Welding Aluminium

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WARNING: Electric welding

Risk of electric shock or burns
→ Wear personal protective gear.

→ Disconnect both battery terminals.

→ Do not weld in a damp area or when it is wet under foot.

→ Move highly inflammable materials out of the work area. Vertilate the work area well.

→ Remove smoke gases with an extraction system.

→ Read specific safety information for the welder.

→ Check that welder is working perfectly before use.

Information

Make the sheetmetal 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 aluminium panels.
Argon is used as the inert gas.
The welder used is the > VAS 821 003 - Welding and brazing system, aluminium/steel/MIG/MAG.
The welding wire used is > VAS 2001/1 - Aluminium welding wire, 7 kg or > VAS 2001/2 - Aluminium welding wire, 2 kg.

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

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Adapting sheetmetal insert
Secure sheetmetal insert to the body with tack-welds.

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Tack-welding sheetmetal insert
Grind off tack-welds on sheetmetal insert.

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Grinding off tack-welds
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
Grind the welding area down to bare metal.

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Cleaning welding area
Weld spare part.

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Welding spare part
Grind down welded seam.

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Grinding down welded seam
After painting the repair area, apply cavity preservation on the entire area.