Griding A Weld On Sheet Metal

Another issue with grinding wheels is that they are fragile.

Griding a weld on sheet metal. A100 a30 fine grinding third ste. The aim here is to grind the joint down to a level and continuous surface with the rest of the parent metal. At every process upstream most precision sheet metal fabricators employ at least some level of automation. But there s no getting around it.

The removal of excess stock from the weld itself. It is recommended that a welder should use 023 or 024 inch wire for light gauge sheet metal work. Hold the grinding disc as level as you can to the piece of metal. These are essentially layered squares of sandpaper bonded onto a plastic or composite disc.

Overhead work where the weight of the grinder is important. In this demo see the 2 step weld removal and paint prep process using a 3m cubitron ii flap disc 969f and a scotch brite light grinding and blending disc. High where overgrinding is a concern such as thin walled sheet metal. But the devil s in the details.

Initial weld grinding the first stage of weld finishing is the same. Keep your grinding disc nearly parallel to the metal so the grinder smoothes out the edges of your weld even to the sheet metal. However if you are dealing with materials that are 18 gauge or thicker one should be able to use 030 inch welding wire. Better surface finish than a grinding wheel or fiber disc grit for grit.

Kfs 125 ce ii va. Say if you are welding an 18 gauge stainless steel sheet that is 2 2 feet in size to repair the side of your tank start by creating a weld that is 1inch long then skip 6 inches and then create a 1 inch long weld. Continue the same way along the sides of the piece of sheet metal. Removing weld splatter without overgrinding 50 grit or finer.

Grinding down a weld on a formed workpiece is and probably will remain an intensely manual operation. The best tool for weld finishing is the flap disc. For weld clean up on sheet metal there are much better tools available. As a rule when mig welding sheet metal never use a body filler metal that is thicker than the base metal.

Welds tend to have dips up and down so holding the grinder at an angle could cause it to gouge into the metal.