How do you weld little drilled holes shut?

[aggressive male]

You know how some people can weld shut a small drilled hole in regular thickness sheet metal without any sheet metal behind it? How do they do that? Whenever I try it I always burn through. I often burn through trying to weld one sheet overlapping another. What am I doing wrong?

[CRead01]

try messing with your heat and feed settings. sounds like you may be a little hot or not enough feed or both. also if you put a piece of copper behind it then weld it. the weld wont stick to the coper. jmo

[aggressive male]

try messing with your heat and feed settings. sounds like you may be a little hot or not enough feed or both. also if you put a piece of copper behind it then weld it. the weld wont stick to the coper. jmo

I neglected to mention I was just using a stick welder. Do I have to use a mig to do this? I'm going to try that copper trick.

[GetMore]

Yeah, I think you're going to find stick welding sheet metal to be a bit of a challenge. The stick is just going to be too thick to melt before the sheet metal.

[Jim Nilsen]

With a stick welder you need to use the copper and hit the hole dead center and let the puddle form and pull back out. Without the copper you need to hit one edge and move to the other side quickly. Stick takes a lot of practice to fill holes but it can be done. The hardest is getting the heat low enough and not stick the rod. Start away from the hole and push into it and pull back, getting closer as you move will reduce the blowout you are probably experiencing. The copper should solve most all of your problems or you need to get a different size rod. Keep practicing on some similar scrap till you get it right.

Goodluck

[danbob67]

Ive never heard of anyone trying to stick weld on thin sheet metal not to say it cant be done Your best bet is to get a mig or tig welder life will be much easier.

[aggressive male]

Thanks guys! Yes I would much rather use a tig or mig but I only have one car to do. what do the cheapest ones cost? Not sure if getting one is worth the expense.

[John S]

If the holes are small enough why not solder them? Soldering is not that difficut to do, the hard part (for me anyway) is getting the finishing touches right. But I have a hard time with bondo too

[danbob67]

check out your local lowes or home depot I know the lowes here has some less expensive lincolns then You gotta get a tank of gas. probally looking at around 500 for a mig that would be suitable for smaller jobs. or you can always try your luck on ebay

[aggressive male]

Thanks

[Jim Nilsen]

You could try your local rental place and just rent one for a day or 2. They usually have 110 and 220 volt units.