Tips On How To Mig Weld Thin Metal Auto Body Panels

[@stephencrossingham6788]

Thank you so much. The best advice I have heard on welding car bodies! I put your advice into practice today and, what a difference. Solid, neat welds with good penetration and, never blew a single hole! It has given me so much confidence to press on with my project. Thanks again. 👍

[@Urchfab]

No problem Buddy, happy to help.

[@My911]

Hi, this is good to hear. Which Amp setting did you use?

[@SolarTara]

I started welding on my car this year. I had watched a ton of video, and basically it all boiled down to using the lower settings to get my welds, but so many preached tack / stitch welding. Well instinctively as I got on with the car, I started turning up the settings because I noticed it wasn't giving good penetration at all.. Finally, a video that puts it into perspective and confirms what I was doing. Thank you for this! I wish more people mention this

[@ernied3123]

I’m a beginner and I’ve watched a lot of videos but I just learnt the most from yours in a fraction of the time I wasted on the others. Thanks so much.

[@timcoppinger3373]

Man that was an interesting demonstration, I especially liked the use of aluminium behind anything with gaps, great video.

[@povilaslondon]

good luck if you can't put anything behind...this only works in perfect world where you have access from all angles

[@chrisadkin726]

No wonder there has been a high demand for your welding classes! Love your channel.

[@Sustainavore]

This is incredibly useful. I am brand new to welding and am planning to make my own flares for my sprinter van, and this answered a lot of my questions.

[@mikefrost7516]

I needed this advice about 3 months ago. Would have stopped me warping the crap out of the side of my van when I repaired. Great tips. Cheers Matt!

[@royster3345]

Brilliant tip, I'm fresh out of a welding course and was playing with thin metal a lot to see what the paremeters were. Heat and blow through being the issues, but some great tips on more is better. Thanks.

[@Grumpy-sy7wr]

Thank you so much. I've been trying ways to get my welds to run much cooler, because of the mentioned hole blowing, only to end up with big lumpy welds. Never occurred to me to crank it up a bit as you just showed. I shall give it a try tomorrow. Lots of rust patches to weld in.

[@Themrjakecollins]

Where was this 2 years ago!! This video sorted out my sheet metal welds. Solid advice.

[@reverseuniverse2559]

This has been the most helpful mig panel vid I’ve watched and I’ve learnt valuable lessons here in 7 minutes over other vids Cheers for the help mate ☕️👍

[@Jim-fe2xz]

That's some very good tips all around but especially on grinding. I caused more warpage grinding than welding before I figured it out! Thank you for the great tips!

[@davecoate9995]

Thank you Australia here, love your work!

[@davec200i]

Thanks Matt. Been watching your videos for ages, only recently got a welder and this has come at a good time!

[@jtp682]

great video. I do have a question that nobody seems to be able to answer. After you weld in the new panels how do you protect the patch backside of the weld from rusting?

[@888johnmac]

good tips .. glad to see Stewart keeping an eye on Matt

[@Maverick0687]

I agree 100% with what he’s saying. Done it myself this week on my Miata “resto-mod” project. Turn the voltage up a bit. Short bursts. Less heat overall, less warping, better penetration. The suggested settings are more than likely if you want to run a continuous bead so keep that in mind. This technique that we’re using by increasing the voltage is for better results when stitch welding only. If you try to run a bead you will blow through. I’ve done that too.

[@atthesummitMTBskills]

Just made the base for my king and queen seat and having the temp high really help stitch it together easily without warping. Be dry much a beginner welder but learning slowly. Good tips!

[@matthewjones3328]

Well amazed!I've just tried this and wow how much better is my welds . Thank u

[@michaelg492]

I really needed this. Today I tried welding up a sill on my car using the recommended settings and all I got was too much buildup and not much penetration. I'll try again with this knowledge and hopefully with better results

[@jeremiah1st]

Thanks for the advice, for thin sheet metal I also changed gas from 100% CO2 to 75% Argon and 25% CO2, the welds get more buttery and better starting.

[@MohdHameediBinOmar]

Thank you so much from Me Malaysia, now I can practice my welding skill and built a lot of handmade bush, washer, and retaining bar plates for my cub bike bigbike tire concept customization!

[@jonny_s14]

Thanks for the vid. Just bought a 160a snap on mig and picked up a rotten s14 shell last week needing alot of repair

[@wpiescik]

Right on. I had discovered This technique, more or less. But I think I've learned ways to improve.

[@nicnatmat123]

Thank you for this absolutely wonderfully concise, informative video.

