SER1 >> Spot welding aluminium

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Hi Charley,

I see no one has yet picked-up this subject on the Series1
mailing list.

Spot welding is done by a special machine that looks much
like a giant stapler, except the arm is a pointed electrical anode
closing in on a flat base.  You lay your two pieces of metal
together, bring down the pointed anode (usually with a foot
pedal), and when it touches the metal an electrical surge
shoots through everything - spot welding the metal together.

However, you may be referring to puddle welds.  This is
where one metal layer has holes punched that is laid over
a solid sheet.  The punched holes are then filled with metal
welding the two sheets together.  Often the holes are filled
leaving only dimples in appearance.

Michael Carradine
Near San Francisco, a mere 12'000 miles from AU
1950 80" RHD ex-MOD


At 01:09 AM 9/9/2005, you wrote:
>The tailgate on my 80" resembles a horribly mangled
>autumn leaf, so I thought it would be fun to fabricate
>a new one.
>
>Can anyone tell me how, or give some good references
>which I can read, which tell how to spotweld
>aluminium? I have tried in the workshop with poor
>results so far. If Landrover can do about a million
>welds a day it can't be that hard. I don't want to use
>rivets except where they should be used.
>
>Incidentally, is a 1953 tailgate the same as a 1951
>version?
>
>Cheers Charlie


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