Ford F-150 2015 Structural Repair Training Course page 51

Textbook
Grinding￿wheels￿may￿be￿identified￿as￿aluminum-
specific￿abrasives￿(left).￿Carbide￿cutting￿tools￿can￿be
used￿to￿remove￿a￿weld￿bead￿(right).
After￿a￿part￿has￿been￿welded:
closely￿inspect￿the￿welds￿to
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identify￿any￿possible￿defects.￿A
dye￿penetrant￿may￿be￿used￿to
verify￿there￿are￿no￿defects￿in￿the
welds.
if￿a￿defect￿has￿been￿identified,
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grind￿away￿the￿weld￿and￿reweld
the￿area.￿For￿example,￿a￿carbide
bit￿may￿be￿used.
dress￿the￿weld￿if￿necessary.
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Some￿vehicle￿makers￿use￿spot￿welds￿on￿their￿vehicle,
even￿though￿spot￿welds￿cannot￿be￿duplicated￿in
repairs.
Spot￿welds￿are:
2015￿Ford￿F-150￿Structural￿Repair￿Training￿Course￿(FOR06)
Module￿3￿-￿Aluminum￿Joining￿Methods
generally￿used￿for￿new￿vehicle
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construction.
not￿duplicated￿during￿repairs.
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This￿is￿because￿spot￿welds￿are
not￿easily￿made￿due￿to￿power
requirements￿and￿machine
limitations.￿To￿make￿a￿spot￿weld
in￿aluminum￿without￿the￿use￿of
steel￿plates,￿to￿add￿resistance￿and
heat,￿approximately￿25,000￿amps
would￿be￿required.￿Currently,
about￿12,000￿amps￿are￿required￿to
make￿an￿effective￿weld￿in￿steel.
often￿replaced￿with￿rivets.
•
As￿technology￿progresses,￿a￿spot￿welding
machine￿becoming￿an￿option￿for￿vehicle
repair￿is￿a￿possibility.￿As￿more￿aluminum
is￿used￿on￿vehicle￿structures,￿alternative
repair￿options￿will￿drive￿this￿technology
for￿aftermarket￿repair￿facilities.
Shown￿is￿an￿Aluspot￿aluminum￿repair￿station.
When￿straightening￿cosmetic￿/￿exterior
panel￿damage:
a￿stud￿welder￿designed￿for
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aluminum￿may￿be￿used.
aluminum￿studs￿are￿welded￿to￿the
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damaged￿area.￿After￿the￿panel￿is
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