[@timothylockhart2009]

Wish I had watched this sooner. Just nearing the end of my first project welding and it was sheet metal. I ran into using too cold of settings. Getting huge mountains and they didn't even penetrate! Grind down and find id have to weld again but I had grinded the parent metal thin removing the welds. So then I got blown through! All that being said this is a great video I wished I watched sooner.

[@philiptissington2872]

Love this toutoring episode very helpful , nice one 👍🏻

[@jayflowers2046]

Brilliant mate, in 7 minutes you taught me infinitely more on how to stitch weld my chassis. I used tig and had really mediocre results. *user error GLAD TO SAY ILL BE SWITCHING TO MIG AND FASTT and trying to get a hold of it 🤙🏾🤙🏾

[@FabCoUK]

Good info Matt! How about a video on welding panels with corrosion, eg mot repairs where the steel you’re welding isn’t perfect?

[@jamesward5721]

Flux core. Use 0.6mm wire. It's very "This is crap steel" tolerant.

[@1one3_Racing]

Yeah this sounds right up your alley!

[@FabCoUK]

@@1one3_Racing I was think more as a resource for others, but sure, I can take the hint 😅

[@MrRobhadfield]

@@FabCoUK 😂 busted!

[@Urchfab]

That’s a good idea 👍

[@christopherastbury-mg2iz]

Excellent informative video. Someone finally explaining how and why we weld thin metals. More videos I hope will follow.

[@Urchfab]

They will. Cheers 🍻

[@chewies9456]

Thank you! I was getting nice little buttons on some 22 gauge with 023 wire today after watching this. Tried dialing the welder every which way I could for 15 minutes going by the settings chart, then watched this, cranked up the heat and speed a bit and voilà!

[@Urchfab]

Glad it helped

[@paulwhiteman3625]

Very educational, Matt! Cheers for sharing your knowledge.🙏

[@malcolmyoung7866]

Excellent presentation Matt.. Now heading up the garage after 4 treble whisky’s to unstitch the horrors Inhave bestowed upon my daughters Freelander over the past 3 years… Only kidding.. It’s 4 years!!

[@Urchfab]

😂

[@hootinouts]

Excellent presentation. Thank you so much for sharing. I have to weld on the underside of my car where it rusted out and I have zero experience welding sheet metal on cars. My experience is welding thick from 3/16" up.

[@jackrichards1863]

I often dont touch settings. Until i got a synergic mig. It's great to see this, which confirmed a notion I had that it doesn't matter much. Now I'm considering it may be an actual improvement. When i first welded all we had was arc. I learned a lot from repairing the ageing exhaustt systems with an arc welder and large rods. Once a mate got a mig i went and got one myself. Of course its a lot more user friendly and old exhaust pipe gets thrown in the scrap now. Japanese car panels are stil a challenge.

[@michaelberry3094]

I am about to start welding some Japanese car panels myself. If you would share- in what way do you find them to be challenging?

[@alankepler3124]

Sorry my english is not so good. Do you mean that a Sinergic Mig is a better option to practice this tip?. Or did I misunderstand? . Or it doesn't matter if it is synergic or manual, and only the technique of this tip matters?. Thanks. Greetings.

[@davehowland5270]

I did my first wheel arch last weekend and did everything you said not to do i was amazed at how far you can warp a flat panel next week i will do it your way

[@basilwatson1]

yes I made a battery box from 0.8 and yes , it warped ( understatement of the year )

[@smifflarr]

How did you sort you warped panel?

[@hipoman8087]

Will give this a try. Sounds like a very good tutorial !

[@MartsGarage]

Thanks Matt. I'm in the middle of a weldathon on my 100E at the moment. I will try and take your advice on board. Mart.

[@fredjones1238]

Mart , You're getting better with every panel mate.

[@Urchfab]

Keep at it Mart 👍

[@Philhuggett]

This was absolutely spot on from what ive found since welding up my mini. The amount of people i see online attacking their welds with an flap disc does my head in. Great little vid

[@Urchfab]

Cheers mate.

[@13Voodoobilly69]

Great tips. This will help me immensely.

[@Suttybutty]

Absolutely brilliant advice you make it all look very easy top man 👌

[@AXNJXN1]

Well done. Mutually, when Flux Core welding, I also keep the voltage lower and nearly twice the wire speed feed. It provides the correct balance of 'excess' metal to heat ratio, preventing blow through and keeps the base metal cooler. I have found FC welding is just as advantageous for this welding, minus the slag but for the 'budget' welder, you can get this done too! Just need to figure out your particular machine and it's settings. Point being, FC machines can do this job, period, just learn it well. Cheers.

