WELDING question ? WARPING METAL ? how ? when ? why ?

[rav440]

ive been reading and hearing horror stories about welding and warping metal . since im welding the pieces on my firewall of the road runner . i just have to ask . what is the major problem welding ? alot of my friend told me to yse that new 3M adhisive stuff but i just dont like the idea of glueing metal maybe on a new car ifs fine but i want metal to metal on my road runner . if there was damage then the damage is done already . the pieces we welded on the runner were small 4" X 4" but they were tacked on jumping back and forth not a continuos weld .

sodoes the metal really warp that much or is this something that is more to woriy about when welding on a 1/4 pannel or body patch ?

[tan top]

it only warps if you get the metal too hot ,  even grinding , DA ing large flat panel can build up enough heat to warp it !  
  don't do continus beads of welds in one hit ,  for sheet metal do a tack then do another six  inches away , & so on  then when the first one has cooled do another over lapping it , stich welding then back to the second tack weld  

[Todd Wilson]

it only warps if you get the metal too hot ,  even grinding , DA ing large flat panel can build up enough heat to warp it !  
  don't do continus beads of welds in one hit ,  for sheet metal do a tack then do another six  inches away , & so on  then when the first one has cooled do another over lapping it , stich welding then back to the second tack weld  

Yup! It could literally take an hour to weld up something that would normally take like 30 seconds.   Hot and cold ,expand and contract. The sheet metal does this in a hurry. It expands as its warming up and you get the weld all done and then it cools and contracts. The sheet metal will then warp on you a little bit trying to contract back down to its original size. I have heard of people keeping an air hose right there and blowing some air on stuff to cool it down.


Todd

[Mr.Woolery]

An old neighbor of mine who restores/welds his own cars with gas torches told me that you can control the heat by doing the stitch welding method, and as soon as heat is removed cool it down with a damp rag or sponge.

[lisiecki1]

An old neighbor of mine who restores/welds his own cars with gas torches told me that you can control the heat by doing the stitch welding method, and as soon as heat is removed cool it down with a damp rag or sponge.

this is the method i was taught using a mig.  keep a 5 gallon bucket of water and a couple of red shop rags in it and cool the weld as soon as you're done.

[westcoastdodge]

wet rag and plenty of water,i also learned the hard way

[tan top]

An old neighbor of mine who restores/welds his own cars with gas torches told me that you can control the heat by doing the stitch welding method, and as soon as heat is removed cool it down with a damp rag or sponge.

this is the method i was taught using a mig.  keep a 5 gallon bucket of water and a couple of red shop rags in it and cool the weld as soon as you're done.

yep     still can build up heat on a large panel , if you not careful

[rav440]

i have my friends lincoln mig welder . what setting should i use ? D 2 ? 

[elitecustombody]

I use compressed air with blow gun after each spotweld,works well for me, I'd stay away from water and rags, unless you like that mess and some rust down the road