TIG welding 18GA sheet metal

[oldguard]

Howdy, I am repairing the floors in a 1946 Studebaker M5 and have built new floorpans and was going to MIG weld but have decided I need to learn to tig, any clues on nozzle size, Tunsten rod size and style, filler rod? Any and all help would be appreciated. I have a new Miller Diversion 180 machine if that helps.

 

[kazlx]

Personally, I would mig it. But if you want to tig it, you can just use a regular #7 cup and a 1/16" tungsten. 16ga is roughly 0.060, so you should be somewhere around 60 amps to start. You can use 1/16" regular 70S-6 steel filler or even mig wire if you can feed it fast enough. I would definitely practice before going to town on your car. Your fit up will need to be pretty good on the thinner stuff.

Mig will let you fill a little bit more.

 

[shawnspeed]

Ahhh ...M5 as in military jeep M5....put the tig away and mig it...I repaired one footwell area(under the pedals) on one...the panels are HEAVILY galvanized...I was surprised the original even rusted....that is how heavy it was galvanized...I Tigged' mine, but would not do it again...you are in for a lot of grinding, and get a good respirator . After I ground both sides, I was still getting zinc wicking up on the Tung....a mig would have been the thing to have, but I didn't have one then....Good luck, Shawn

 

[waggie]

just finish tigging some 22 gauge... if you use aluminum backing block to soak up the extra heat, it's no different than tigging thicker material. Also, consider lay wire technique it moves quicker and makes for a smaller HAZ. Of course, i do my welding on the bench, so that might not apply to real life situation of welding on the actual vehicle.