A common use for TIG welding is joining thin sheet metal such as patch panels and other body repairs. Fabricator Ryan Krause of Crucible Coachworks is no stranger to the procedure. In addition to building a complete body from scratch on his Project Jigsaw, he routinely performs custom bodywork on his customers’ Porsches.
In this video, Ryan explains the challenges a first-timer might experience TIG welding thin sheet metal bodywork. Demonstrating how to replace a rear fender with a wide-body panel, he starts with setting up the cut. After cutting off the old panel, he preps the new one for welding. Using Eastwood’s TIG 200 AC/DC welder, he stitches the new panel in place. He then finishes by hammering where the welds have shrunken using body hammers before grinding the weld beads flat.
Ryan takes his time showing you every step of the metalworking process. Set aside a half hour to watch the video and bring a notepad if you need one. You won’t be disappointed.
Excellent! Thanks Ryan!
I’m repairing the floor of a unibody 1965 Corvair. It’s about the same gauge metal and I keep burning holes in it and leaving big drops of iron to grind away. And dipping the tungsten. Mostly what I’ve done is spent a lot of time converting welding rod into iron powder. What I learned
* clean it better
* use thinner rod
* lower current
* keep argon flowing after
* get better grinding tools
Also taught myself these lessons:
* it’s hard to weld from underneath
* it’s possible to get shocked through leather gloves
It will be helpful (for me and for Eastwood sales) if you add to the description a list of tools and material used, with click links
You had me at MIG!
So do you still tig weld a panel
If you cannot get a hammer and dolly behind the weld/panel?
Yeah, typos still happen. Good catch.
funny how the email headline says how to mig weld thin panels, but the video says how to TIG weld panels??