Newbie with a cleco question..

[Twosugars]

Evening all

I’m probably going to sound like a complete fool however I have a question regarding clecos..

I’ve decided to get some to help me line up my front quarter panels and will be using them in place of where I would like to spot weld the panel.

My confusion is.. do I drill additional holes for where I wish to spot weld or do I just use the 1/8 cleco holes and redril the mating panel face with a 1/4 as I go..

Any advice greatly appreciated

 

[hotponyshoes]

How are you planning on doing the spot welds?
Normally you would only have holes in the wing and you would mig through them onto the inner flitch
So you would be better off drilling separate holes for the clecos.

It's not a job that really suits clecos though. You should be able to use mole grips or even small g clamps for all of it. You can get clecos in 1/4" as well which would save you drilling holes twice if you wanted to do it that way

 

[grim_d]

Cleco pins are really temporary fasteners, not really for spot welding.

You'd be better off with clamps, cleco clamps if you want to use your new pliers.

 

[8ob]

I assume we talking about plug welding here I use two sizes of hole with the pins, 6mm in the top panel and a 3mm for the pin on the underside, there is enough flange on Clecos to do this.. I take out one pin at a time and plug weld the through the 6mm hole which also fills the 3mm on the underside. You can see what you are doing with the larger hole on the top and can be sure its actually welded.

Bob

 

[hotponyshoes]

If the hole is too big for the cleco you can use washers with the cleco to clamp stuff up.

 

[Twosugars]

Thankyou guys! Yes I understand they are only temporary my concern was wether to use them as the holes that I weld in the end ( plug weld). I’ve gone for 1/8 and 3/32 to start, Thankyou for the advice

 

[grim_d]

Thankyou guys! Yes I understand they are only temporary my concern was wether to use them as the holes that I weld in the end ( plug weld). I’ve gone for 1/8 and 3/32 to start, Thankyou for the advice

You misunderstand, temporary fasteners (clecos, screwpuns etc) as in they are used to align holes that will ultimately have a fastener installed. (Rivet, screw, bolt), as opposes to a regular clamp that doesn't necessarily have any way of locating itself.

The problem with regular spring clecos is they aren't really strong enough to persuade naughty panels into place, but there is a hex-nut or "heavy duty" variant.

Then there are intergrips that allow you to clamp a panel for butt welding.

Many ways to skin a cat.

If you are set on using clecos for plug welding I'd do every other one with a cleco to start.