Welding advice

[JBR]

I'm looking for a bit of advice from a welder, or someone with some welding experience. I am hoping to create some licence plate art (frames, collages etc). The best method seems to be welding them together. I've found some relatively inexpensive small stick welding units, but nobody at Home Depot or Rona has been overly helpful.

Are licence plates too thin to weld? Is there a better method, or product?

I seem to have had a creative spark, but am sadly lacking in the execution phase...

[burn_this_city]

I wouldn't weld license plates since they are galvanized steel. The fumes can make you pretty sick if you don't know what you're doing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_fume_fever

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Wire-feed MIG welder, you'll thank me for it.

[cavalera403]

The galinized metal will make you sick unless you have the proper ventilation AND a proper respirator.

As far as welding and wanting to do artistic thin gauge stuff GTAW (gas tungsten arc welding) is your best bet but is t cheap.
Air liquide or other welding supply outlets will have much better and more helpful advise for you.

[Boblobla]

Wont be able to stick weld something that thin, you will just blow a hole in it. MIG welder will probably also have a bit too much heat to weld that material, might be able to get away with tacking though. TIG (Same as GTAW above) would be the way to go but it requires more hand skills than MIG.

But as listed above, galvanized is nasty nasty #### to weld. You could try buffing the back of the plates and then tacking the corners but it would still be good to get some sort of respirator.

[surferguy]

What about rivets for something that thin.

[Hack&Lube]

Something hanging on your wall does not need strong structural integrity like welding. You can epoxy or JB Weld.

[Vulcan]

I've done a lot of heavy construction welding years ago but it was all stick and I've done some OxyAcetylene welding. If you want to weld very thin metal with a stick welder, I'd advise you to get a machine that you can adjust the voltage as well as the amps. Probably expensive. I'd go with OxyAcetylene as it's fine for thin materials or even brazing.

I wouldn't recommend welding license plates though because of the galvanized factor. What I did with galvanized material was to grind off the galvanized coating in the area of the weld before welding but license plates are so thin, I don't know it you'd have anything left.

[JBR]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Something hanging on your wall does not need strong structural integrity like welding. You can epoxy or JB Weld.

Reading about it more online, this seems like the thing to try.

Thanks all.