welding small drilled holes in doors

[azcactus]

I am painting my 73' FJ40 and the doors at some point someone had installed big mirrors that required four small bolt holes. My idea is to use the mig on the lowest setting with the windows rolled up and protected with wet rags and remove my original 73' mirrors and hit one side of the hole for a fraction of a second and work my way around and hit it with 50grit and finish up with a small amount of bondo iceing and etch prime the bare metal. Has anyone have a better idea? Holes are only about 3/8 in. in diameter. I also have need for the right side mirror. Mine is rusted out and the pivit part that acually holds the small round mirror is bent from crowding a tree last summer in the Taylor Park area in Colorado. Does anyone have to deal with these holes before a resto before? Thanks for any help. I will have to get all this painting and conferr rack installed before I head back up as soon as the weather permits. I spend all summer near Taylor Park Lake. Jeff

 

[sbcfj40]

see if you can put a small piece of copper behind the hole it will draw some of the heat away from the weld and hopefully keep it from warping, and it will also make a backing for the weld metal. not for sure if you can get to the back side of the holes but if you can this method would help out quite a bit. i think eastwood makes some little clamps for this purpose.

 

[azcactus]

Door holes

Thanks for responding! I have considered the penny backing method but access to the back is an issue. I hope that with a fraction of a second, one hit at a time method and let cool, I should have some luck. This is a pretty thick gage door. Low setting on mig should do it. I am going for it next week. I will keep you posted for any future amatures with '73 FJ40's with little access to the back.

 

[Splangy]

Pick up a copper welding spoon. Harbor freight has them for under $10

 

[micky]

do be careful about putting too much heat on the metal. for a hole that big in sheet metal i would suggest a copper backing strip and a piece of 1/4 plate clamped behind it. if you dont mind bondo on it just tack a piece of metal behing the hole and fill the crater with bondo.

 

[Texican]

Get a chunk of thick metal 1/2'' or so. Swap some anti splatter on the surface, use this as a backing, even if it sticks which is unlikely given the low temps you will be using for the sheet metal a twist will pop it free, I used this method on holes in one tub from fender flairs, and snap type soft top, lost track of how many....but way more than I wanted to........

 

[TimJG]

you could do it the hot rod way and use some lead body solder

 

[azcactus]

What is a copper welding spoon? Jeff

 

[azcactus]

Cant get to the back is the problem. The holes are in an area that cant be reached by either access panel or window crank. I dont think it will get hot enough to warp. Low setting 2 nano seconds at a time and let cool. Eventually, we will be all around. grind with 50 grit and a small amout of bondo.

 

[azcactus]

No access to the back

 

[fjjonnie]

Sounds like you've got it figured out. Take your time and keep the heat down and you'll be fine. I've done it on a truck of mine and had no problems. Use a flap disk on a 4" grinder and you won't need much bondo at all. Good luck. Jon

 

[yellowcake]

Keep us posted on the results. I have to do the exact same repair on my doors as well and was planning on using the MIG somehow.

Good Luck!

 

[76 PTO]

make a small patch with smoe clearance on the dia. Then weld that to a small metal rod. Hold rod in place and tack around

 

[cjgoode]

A welding spoon is a piece or copper on a handle, it pulls the heat away helping fill the hole by both heat disapation and a backing to keep the molten pool from dripping out. You can just make one by using copper plumbing tubing and a hammer. Just but to length and hammer one end flat, then you can also bend the tube to make it easier to get the flat part on the holes.

Or get a magnet hole plug tools, this is the best way for holes since holding a spoon on one side while welding on the other is not always a one person jog without once of these. Chearper ones are available, this is just for the picture.

Magnetic Plug Welding Tool - Horizontal : eBay Motors (item 360231678453 end time Feb-09-10 11:25:19 PST)

 

[Gusb]

Copper is good for pulling the heat but I've had trouble using it as a direct backing for filling a hole. Much better (IMHO) is any kind of sacrificial backing (small 18 ga disk, etc.) - usually the hole will plug without a good weld going through to the backing - which you can in turn grind or pop off.

That "magnet hole plug tool" (cjgoode) looks cool.

 

[azcactus]

Went to Harbor Frieght and bought a copper spoon and a really long what appeared to be a thin vise-grip. I may if I have to pull the top section, window frame and pull out the windows all together. I have to replace the felt strips anyway. These holes are getting expensive! Jeff

 

[SD_rdcruzer]

Keep us updated and shows some pics if you can. I have several holes from the PO that I'd like to fill in the future and could use some pics to help with the process.

 

[Brian in Oregon]

My son is welding up some holes in his truck. We found .030 flux core was too hot, so I bought a bottle of argon/co2 and some solid core (we're using a Millermatic 180). Makes a big difference.

 

[Fast Eddy]

make a small patch with smoe clearance on the dia. Then weld that to a small metal rod. Hold rod in place and tack around

x2 Best advice in here.

 

[apeterson]

I just did this... you are over thinking it... just go slow... and let it cool inbetween spot welds. very easy..