Thread: metal work 101

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hey guys i v been doing some metal work on my 37 chev pickup, i m making the top portion of the hood one piece and was welding it together today, went ver slowly welded about 1/2 inch at a time in two or three place then went to do something else while it cooled. I m almost done but am noticing i have caused some warpage neer the welds, I am wonder what i can do to correct the problem? The hood otherwis is turning out great, but wondering if i can shrink those low spots with heat and a cool wrag or am i stuck with using a little extra bondo. Appreciate your input. thanks

How did you weld it, what process did you use? TIG, MIG or Gas? Do you have any pictures?

I had the same problem on my hood sides after welding on the mounting brackets.

I always heard that the stainless steel heat shrinking disks placed in a large disk grinder worked wonders. I bought one and was amazed at how well it worked. It really focuses the heat and was easy for me to work the dent out. One thing is they will only shrink a "high spot" down, not raise a low spot. But on a hood you have the ability to get to both sides unlike working a door panel.

I used a mig welder.

I usually use either TIG or gas to do my sheet metal welding. I hear that there are MIG wires available that will allow you work the weld without it cracking; but for the most part MIG welds are difficult to finish compared to TIG and gas.

That said, you might try and see what happens.

i wish i could post a pic on here to show you the piece but i never had much luck loading pics on here, not that good with computers, i ll take a pic tonight and try to get it posted. I went to a couple suppliers today looking for those stainless steel heat shrink disks but had no luck, although i am in northern canada. Where would a guy go to find those discs? Also i remember seeing in magazine one time a putty, it looked like play doe, that you would put around the area you were welding on to stop the heat from spreading, is that stuff any good? thanks

if the warping is minimal you should be able to take some of it out with a hammer and dolly too, just be carefull not to push the bad spot somewhere else. if the metal srteched too much you are definatly gonna have to shrink it.

you can used a slap file or shrink hammer .if you over work it and it get loos i have used a dent puller that welds pulling nails it fast and you can heat small spots cool it fast with a damp rag