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Jun 14, 2017 19:16:56 GMT
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Hi all,
I'm stripping half a Mk2 Cortina for panels. Now obviously I know that they are spotwelded together, but I want to keep as many of the panels as possible, doing as little damage as I can.
I know about spot weld drills and so on, but does anybody have any good techniques for (A) locating spotwelds in painted, possibly filled panels and (B) splittring said panels with minimum of fuss and damage?
I have previously useds an air chisel, but I'm worried about the risk of running away and scrapping bits.
Is it just down to wire brushing with an angle grinder and drilling individually?
I've seen a tool I think is called a spitznagel, spotweld drill and clamp thingy combined, but the ones I've seen for sale are out of my budget.
TIA Chris
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Jun 15, 2017 10:08:53 GMT
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That's what I've been doing during my restoration - some parts where I've had to remove an outer panel to repair something behind it, but didn't want to lose the outer panel. All you can do is find the spotwelds and drill them out, which basically means removing paint and filler along the panel if you have to.
If you need to keep an outer panel but aren't bothered about the panel it's welded to, you can just use a standard drill to get rid of the spot weld. There will inevitably be some places where you go right through even using the spotweld drill, but once the panels are separated you can repair those areas, or maybe if they're going back together with another paired panel, the hole will just be on the "other" side.
As for the tools, have a look through the excellent "Making Panels" thread in "Useful Threads" - there's a page there where Tony shows how to create a spotweld drill using a standard 8mm (or 6mm) drill and a bench grinder. It's just a case of grinding the correct shape. I've seen these others that have a sprung centre, but never tried them so I don't know if they're any better than the w-profile drills. The key is, remember it's an 8mm drill so keep the speed down otherwise you'll blunt it after two spots.
Once I've drilled out spotwelds, I then get a sacrificial wallpaper scraper blade and gently tap it in between the panels. You can then tap it sideways to separate the two once you've drilled the welds out, and also see where it gets blocked because there's a weld you missed.
I found that while a lot of the welds were quite evenly spaced on my Vauxhall, there were some areas where it was as if the welder had a fit and managed to get half a dozen all close together. At that point, the only way was a die grinder and sacrifice the edge of one of the panels.
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Jun 15, 2017 10:23:54 GMT
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+1 for the sacrificial wall scrapper
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Jun 15, 2017 10:37:57 GMT
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Jun 15, 2017 13:25:30 GMT
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Forget the spring loaded spot weld drills they are a waste of time - I use a colbolt type spot weld drill which has a centre to it available from here www.lb-restoration.co.uk/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?cart_id=1492200284.14280&product=RESTORATION&pid=464 - no doubt available elsewhere - I tend to identify the spot weld location just by sanding back the paint / panel area with some 80 grit paper - take care if using a flap wheel has these can soon remove the location of faint spot weld marks - use of a spring loaded centre punch helps and prevents the drill from wondering off centre - then a thin blade like the above posts have suggested - don't use an air chisel unless you want to turn the panel into scrap |
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