Fences are used for many purposes, ranging from protective functions to decorating structures. They are also good alternatives to demarcate a piece of land from another.
You might have had a need to weld a fence and considered doing it yourself; however, you’re discouraged as you probably find it difficult. Welding is not as complicated as you might think. It is fairly easy and can be fun.
Welding involves using electrical current to heat and melt metals at high temperatures; this is to join the melted pieces together. There are many ways to weld, but the focus will be Gas Metal Arc Welding for this article, widely known as MIG.
How to Weld a Fence
1. Ensure Your Safety
Safety is at the heart of every welding operation, as there is a certain number of risks involved. Ensure that you follow all safety precautions before and after every operation. Listed below is a list of safety wears required.
- Leather Apron or Leather jacket; Occasionally while welding, sparks from welding can come in contact with your skin and cause burns. Wearing an apron literally gets you covered.
- Auto-darkening welding helmet: Welding produces sparks that are extremely bright and also harmful to your eyes. Wearing a helmet not only protects you from the bright lights but also from the flying debris that might come toward your face.
- Heavy-duty welding glove: The glove protects your hand from electric shock and heat radiation coming from the welding equipment.
- Welding Boot: You should wear a welding boot to protect you from stepping on harmful metal debris. It also doubles as protection against electric shock, heat and radiation.
2. What you need
Depending on the size of your fence, the dimensions of the steel may vary. However, the process is the same. In this guide, we’ll be using pieces of precut 42-inches and 36-inches steel.
The welding apparatus required for this operation are:
- Fifteen pieces of precut 36-inches steel
- Three pieces of precut 42-inches steel
- MIG welder
- Ground Clamp
- Angle glider or sandpaper
- Filler
- Acetone
- A piece of rag
3. Preparation
It is essential to clean all the precut and fabricated steel bars before welding. This ensures that you thoroughly remove impurities that can interfere with the process. Impurities like grease, dirt, rust, and paints make the steel bars resist welding, making the process needlessly difficult.
To clean your precut metals, scrap the steel surface with sandpaper or an angle glider, then wipe the steel with Acetone. Afterward, wipe dry with a clean rag to prevent rusting.
4. Welding Process
- Clamp the ground clamp of the welder to the workbench; this will prevent electrocution in case you come in contact with it.
- Place the 42-inches steel rod horizontally on the workbench, place the 36inches steel vertically, and weld together using a MIG welder.
- Repeat the procedure for all the fifteen 36-inches steel bars, maintain 3⅞ spacing.
- Tack weld every piece together and ensure strong cohesion between the vertically aligned and the horizontally aligned steels.
- Place the last two 42-inches steel bars on the pickets and tack weld together.
- Inspect your workpiece and bead weld all over again.
- Clean up the fence and smooth out the welded edges.
- Now your fence is ready, clean up your equipment and environment.
Welding is not as difficult as it may seem, especially if you carefully follow the guidelines detailed above. Sometimes however, doing it on a large scale can prove tiring and challenging then; you should seek the help of welding consultants.