I have a prewar balloon rear fender that has two extra holes I want to repair before rolling and painting. Looks like they punched the holes in with a sharp nail so they are not too big. I have a friend that has a wire welder and will weld it for me. I don't weld and I don't think he's welded any bike fenders before. Any tips I can give him? Do I need to make some coin size pieces of sheet metal to put under the holes from the inside? Gary
I Need To Plug Weld Small Holes In Fenders...How?
- Thread starter B607
- Start date
Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:
depends of the size of the hole. if they-re big as a common nail, turn down the amperage a little to avoid making the hole bigger and buzz away! but if its like, a railroad tie nail.. :shock: you might need a filler.
Another trick you can try is to back up the hole with a piece of copper or brass. It will help to dissipate some of the heat so you wont blow holes in the thin metal. If you keep the heat fairly low then the mild steel weld material wopn't stick to the copper. I have used this technique to fill trim holes in car bodies and it works pretty good.
That's a great tip! What I always do is just turn the wire speed and the voltage down pretty far by guessing and nail it anyway. :lol: I've never had to use a piece of metal and I haven't burned through any guard or fender yet. Sounds to me like the metal piece tip is the better thing to try.
The HOLE in this BB, which was from a down tube (removed), was just filled in by tigging, no patch used. then just blended with a grinder, then bondo. Make it look like a BLUEBERRY if you have to, then just grind.
Maybe a crunchberryej599 said:
How about a dingleberry? seriously, I would form a clean flat piece of copper to the fender and clamp it to the backside. Do yourself a favor and remove a 2" area of paint on both sides also before ya' weld. If you mig it, don't do a long continuos weld either or you may burn an even bigger hole than you started with. Do a quick weld-let it cool til a couple seconds and repeat. Practice on a junk fender or other piece of metal of similar thickness. Good luck!
seriously, I would form a clean flat piece of copper to the fender and clamp it to the backside. Do yourself a favor and remove a 2" area of paint on both sides also before ya' weld. If you mig it, don't do a long continuos weld either or you may burn an even bigger hole than you started with. Do a quick weld-let it cool til a couple seconds and repeat. Practice on a junk fender or other piece of metal of similar thickness. Good luck!Gary the tin is real thin ... & will expand a lot when heated .
Get a spray / Mister bottle full of watter handy close by .
The copper sheet is another good deal
Close up suspect holes all ya can with small pecks against a dolly with a small ball peen or Carborator Hammer LOL ... this will generaly shrink hole a little.
OK here we go... apply copper directly behind area to be welded ... hood down & ZAPPPPPP ... now hit it real fast with the mister bottle & wet rags to shrink it back real quick ..... hit it with the mister bottle while it is still red hot 4 best shrinkage
Do a test hole on a junk fender to see how it works out
Get a spray / Mister bottle full of watter handy close by .
The copper sheet is another good deal
Close up suspect holes all ya can with small pecks against a dolly with a small ball peen or Carborator Hammer LOL ... this will generaly shrink hole a little.
OK here we go... apply copper directly behind area to be welded ... hood down & ZAPPPPPP ... now hit it real fast with the mister bottle & wet rags to shrink it back real quick ..... hit it with the mister bottle while it is still red hot 4 best shrinkage
Do a test hole on a junk fender to see how it works out
Latest posts
-
-
Bike from the Dead's Freshly-Exhumed Finds (Everything I've dug up since 6/15/21)- Latest: Bike from the Dead
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
