Patent ID: 8413878

Claim:
A method of welding for joining an external skin of an aircraft fuselage and a clip together, the method comprising: prepositioning a welding additive material as an element at a location of the external skin at which the external skin and the clip are to be joined, the welding additive material consisting of a single U-shaped profile forming a pocket, the welding additive material being provided separately from the clip, such that a surface of the pocket of the welding additive material conforms around a portion of a surface of the clip when the clip is disposed into the pocket of the welding additive material as a component separate from the welding additive material; disposing the clip between two stringers and in the pocket of the single U-shaped profile; melting the welding additive and at least a portion of the external skin and the clip such that the clip is fused to the external skin; and attaching a frame to the clip.