Welding Tips and Tricks

I am building these shelves for my wife. My next step is to weld the shelf skins on. They are .062 sheet and I have .125 holes every 6 inches for plug welds. My plan is to start on the bottom shelf in the center of the shelf and weld either side. Then move up to the next shelf repeat and so forth. Then back to the first shelf. Is this a good plan to control heat and warpage?



Brian

Clecos will make this a breeze.

http://www.amazon.com/Boulderfly-Cleco- ... B008PJYUTA

-Sandow

I am already committed to welding them in place. I want the attachment to be invisible.

Brian

So that is the beauty of clecos. These are like temporary rivets. When you depress the button on the back it extends two prongs which you push through the hole. When you release, the spring pulls back and locks the layers together. So in your setup, you'd put them in all the holes and then remove them one at a time to weld that hole. That keeps everything in place for you without needing piles of huge clamps to weld around.
They mostly see use in airplane manufacturing but they are great for patch panels in cars too.

-Sandow

That makes sense now. Looks pretty slick!

Brian