How To Grind Sheet Metal Welds

Effective grinding requires operators to apply enough pressure at the correct angle to let the grains the cutting tool of a grinding disc remove the most metal in the shortest time while not prematurely wearing the disc or burning out the grinding tool.

How to grind sheet metal welds.

The neater your weld was the less grinding you will have to do and after you have spent a whole day grinding you will see why it s worth it to keep your welds neat in the first place. In effect you grind the spot welds and remove part of the metal to make the actual removal process easier. I carefully ground down the weld making sure not to grind into the thin sheetmetal around it. Dealing with or preventing the heat discoloration on the outside of the cabinet when brackets are welded to the inside surfaces of the cabinet.

Join the ccrc community to access a huge library of instructional classic car restoration videos. Once you have removed the majority of the first layer of metal use a punch or chisel and hammer to break the rest of the metal free. Using a grinding wheel on a weld. Choosing the right grinder.

Slap a grinding wheel onto an angle grinder and get started grinding on the weld. You are just removing excess weld to make the final rounds easier. At this point your gaps should be about a quarter inch apart. I prefer to use a thin cut off wheel for this as it seems to be more precise and puts less heat into the panel than a grinding disk.

Set one end of a c clamp on the. Don t try to grind them flush. To achieve this initial stock removal and if the surface finish is not essential the metal worker might choose to use a simple grinding wheel with an angle grinder. Using an angle grinder remove the metal directly above the spot weld without burning thorough the panel.

I ve always used angle grinding discs to finish welds but the ordinary grinding discs are very coarse and difficult to control so i tended to grind almost back to the parent metal then use a little body filler. Clamp the metal to your work surface. Smoothing welds on sheet metal. Use an electric grinder to be fast and efficient.

Before you close up the gaps on your next time around grind the tops off of the welds with a 24 grit disc. How to grind metal method 1 of 4. Once it s welded solid you just have to grind the weld down flush.