Thread: Spot Weld Removal Tools

Go to any decent engineer's supplier. Suttons/P&N make them.

Hi

I have done a fair bit of searching but the smallest I can find is 8 mm,
this is to big as most of the welds are 5 mm.
Thanks for your help but I will need to look into other ways of doing this repair.

Mocky

Originally Posted by Mocky

Hi

I have done a fair bit of searching but the smallest I can find is 8 mm,
this is to big as most of the welds are 5 mm.
Thanks for your help but I will need to look into other ways of doing this repair.

Mocky

Suttons sell them under their P & N brand. They are called spot weld drills and the smallest is 6.5 mm. They are meant to cut outside the weld area so the panel can be removed.

You could try using a drill bit of the size you want, and resharpening it with a slitting wheel to look somewhat similar to this one:



This one is 13mm and I use it for drilling thin sheet metal. It works a treat.

Here's a tip profile. Getting the centre in the centre is the tricky bit. Any machinist or saw/milling cutter sharpener should be able to make some up for you:

http://www.physics.wisc.edu/ishop/im...alsideview.gif

Bob

Alpha make them in 6.5mm (1/4" in the old money)

Theirs is a HSS Cobalt coat tip, I've been using them on chassis restoration.


I've drilled the odd hole...




Alpha are available from panel and spray paint suppliers.
Sometimes the 6.5 are difficult to buy, 8mm seem more common.

Hope this helps

How well did they last for all of those holes ?? I haven't figured out how to sharpen spot weld drills. And find even the quality HS steel cutters I used last time would dull after about 1/2 dozen holes (welds are incredibly hard after all). Given you'll probably be drilling 50 spot welds to cut nearly any panel off .... This makes for a bloody expensive exercise Just using a standard drill you can re-sharpen dozens of times leaves you with holes everywhere you need to then close back up with a MIG. Not a big deal, but very time consuming where you have 50 holes to weld closed.

seeya,
Shane L.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

How well did they last for all of those holes ?? I haven't figured out how to sharpen spot weld drills. And find even the quality HS steel cutters I used last time would dull after about 1/2 dozen holes (welds are incredibly hard after all). Given you'll probably be drilling 50 spot welds to cut nearly any panel off .... This makes for a bloody expensive exercise Just using a standard drill you can re-sharpen dozens of times leaves you with holes everywhere you need to then close back up with a MIG. Not a big deal, but very time consuming where you have 50 holes to weld closed.

seeya,
Shane L.

If you are blunting drills by cutting in the hardened weld zone then you are using too small a drill. The whole idea of these drills is to cut outside the weld in order to remove the panel. Yes, you will have to weld up the holes and metal finish the new welds to an acceptable surface for surface finishing.