Now this may seem like a real stupid question but does the cold affect the welds you do to sheetmetal? I have no heat in my garage, well I would if I could get my little turbo heater to run. Is this something I should be concerned about? Thanks, later shawn
How cold are you talking? too cold is not good. Maybe you can hit the metal with a torch to warm it up before you start the welds?
Really depends how thick of material your talkin....mild steel?? As long as it's not 1/4" thick plate, you will be fine without pre-heating. Welding thin plate in the cold, .188 etc......you'll be fine if your garage is in the 30's. Our shop is incredibly cold when I walk in and I'm usually welding before the highpressure bulbs start lighting up the shop. Carl
Yes, the cold effects the compfort of the person welding. This will throw off his concentration, thus,his welds will be affected...
I don't think that will make any difference . When you pull the trigger on that MIG , it will get very hot and do it's thing ...WELD ! I don't think it takes less heat when it's 90 outside . I have seen many welders doing their thing in all kinds of weather before . You should be just fine as the welding goes but...to damn cold to do it in ! I am in Pa and need to finish hooking up my chimney for my wood stove in my garage but it's way to windy to try to get the metal chimney put together outside ! Wait a minute ....are you trying to get out of welding till it get warm ? RetroJim
Shawn, make sure you wait for the shop to warm up a bit before you fire up the welder! Last year I flipped my welder on when the garage temp was 20* and the aux transformer blew because the electrolyte in the capacitor across it's windings was frozen. Major bummer, but it sounded pretty cool when it happened!
Don't know much about welding in the cold BUT in the Louisville area (JeffBoat)) I have been told that they weld on River Barges 24-7 in the winter and snowing !!!!! Talk about "Dirty Jobs" !!! LOL TOM ( Tired Old Man)
Steel melts at ~2400 F. If your temp diff is say; 70 down to 0 winter degrees, then the % diff is only about 3%, not a big concern.
One advantage is if your spotting in long quarters is you don't have to wait long before your spots cool, to where you can get done quicker. I perfer welding sheetmetal in a cooler garage instead of on a 100 degree day.
Steel sheet metal... you have nothing to worry about, if you can handle the cold so can the metal and welds
We welded up an ass load of boiler room steel pipes in the winter without any heat. It was wonderful on top of a 10 story office building with a 20 mph wind in 20* weather. 10" pipe with a 3/8" wall. I wouldn't heat sheet metal with a torch before welding.
bringing the machine up above freezing is a good idea I've worked in unheated shops in the winter where the only heat was from the welding it was kind of an incentive to fire the machine up and make something happen
well im thinkin 40 below in canada,and we still weld outside,today its minus 28c and i be weldin,i sweat the metal first,lay tiger torch to it to sweat it out,thin metal well yes it will have some effect
I have welded all over the country in various temps outside, with no affect on the weld. I have drug up on a job cause it was snowing and tthe pipe was outside. We call em drag up flakes in Texas!
Thanks for the help guy's. Mostly sheetmetal was what I was concerned about. I have a block garage with no insulation and it gets like a dang icebox in there. Thanks for the tip Andy, I sure as hell don't want to blow up my new welder. later shawn "Wait a minute ....are you trying to get out of welding till it get warm ?" Well maybe.... hahahaha, nah I haven't had a car to a show in 9 years I miss it, gotta get this done and on the road.
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