Butt welding - hard to see

[adamsmitqc]

Hi Drains, this material is only 2mm plate, should i still be leaving a gap, so far i haven't been leaving a gap but butting the two pieces flush together?

I have included another two pictures, this time i tacked the 2 pieces from the underside to try and getter a neater weld!

 

[Drains]

Even a tiny gap is good unless you're autogenous tigging, as it helps stop the edges of the sheet from pulling up.

One advantage of leaving a gap is that the weld bead should be less proud, Looking at your welds, there is a lot of weld for not a lot of sheet thickness. Indeed, with full pen as well you probably have about 5-6mm of weld thickness plus about 10mm of weld width on some wee 2mm sheet; you could be accused of over-welding just a bit.

With even a 1mm gap you could turn the welder right down, have a much lower weld bead but still achieve full pen. Give it a go and see how it feels.