Thread: drilling welds and cutting panels

Originally Posted by spudboy

Nice welding Groucho! Very neat.

That was on one of my Good days......

Panel cutting
grinding discs a pain in the rear
tin snips ditto
Nibbler good expensive
Air saw cheap now days just buy a packet of Hacksaw blades
you can get about three out of one blade
wonderful little tool

When you join the repair panel to the body will you weld it? I have a similar repair to do on one of my Rovers and I am tempted to use Sikaflex and rivets,


Thanks Charlie. Not planning to weld. Thought I'd just keep the joins as straight and strong as possible and rivet them. I had thought I could rivet through the cut-out welds but too big.

When I cut the damaged panel out I want to leave the folded sections with the welds in place and then rivet the new section in against these double-thickness, strong edges.

Am hoping if I brace the tub in a couple of planes before I cut it will hold square and make snug fit.

Thanks for the advice - see how we go.

Thanks everyone for your tips and pics

I'll go looking for a weld cutter and shop around for saws. Air saw looks nice, but not sure if my little compressor would handle it. What do they need?

Will post pics as I get into it.

Thanks again

D

Originally Posted by dreamin'

Thanks everyone for your tips and pics

I'll go looking for a weld cutter and shop around for saws. Air saw looks nice, but not sure if my little compressor would handle it. What do they need?

Will post pics as I get into it.

Thanks again

D

Air saws are cheap that one is a tiwanese job dose all i want
A normal air comp 8/12 cu /Ft runs them easy.....

What is the difference between that weld cutter and a sheet metal drill?

Originally Posted by slug_burner

What is the difference between that weld cutter and a sheet metal drill?

Are you thinking of the stub drills sold in sizes to suit pop riveting? These are just a conventional twist drill made short for rigidity in hand held drilling. They usually have a 135 degree cutting edge angle instead of 118 degrees. This is to allow most of the cutting edges to be engaged at point breakthrough to help ensure a round hole not the misshapen hole often produced by a 118 degree drill in thin material. The spot weld drills have two outer cutting points with a third in the centre where the chisel edge is in a normal drill. Spot weld drills start cutting on the circumference of the hole and continue to cut inwards. Normal twist drills start cutting from the centre outwards. The idea of the spot weld drill is to cut out the weld body just outside the area of the weld and leave the panel separated.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Are you thinking of the stub drills sold in sizes to suit pop riveting? No I think of them as jobbing drills (jobbers) and they usually are double ended. These are just a conventional twist drill made short for rigidity in hand held drilling. They usually have a 135 degree cutting edge angle instead of 118 degrees. This is to allow most of the cutting edges to be engaged at point breakthrough to help ensure a round hole not the misshapen hole often produced by a 118 degree drill in thin material. The spot weld drills have two outer cutting points with a third in the centre where the chisel edge is in a normal drill. Spot weld drills start cutting on the circumference of the hole and continue to cut inwards. Normal twist drills start cutting from the centre outwards. The idea of the spot weld drill is to cut out the weld body just outside the area of the weld and leave the panel separated.

The three pointed ones as you say two outer cutters with the central locating point, I thought they were sheet metal drills. I thought that it would prevent oval holes and the sudden grab as the break through on thin material. I guess I should refer to them as spot weld drills from now on (doesn't seam right as it sounds too specific)