Griding A Weld On Sheet Metal

K36 k120 pre grinding second step.

Griding a weld on sheet metal.

The best tool for weld finishing is the flap disc. Removing weld splatter without overgrinding 50 grit or finer. These are essentially layered squares of sandpaper bonded onto a plastic or composite disc. Keep your grinding disc nearly parallel to the metal so the grinder smoothes out the edges of your weld even to the sheet metal.

High where overgrinding is a concern such as thin walled sheet metal. The act of grinding can be deceivingly simple. Continue the same way along the sides of the piece of sheet metal. The aim here is to grind the joint down to a level and continuous surface with the rest of the parent metal.

Another issue with grinding wheels is that they are fragile. As a rule when mig welding sheet metal never use a body filler metal that is thicker than the base metal. Kfs 125 ce ii va. A100 a30 fine grinding third ste.

Hold the grinding disc as level as you can to the piece of metal. However if you are dealing with materials that are 18 gauge or thicker one should be able to use 030 inch welding wire. But there s no getting around it. 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.

The removal of excess stock from the weld itself. For weld clean up on sheet metal there are much better tools available. At every process upstream most precision sheet metal fabricators employ at least some level of automation. Grinding down a weld on a formed workpiece is and probably will remain an intensely manual operation.

Overhead work where the weight of the grinder is important. Initial weld grinding the first stage of weld finishing is the same. Made of compressed composites if they get in a bind or crack from heat they can shatter sending brutal shrapnel all over the place including your face. But the devil s in the details.

It is recommended that a welder should use 023 or 024 inch wire for light gauge sheet metal work.