Tips On How To Mig Weld Thin Metal Auto Body Panels

Here's some tips if you're having trouble mig welding thin sheet metal.
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[@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?

[@chrisadkin726]

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

[@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

[@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!

[@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 ☕️👍

[@davec200i]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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 👍

[@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?

[@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!

[@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 🤙🏾🤙🏾

[@philhuggett4776]

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.

[@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 )

[@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

[@Suttybutty]

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

[@paulwhiteman3625]

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

[@philiptissington2872]

Love this toutoring episode very helpful , nice one 👍🏻

[@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

[@dynamicvehicleservices8170]

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

[@nicnatmat123]

Thank you for this absolutely wonderfully concise, informative video.

[@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.

[@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]

😂

[@deopersad2915]

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

[@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

[@joewahrerMotorcycleMan]

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

[@beezo2560]

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

[@floydwilcox2640]

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

[@brentonpaterson7047]

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

[@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.

[@hbrannerudbrannerud6554]

Very good presentation! Thank you!

[@rsbharley4766]

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

[@Urchfab]

No worries

[@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

[@captainkirk1745]

Excellent info! Thank you kindly.

[@FrankInAShed]

Excellent info, cheers Urchy

[@kbtube8125]

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

[@jerryhuff86]

Spot on mate❤

[@FJOLLEDRENG]

Great advices - thank you so much 🙏

[@vinceolson2473]

Thank you !

[@makethingsinteresting496]

Great info! Thanks for sharing 👍🏻

[@RickRose]

Thanks for the tips!

[@psv1600]

very instructive, many thanks fro the clues 🤩😍

[@alhaah777]

Thank you.

[@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?

[@markgutter8443]

A good help to me. Thanks.

[@Urchfab]

You're welcome!

[@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 😭😂

[@BrianSmart1959]

Nice tip. That's what she said.

[@TheParaparGroup]

Extremely smart!!

[@snapon1948]

Hi what welder are you using looking for new welder

[@neiljarvis8911]

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

[@NZMOPAR]

thanks for that video good info there

[@Matt-Maelstrom]

What model of welder are you using in this vid?

[@Urchfab]

Bester 190

[@MuzzahA1]

You said copper works best, what type of copper works best, male or female?

[@bfd1918]

Where to buy those welding equipment?

[@Bigbluevwvan]

Top tips 👍

[@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.

[@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

[@M70ACARRY]

Fluxcore doesn't tack so high

[@sunilbhagat3371]

Thanks!

[@Urchfab]

Much appreciated. Cheers

[@tobiasbostwick9002]

Thanks.

[@rennkafer13]

Matt, are you able to planish those welds to account for shrinkage or do you need to TIG for that. I need to fill a sunroof hole in my Mini...

[@NZMOPAR]

hammer them out as you go with a hammer and dolly

[@rennkafer13]

@@NZMOPAR I know, my question was more about planishing MIG welds vs TIG welds and which would be Matts choice.

[@Urchfab]

Mig welds are much harder so it’s more difficult so you need to grind off the excess material. Tig is softer but takes more skill on thin material.

[@Tuner9069]

No sound

[@jsshayes1]

#1 tip on Mig welding thin sheet metal, Tig weld it.

[@rachelprice4536]

You’re going to have issues with those hands in the future. All that heat will affect the moisture levels in them causing dry and cracked skin.

[@rhmower8034]

this is awful..... I am sick of having welders come into the hub with youtube welding advice. There are some decent videos on youtube but its very rare.... ALWAYS use copper as a backing..... If you are welding you are fusing two metals together.... you want pentation. Check your WPS and stay within those parameters. They are there for a reason for the structures integrity.

[@Urchfab]

Great advice, next time I will ALWAYS use my magic copper backing which can teleport in and out of cavities with no access. As for penetration, I'm talking about car body panels with a thickness 1mm or less. we're not welding bridges here, but thanks for the expert advice.

[@artemas33]

Prolly be a good video if he did both metric and American numbers. .8 mil? 1.6 mil? Remember your audiences are worldwide

[@danielmaine45]

A lot of welding in the US is done in metrics I think

[@owenmac1220]

Don’t be a lazy fuck, goto google and do the conversion. I’m Canadian, I have to convert things daily because we use both metric and imperial.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@ToniR_]

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

[@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

[@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

[@Leskeg]

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

[@Themrjakecollins]

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

[@erdemir5641]

You haven't actually explained if you weld it all in one long line or small bursts

[@dougwernham5209]

Thanks for the video, very helpful.

[@888johnmac]

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

[@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 👍

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@groovyboovy]

Handy tips, thanks

[@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.

[@nealesmith1873]

Great info!

[@johncoscia5258]

Asbestos fingers !

[@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.

[@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 👍😎

[@MikeCrarer]

Top tip!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@adsminibuild5791]

Great video thanks for sharing 👍

[@dans5595]

for grinding, you said "stone grinding disc". i'm not sure what that means. does that term have an american translation?

[@onewheelup1817]

What best budgeted MIG welder would you recommend?

[@joshuatran3667]

Just in case you are wondering he is using 22 gauge steel sheets.

[@hipoman8087]

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

[@TK42138]

Brilliant advice.