Welding Aluminum

Information 

Make the sheet metal insert with a width of about > Width 60 mm  from the old or spare part.

Information 

When joining spare parts, welding is always the last step.

• Metal inert gas (MIG) welding is used for welding thin aluminum panels.
• Argon is used as the inert gas.
• The welder used is the > VAS 821 003 - Welding and brazing system, aluminum/steel/MIG/MAG  .
• The welding wire used is > VAS 2001/1 - Aluminum welding wire, 7 kg  or > VAS 2001/2 - Aluminum welding wire, 2 kg  . Refer to:  TOOLS  

1. Apply test welds to practice panels to make sure you are using the correct welder settings.
2. Adapt sheet metal insert for welding backing strip to the contour of the repair area.

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   Adapting sheet metal insert

3. Secure sheet metal insert to the body with tack-welds.

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   Tack-welding sheet metal insert

4. Grind off tack-welds on sheet metal insert.

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   Grinding off tack-welds

5. Always leave a gap -X- of > Width 1 mm  when fitting in the spare part.
   Fig 1: Checking Spare Part Gap Dimension

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   Fitting in spare part

6. Grind the welding area down to bare metal.

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   Cleaning welding area

7. Weld spare part.

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   Welding spare part

8. Grind down welded seam.

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   Grinding down welded seam

9. After panting the repair area, apply cavity preservation on the entire area.