How To Shrink Warped Sheet Metal

When the weld shrinks along its length it causes base metal to twist around the weld figure 3.

How to shrink warped sheet metal.

Get used to this idea and your abilities will grow. Lots of controversy surrounds heat shrinking yet i ve successfully used this process for 40 years. This is where the tuck shrinking fork from a few weeks back comes into play. The bigger the weld the greater the shrinkage.

Then remove the tool and move it over so the fork will roll the metal over the other side of the fork by twisting the metal the other direction. Correctly sizing a weld not only minimizes distortion but also saves weld metal and time. If you have access to a bead roller roll yourself a bead and shrink it. This works the other doesn t.

Heat to blue only and shrink that much. Design and welding should be addressed to minimize this sort of warping. Start by inserting the fork into the edge of the sheet metal at the desired depth of the shrink you want to make. It not only makes a damaged panel repairable and can save a job from.

Why not just heat it and gently hammer the swell down. Then twist the handle of the tool to twist the metal around one side of the fork. The condition known as an oil can is often encountered when performing automotive bodywork. Do not over heat the steel.

Though weld shrinkage cannot be prevented it can be controlled by following these steps.