Warbird Information Exchange

I was watching a youtube video from one of the car guys and it got me thinking. Can we do the same for aircraft?

http://youtu.be/gcgC3V3mkcw

@ 2:20 is where Lazze is talking about the technique.

Any thoughts?

PC

Large portion of the F4U Corsair was spot welded in fact Chance Vought pioneered the process in the late 30s.

Virtually all Warbirds built of Alum late in the war had some parts spot welded.
NAA built 3 versions of the Horizontal Stabilizer for the T-6, 1st was riveted, 2nd had stringers spot welded, and the 3rd was made of wood. The 2nd type was designed and built from late 42 or so on till at least the end of the war.
It was faster to run a spot weld than rivet so it helped increase production.

Spot welding aircraft during the war was done with Mil-Spec welders. They made the weld consistent, and were capable of doing so without risking degradation to the strength of both pieces of metal. I would not recommend doing the welder shortcut to doing it right on aircraft, as you really can't tell what you've done to the strength of the aluminum around the spot weld. There are restorers out there with the proper equipment... get it done right, don't risk the failure.

Thanks for the follow up guys. The biggest problems that come to mind are inconsistent welds and dissimilar metals.

PC

Also aren't there some grades of aircraft aluminum that cannot be welded?