Welding Aluminium
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.
- Metal inert gas (MIG) welding is used for welding thin aluminium panels.
- Argon is used as the inert gas.
- The > VAS 821 003 - welding solder aluminium/steel/MIG/MAG is used as welding device.
- > V.A.G 2001/2 - Aluminium weld wire 2 kg or > V.A.G 2001/1 - Aluminium weld wire 7 kg is used as welding wire.
- Apply test welds to practice panels to make sure you are using the correct welder settings.
Information
Make the sheetmetal insert with a width of about > Width 60 mm from the old or spare part.
- Adapt sheetmetal insert for welding backing strip to the contour of the repair area.
Adapting sheetmetal insert
- Secure sheetmetal insert to the body with tack-welds.
Tack-welding sheetmetal insert
- Grind off tack-welds on sheetmetal insert.
Grinding off tack-welds
- Always leave a gap -X-
of > width 1 mm
when fitting the spare part.
Fitting spare part
- Grind the welding area down to bare metal.
Cleaning welding area
Information
When joining spare parts, welding is always the last step.
- Weld spare part.
Welding spare part
- Grind down welded seam.
Grinding down welded seam
- After painting the repair area, apply cavity preservation on the entire area.