Can you tig thin car panels?

[franky]

I'm thinking of getting a Tig instead of a new mig. Has anyone done very thin sheet steel with one? Classic car resto etc?

Any Plus or Minus against a Mig?

Regards.

 

[gaz_moose]

you will put a lot more heat into the panel using a tig than you would with a mig.

 

[backpurge]

MIG is far more suited to car panels, lot less distortion and you don't have to get eveything clinically clean

 

[franky]

Cheers gents, seems like it'll have to be a mig then!

 

[DuncanM]

If you are making new panels, TIG is pretty good. But if you are trying to weld to crappy old steel it's a bit tricky!
These guys use TIG, and their stuff is as much a work of art as a vehicle!
http://www.contourautocraft.co.uk/

MIG will be a lot faster though...

 

[langy]

Depends really like others have said, MIG is great when working on old rusty cars but if you want the best job on something use TIG, I like to TIG because it gives me the option of hammering straight after which you can't do with MIG.

 

[franky]

I'm thinking new panels, all rust will be removed anyway or in some sort of weldable primer.

Ringing around, sellers who sell both say that tig is slower but you get a better 'finish' and can weld from low low amps so heat is more localised??

 

[Shox Dr]

You can't have primmer on the areas where you want to weld with a TIG.It must be clean, clean, and cleaner

 

[Chickenjohn]

Oxy acetylene gas welding is better than either for repairing thin car exterior panels!

 

[hotrodder]

Ringing around, sellers who sell both say that tig is slower but you get a better 'finish' and can weld from low low amps so heat is more localised??

The low amps/more localised heat thing is bull, you WILL get more distortion compared to MIG but that's kinda beside the point as the approach is very different with TIG being closer to traditional coachwork using oxy acetylene

With TIG or oxy acetylene weld reinforcement can be minimised and welds are dressed using hammers and dollies. Distortion is taken care of at the same time (a lot of it is because welds shrink) and the goal is typically to 'metal finish' the repair.
With MIG you get far more weld reinforcement and because the heat input is much lower the welds are harder so planishing welds out isn't an option. The typical approach is to minimise distortion by using overlapping spot welds and then to grind the weld down (sensibly/carefully as you can pretzel panels with the heat generated by a grinder) before a spot of panel beating or a skim of plod

MIG is easier if you're not handy with hammers n dollies, makes far more sense if grovelling around under a car, repairing double skinned/reinforced areas (no acess for dollies to planish welds out) or spot welding floors etc
When fabricating panels and/or there's access to metal finish then TIG/oxy bring a lot more to the table. TIG offers less distortion than oxy but is the least tolerant of all three with regards to dirt etc. Oxy is by far the most versatile- heat shrinking, hot forming, seized fasteners etc etc