[@waynecdm]

Amazingly helpful video. Thank you.

[@dougwernham5209]

Thanks for the video, very helpful.

[@deopersad2915]

Thanks Matt I struggle with sheet metal but this helps cheers 🤙

[@dynamicvehicleservices8170]

Hate having to grind thin stuff just thins it out even more

[@russthebiker]

That was really informative, i got taught to use the stick welder as an apprentice But these mig machine are a world apart, need to get sone practise in with mine Andcusing more heat is good sense,remember people with the stick welder using to low a setting and getting stuck

[@hbrannerudbrannerud6554]

Very good presentation! Thank you!

[@StewSims]

Good video and it seems to have done well. Have you thought about doing a video on a small car rust repair from start to finish? Lots of us have probably fairly poorly slapped a patch on something, but few have learnt how to do it properly from a professional like yourself (e.g. avoiding the need for too much grinding, welding and filling). Would be interesting to see how you'd tackle it and hopefully pick up some basic fabrication and welding tips and tricks.

[@Urchfab]

There's a video in my how too playlist. its old but should help you out. Cheers

[@rsbharley4766]

Excellent info Matt, thanks for taking the to share. Cheers

[@Urchfab]

No worries

[@brentonpaterson7047]

Perfect, thanks Matt, I'll give that a go.

[@floydwilcox2640]

Your videos are great, thank you for sharing your skills. 👍

[@mfwwhelan7561]

Interesting video. Sometimes I get a vertical tail sitting on the top of my spot welds. It happens periodically and is not present on all welds. All my settings are unchanged.I asked a lot of people but no one has the answer, My welder is an ESAB Caddy 200Amp. I'm using the usual Argon/Co2 mix. Generally I use 18 Volts and 5m wire speed. Wire is 0.8mm. Thanks, Mike

[@Urchfab]

Try turning the burn back down if you can adjust it. If not try holding the torch a little further away.

[@FrankInAShed]

Excellent info, cheers Urchy

[@captainkirk1745]

Excellent info! Thank you kindly.

[@beezo2560]

Good stuff Matt. Savin' this one for reference. 👍

[@Leskeg]

Thanks for this excellent video. What amperage do you use for sheet metal 0.8 ?

[@itsalldoable]

Great video, great information, great timing. Thank you Matt, I'm working towards a lot of welding next week so this will be really helpful. Cheers matey 👍😎

[@fprice212]

Great onfo, thanks becaise hell as sure im not paying 20k for a couple of rusted out floor panels in my '73 where i have amasing metal panels at home from "reclaimed" traffic signs.

[@makethingsinteresting496]

Great info! Thanks for sharing 👍🏻

[@groovyboovy]

Handy tips, thanks

[@FJOLLEDRENG]

Great advices - thank you so much 🙏

[@richardmueller9565]

also IF possible to have a backer like just said really works well!! like a strip or 3/16 bar good video!! I only have a ceap Hi/Lo harbor freight.. does 25 or 30 wire make much difference

[@watsonwatson8051]

More like this please, that was 👍

[@psv1600]

very instructive, many thanks fro the clues 🤩😍

[@ifixeditmyself1926]

This was really helpful.

[@TK42138]

Brilliant advice.

[@RickRose]

Thanks for the tips!

[@markgutter8443]

A good help to me. Thanks.

[@Urchfab]

You're welcome!

[@ToniR_]

What if you pull a little, it will spread the spotweld and less grinding?

[@hespie1]

Great, thanks Matt.

[@joewahrerMotorcycleMan]

Wait for it...I almost clicked off too soon! Thanks for your tips and your car rocks! What is it? Mini?

[@nealesmith1873]

Great info!

[@ssnydess6787]

Nice, small suggestion would be tomention the sheet metal thicness in "gauge" dimensions, since most of your audience is probably US. Thanks!

[@Urchfab]

Noted. Cheers

[@adsminibuild5791]

Great video thanks for sharing 👍

[@neiljarvis8911]

Cheers! Really good video, its a bit counter intuitive really.

