same, only with this one e medyo sariling tantyahan. This welder has the ground bolts on the far extreme left side then followed by the SPOT, LOW, MEDIUM and HIGH settings only, no direct no. settings visible and like what I've said, e medyo sariling tantyahan.

This is a closer look of the settings and I have placed my setting to the lowest bolt which is SPOT, I personally do not know the exact amperage reading of this bolt but I think it is the lowest.

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

Let me start with the plate cut into triangles to have more cuts to be welded.

Well I did quite good in welding the metal by spot or tack welding and also some stich welding.
HE HE HE HE no holes punched !!!!!!

On these last two images are closer look at the spot or tack welds 1, 2, & 3 and the stich welds 3, 4, & 5.
Ooooppps so sorry again medyo malabo pala these last two pics.

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

And then a little taste of a C-Pulins for trial perhaps.

In this two images I tacked weld the sides of the C-Purlins.

Welded the top, so far so good, no punched holes, able to manipulate the waves of the rod.

Re: STICK WELDING on thin sheet metal

A continuation of my PIP ( Practice in Progress ).

HE HE HE HE, very good penetration on the underside of the C-Purlins. :p

This Practice in Progress is far from over, many more thin sheets to practice on.
OK got to go and do more practice welding and I'll be posting more later, bye.

THANKS for having the patience of viewing my PIPs. :thanks: