With all the welders on this site I haven’t seen this trick mentioned. To fix a burn through grind off the back side any dross(fancy word for Dingle berries ) then hold,clamp, or otherwise apply a piece of brass to cover the hole and weld shut. The weld won’t or just minimally stick to the brass.
That is a good trick Tom. I wish I would have known that when I was in the middle of my build! Thanks for sharing.
From a welder use a bentonite based (clay) heatsink compound on the backside of thin metal and don’t make the hole in the first place. Really we all burn through from time to time. I normally just let the piece cool
some, weld it shut and keep going. It’s all practice.
burnthru on light gauge sheet is an annoying fact of welding light gauge with welders really designed for heavier sheet or light plate thickness’s…lol now burnthru on 1/2" plate is serious annoyance and generally time for new boot laces as well.
Copper works the same as brass for helping stop burnthru…both materials rob the heat from the back side of the weld pool making the steel ‘set’ in place
Clamping a decent sized chunk of aluminum plate to the back of a thin sheet one wants to weld will also work fairly well.
I use brass or aluminum round stock to fix out of round holes all the time…stick the brass or aluminum in the good part of the hole… weld around it and drive it out… grind flush…no drilling necessary after…make sure you use correct size round stock for the hole being repaired
Dennis
really cool tips guys, got anymore? I’m listening