Low heat and small tacks. This is what so many of us have been told for decades about welding sheet metal panels to avoid distortion. But the truth is that in the past year or so I’ve seen tons of videos from sheet metal shapers who talk much more about the heat affected zone of a weld, that area surrounding a weld that turns blue after welding, than they do about small tacks and low heat. In fact, one of our favorites is Karl Fisher at Make It Kustom who talks about how he uses high heat to get in and weld quick so as to keep the heat affected zone small and consistent. And consistency is the key.

In this video from Cornfield Customs, you are going to see how this works, have it explained simply, and will see it used in practice. With the right technique, you can weld smooth clean panels quicker and easier so that they require less work to make them “perfect” during metal finishing.

Video Description: 

If you were taught to weld your sheet metal panels together with stacked tacks or jumping all over the panel you are causing more work for yourself. Long continuous welds are the key to keeping your panels nice and straight during the welding process and makes hammering out any minor distortion a breeze.