Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm working on some research for our welding department on galvanized welding procedures. We have not done much in the past but mainly MIG weld all the joints, after cleaning the weld area. During this process is it necessary to protect the remaining galvanized sheet? We actually cover the sheet while the weld is being placed to protect from damage. This is very time consuming because we then send to paint mask off again and cold spray the area that has been welded.

Any suggestions?

Can you describe what it is you are welding? I doubt that you have to protect the rest of the material while welding. The only part being affected is the heat affected zone of the weld where the galvanizing burns off. I guess it would depend on how thick the galvanizing is. Is it hot dipped galvanize?Need more info.

Yes is it galvanzied material. We are dealing with 12ga and 14ga sheet material.

If you dont cover while welding you may get some splatter when useing mig. Get your welder tuned in and you may not have a problem. What I usually do is weld wipe and brush the weld then reapply galvanize in a spray can. No tapeing. Depends on what type of finished product you want. If its galv I would assume it dont need to be all that.

hey,

very old post, this one. long since dead and buried .

mick

Yeah, this is one of two very old posts dug up.

The information is still valid, and there's no harm refreshing a topic like welding galv.

People still get that zinc nausea, the first day or two they weld it.

I welded galvanized for about a month... was sick the first day or two, fine after, and didn't have a cold or flu for a good year and a half...

Steve S

It seems as if every time I want to build a jig, I wind up welding galvanized hardware store parts together. But I keep a large plastic jar with some muriatic acid in it. Muriatic acid will eat zinc way faster than it will eat steel. So I can gently drop my galvanized hardware in the plastic jar. Ten or fifteen minutes later, I pull the hardware out with a large hemostat and rinse them off. The zinc is gone.

Muriatic acid is easily found at hardware stores.

Wear rubber gloves, clothes you can afford to get holes in and eye protection. I'm usually careful but I did splash my pants once.

The acid in the jar will turn black but it will still last quite a long time.

I suppose one could also wet a rag with muriatic acid, to remove zinc from specific spots on a large galvanized piece. I have yet to try that.