However if you do want to get a high quality weld on sheet metal it is better to have a 15 cup or even larger.
How do you mig weld sheet metal.
If you re repairing an old car then you ll almost certainly need to weld rusted sheet metal at some point.
Tig welding sheet metal.
Larger cups offer better shielding gas coverage over the weld pool as well as for the zone which is affected by heat.
Auto body sheet metal welding with different welders.
If you are burning through the metal you re not moving the torch fast enough and or your welder is set too high.
Holding the tip too far from the surface will cause the wire to have to come out too far to touch the metal.
Rusted body panels need to be repaired.
The main reason to use a smaller diameter wire is that it takes less heat for melting and hence the metal around the weld is not heated to a very great extent.
Problems with welding sheet metal.
The metal while you can pretty much just take a mig welder squeeze the trigger and and touch it to your work piece to weld you won t get a great result.
Keep the stick out short stickout of your mig wire is important when welding any type of metal but especially sheet metal.
Don t attempt to weld thin materials like sheet metal with flux cored wires which put more heat into the base metal.
Move the torch faster and or reduce the amp setting of the welder and the lower the wire speed.
If you want the weld to be strong and clean taking 5 minutes to clean your metal and grind down any edges that are being joined will really help your weld.
Forget the larger 1 8 inch tungsten electrode and use a smaller one.
Using a thinner wire 0 30 instead of 0 35 will also help.
For mig welding sheet metal it is often recommended to use an electrode wire of the smallest diameter to prevent burn through and warping.
For thinner gauge sheet metal like 18 or 20 gauge we suggest 023 6mm wire in your mig welder.
To weld sheet metal with solid wires use electrode positive ep or reverse polarity.