[@jerryhuff86]

Spot on mate❤

[@JB-NZ]

@Urchfab Thanks for sharing this video. Query, do you have anything against 0.6mm wire for 0.8mm steel like on a classic mini? I had been using 0.8mm but changed to 0.6mm, and I am running a slightly higher voltage than recommended, but I think I need to turn it up further. Curious though how 0.6mm will compare to 0.8mm wire though and if it will react differently to higher voltage. Thanks

[@ChunkyC]

Great advice. Getting much better results after doing this and switching to .6 wire, but I'm not getting all that great of a penetration. Do you think I should swap back to 0.8 or maybe try some different settings?

[@My911]

Hi, thanks for this. Which Amp settings did you use for welding the 0.8mm steel? My Welder has a digital display for Amps rather than the traditional 1-4 settings. Regards Joël

[@micabeda]

Funny how it’s so natural for you.

[@Urchfab]

I’ve done it every day for a lot of days bud 👍

[@ronwalker9000]

Thank you so much!

[@jeff666p]

I have a question. I tried using the recommed settings on my welder but I get booger welds on the back side. If I try holding it slightly longer it burns through. I've tried increasing the wire speed and it didn't help much. I can't get the back side looking like you have done in this video. Would increasing the voltage be the solution or would it cause more problems? The recommed setting on mine is 16.5 volts and 177 wire speed. its a 140 amp 115v. flux core wire .03

[@NZMOPAR]

thanks for that video good info there

[@WHM_Engineering]

Any tips on welding perforated rusty sh1te to good bits? 😂 Great vid 👍 pull the trigger on what looks like good stuff, boom 12mm hole 😭😂

[@kbtube8125]

i cut off the ball on the wire after every weld too.

[@Bigbluevwvan]

Top tips 👍

[@TheParaparGroup]

Extremely smart!!

[@oikkuoek]

Any tips and tricks for welding an actual old, rusty and grimy panel? I tried to think of it, and I have never in my life welded two clean fresh sheets of any thickness onto each other. The panels needed welding have always been rusted through, and the patches have been parts of not yet rusted through panels of whatever sheet the metal skip has had to offer. Also, can you do that with a stick? Doing a rot repair when all you have is a stick and a box of slow fuses, in 4 inches of icy slush, trying not to burn the house down in the process.. Yeah.

[@mix1806]

im in the same bout and looking to someone hand me an mig welder...

[@jamesward5721]

@@mix1806 Same answer applies - use flux core wire. It's very "dirty metal" tolerant & blows disproportionately less holes than solid wire. Once you get good at using it, it blows zero holes.

[@oikkuoek]

@@jamesward5721 I've tried that too, and not only did it not stick/fuse the metals together, the light was so bright it burned my eyes. Never again. The worst of the worst. Butt welding with flux core is next to impossible. Mig is nice when you have gas, but when you don't as in 9 out of ten times I've got my hands on one, it sucks. Not impossible, but sucks. Stick is my tool of choice, if panel glue isn't enough.

[@jamesward5721]

@@oikkuoek I weld vehicles full time, all week - it's all I do, my full time work. I use flux core for EVERYTHING. It ain't flux cores fault if it isn't penetrating - it's the nut behind the trigger isn't tight enough, flux core penetrates really good. :-) Mask are nice for the "Burned my eyes" issue.

[@oikkuoek]

@@jamesward5721 Mask didn't fit under the car, and couldn't see anything with it on. Better mask, yeah, but they are difficult to steal. And definitely was the flux core. After swiching back to stick, the welds became solid. even with sheet stuff. The feeder in that crappy machine couldn't feed the wire in constant speed, so it just sputtered hot slag with no useful result.

[@vinceolson2473]

Thank you !

[@MikeCrarer]

Top tip!

[@djjmsimon]

When you can't get to the back of the weld, is there a concern about the heat affected zone corroding quicker? Assuming using weld through primer is helpful if you can get it on to the back of the existing old metal?

[@Urchfab]

Yes it’s an issue. Cavity wax or similar can be a good option for getting to the inside.

[@onewheelup1817]

What best budgeted MIG welder would you recommend?

[@DonaldReynoldsII]

Lots of gas used but cool new standard

[@richardmueller9565]

I not a metal worker by anymeans-- galvined meatl ..not work to weld to actual steel???Do you need specail wire for galvinized meatl?

[@BrianSmart1959]

Nice tip. That's what she said.

[@ryanphotostudio]

@urchfab not sure if I missed it, but what gauge wire were you running? Thanks, I really liked the concepts in this video mate

[@Urchfab]

0.8mm Cheers

[@alhaah777]

Thank you.

[@bfd1918]

Where to buy those welding equipment?

[@Matt-Maelstrom]

What model of welder are you using in this vid?

[@Urchfab]

Bester 190