Weldability of a Soda pop Can

[Hillbillysmith]

Has anyone ever welded a Soda Pop can together?? If so, I want to see this and would like to know the procedure in which you had accomplished this. I am told that this can not be done, but on the other hand, I have been told that I CAN be done but have never seen this accomplished let alone seen the process myself. But I not only want confirmation, but PROOF and PROCEDURE.

-Hillbilly

[Finnr]

Last soda can I welded was long enough ago that it had the pull off tab. It can be done, expect more failures that success till you get it all figured out. That was with an O/A rig.
Finnr

[mcraigl]

think TIG. only way I can imagine it being done routinely.

[RegionalChaos]

I think I've heard of it being done with TIG, like mcraigl suggests.

[RainsFire]

Ive done it.. not pretty by any means, but if your careful with a really small tig head.. and really gentle foot control, you can get it.

[welder19]

alum. ox/ac welding rods....and practice
If I get some time I'll do one and post a pic.

welder19

[petersenj20]

Here you go.

http://www.sergisonmachine.net/images/tig.jpg
Not mine. I got it here.

[RainsFire]

wow, thats really good!

[Phil Patrick]

I was working at one of our customers shops about two years ago. Pretty small shop, specialized in stainless and aluminum sheet metal fab. All high end cosmetic work. That was the weld test for that end of their shop. You would show up, they would hand you pop can cut in half and point you in the direction of one of their TIG welders and wait.
As a result, their weld shop was one of the best. I saw a bar top they made for a pub made of copper. Two 90 degree turns in it, absolutely perfect.

[habu68]

A friend that worked in my brother's shop for a while is one of the top micro welders in the country, he specializes in repairing plastic injection molds by welding and machining what are sometimes multi-million dollar molds. He regularly tig welds under a 200 power microscope. I have watched him weld pop cans together and lay a bead along the edge of a razor blade. I have watched him heat treat(aneal) a 3000 lb mold made of h13 to prepare it for welding ,do a small weld, machine and re-heat treat. The weld took less than 15min to do, machining another 2 hrs with set up. But to heat treat the mold took a week bring it up to temp and cooling so the tool did not warp. For a guy like me who can barely stick two pieces of 1/4 inch stock together with the buz box it was a humbling experience.