Stick welding for sheet metal on cars?

Just wondering if a small stick welder (campbell- hausfield) 70 amp stick welder can be used to put on sheet metal to repair fenders etc in cars.Stick welding for sheet metal on cars?
Certainly.....


You surely can, but if your not experienced at welding thin metal......you should practice on a piece of metal like you are going to be welding on.





If you use a small ( 1/16 inch diameter) welding rod, and using low heat/amps settings.....you can successfully weld on any body metal.


The thing about this is you can only weld about 1/4 inch at a time....or until the sheet metal becomes brite red. If you continue with the metal holding a lot of heat, a small hole will result.


In welding body metal several ';tack'; welds are better than a continuous long weld. The tack welds will allow movement after the finnish is applied and actually will be stronger.


With a continuous weld the metal body will ';warp'; from the high heat.....and the weld area will be brittle and can crack with movement.


So a series of tack welds spaced an inch or more apart or so is what you want to do....and if you allow the metal to cool after each tack weld....The body panel will not warp or deflect...the deflected metal is a pain to finish out, with body filler.





I have both types of welding equipment (wire and stick) and for ease I use the stick welder on auto panel patches, its just easier and quicker.





If you are attempting to weld very thin metal, you can use a thicker backing metal strip behind the metal your welding, it will absorb the heat and speed things along.





If your not so good a welder, you can position a wire rod over the crack your welding, as if you were welding the rod to the thin metal.....this will give you more fill metal and dissipate the heat. You can cut a piece of coat hanger and place it where you intend to weld....


If you burn holes in your metal with the extra filler rod, reduce the heat setting and try again....if that just does not work for you...... get a welder to do it for you.





A lot of people can only weld the thick metal....which is easy.


It takes technique to weld thinner metals....so practice on some junk metal similar to what you want to weld....and in 30 or 40 minutes you can get it down pat. Then you can have at some body pannels.......





As a example I have used coffee cans, and weld them end to end with a stick welder in demonstration to student welders in their lab class, and make them practice on the tin cans.....once they can stick them together....everything else is a snap. Once they learn to use a extra rod (coat hanger) as a extra filler metal....they do fine.





Using a filler rod is the same with stick or mig welding, and they get the idea faster with the tin cans.... Then they will remember that when they are welding 1 inch thick metal that large pipe is made from, and especially if the welds are to be x-ray'ed checked for quality.





So all that said.....the answer is yes, and for small welding jobs 70 amps is fine....but you should be able to find a 150 amp welder for the same price.....new, and it will last you a life time and weld anything you want.Stick welding for sheet metal on cars?
Another option, not as good as tig, but cheaper and better then stick is a mig, or wire feed welder. Get one you can use with a shielding gas as the flux core wire makes a mess. Use the thinnest wire and low power also.
no a tig welder is best because it can control the heat better so it wont warp the metal.
I mig all the stuff I do...
it can be done but unless your a fairly experience welder i would go with a mig and shielding gas.