Important Things to Know about Spot Welding

by | Jun 15, 2017 | Metal

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Spot welding in Cleveland is a different process than most welding techniques because it focuses on one tiny spot. Even though it seems simple, it’s easy to make mistakes when you weld and these tips can help you become a better spot welder.

What is a Spot Weld?

In order to form a bond in one small area, you can use a special spot welding machine for your Cleveland business. This machine comes in portable and shop models, and they feature two copper alloy clamping mechanisms. The top clamp points down while the bottom clamp (tong) points up and each clamp comes to a point. When brought together, the two tongs touch each other at their smallest points. The copper alloy makes a good electrical conductor, and when current passes through the clamps, it offers enough resistance to form a weld where the tongs meet at the metal. Because the weld area is so small, you can generate a great deal of heat in one place without heating up an entire section of metal.

Materials

Steel and stainless steel metals are the best materials to spot weld. Copper and aluminum are soft, and it’s easy to burn all the way through the material while trying to create a weld.

Heat Control

Some spot welders don’t have a way to control heat and if you need more heat, consider installing shorter tongs. On the other hand, when you need to weld very thin materials, you can go to longer tongs. Tong length affects electrical resistance and the shorter the tong, the greater resistance it creates.

Tong Alignment

Your spot welding tongs can get bent or out of alignment. Instead of looking for new equipment in Cleveland, you can bend your tongs to get them back into the right position. It’s important that they touch at the points when they come together.

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