Grinding Down Welds On Sheet Metal

Grind it almost flush maybe leaving a very slight crown.

Grinding down welds on sheet metal.

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. 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. The last step is to grind down the weld with a 3m reinforced weld grinding wheel. Grinding down a weld on a formed workpiece is and probably will remain an intensely manual operation.

High where overgrinding is a concern such as thin walled sheet metal. But the devil s in the details. But there s no getting around it. You must avoid touching the panels with the grinder as they can get too thin really fast using this tool.

Welds tend to have dips up and down so holding the grinder at an angle could cause it to gouge into the metal. The act of grinding can be deceivingly simple. Removing weld splatter without overgrinding 50 grit or finer. The aim here is to grind the joint down to a level and continuous surface with the rest of the parent metal.

Overhead work where the weight of the grinder is important. Using a grinding wheel on a weld. At every process upstream most precision sheet metal fabricators employ at least some level of automation. It s better to leave just a little extra rather than go to far.

Hold the grinding disc as level as you can to the piece of metal. Better surface finish than a grinding wheel or fiber disc grit for grit.