EternalCitizen
XS650 Enthusiast
Have any of you guys used a flap disk of your bike to clean up bulky uneven welds? All Of the welds are deep but there's a a lot of road bumps lol. How far could I grind these down?
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Grinding welds
- Thread starter EternalCitizen
- Start date
Hi EC,
as my concept of tidying up a weld is to chip the worst of the slag off perhaps I'm the wrong guy to ask but so long as the weld has good enough penetration that the external blobs ain't it's main strength a flap disc should clean it up real nice.
as my concept of tidying up a weld is to chip the worst of the slag off perhaps I'm the wrong guy to ask but so long as the weld has good enough penetration that the external blobs ain't it's main strength a flap disc should clean it up real nice.
EternalCitizen
XS650 Enthusiast
Thanks Fred. I bought a 40 grit flap disk, that should take it way down. I'll post some before after pictures in the morning.
angus67
Welder's penetrate deeper!!
If your welds are blobby, they are prolly too cold, wich leads to minimal penetration. If your welds aren't blobby, = Good penetration, and we wouldn't be here. Perhaps your blobs are different than some I've seen. Throw up a pic
Hi angus,
the original post said the welds were "bulky eneven" and "All of the welds are deep"
"blobby" was my take on it.
And while "blobby" does imply a minimal penetration weld, maybe his have full penetration but are just plain ugly?
So yeah, throw up a pic.
the original post said the welds were "bulky eneven" and "All of the welds are deep"
"blobby" was my take on it.
And while "blobby" does imply a minimal penetration weld, maybe his have full penetration but are just plain ugly?
So yeah, throw up a pic.
Hahaha, I've seen those. Watched a 'spaced-out' welder once.
Plenty of penetration, almost punching thru.
Plenty of extra metal.
Like the Kansas state motto: "Linger Longer"...
EternalCitizen
XS650 Enthusiast
EternalCitizen
XS650 Enthusiast
I bought the frame like this, I have a buddy who tig welds and he said you can grind them flush then do a "wash weld" with a tig and it will make it nice and purty. Anyone ever do this?
westonboege
XS650 Addict
I do quite a bit of tig welding. Grinding them flush and wash welding them would be a good idea... not only for looks, but bird poop welds like that arent very strong. Those welds might hold up forever just fine, but would be wiser to clean them up and make sure they penetrated.
The only problem with wash welding is making sure the weld is super clean after grinding and smoothing...
The only problem with wash welding is making sure the weld is super clean after grinding and smoothing...
Wes, I've never done TIG (on my bucket list), but can't the existing welds be reflowed with TIG, as-is without pre-grinding (but paint stripped and cleaned)?
I also don't like the look of that 3rd pic, coldweld...
I also don't like the look of that 3rd pic, coldweld...
Demorgan
XS650 Enthusiast
without grinding to fresh metal there WILL be impurities, no matter how hard ye clean and then imperfections in the weld.. unfortunately...
Hi 2Many,
our welding shop had a guy we all called "Chester Warpantorch"
Qualified up the ying-Yang but before he joined our outfit he'd spent 20 years re-surfacing bulldozer blades and earthmover buckets.
Boy, could he weld the heavy stuff. Anything thinner than 1/4"? Not so much.
But back to the original poster's 'orrible welds.
Now that I've seen the photos, OK, they might stand up but grinding out, cleaning up and TIG wash-welding would be better.
EternalCitizen
XS650 Enthusiast
Thanks guys, I'm going to go that route then. Another question just because I'm curious... How many times can you weld-grind-weld-grind a spot? Does the metal become brittle or lose its strength? I don't plan to do this haha just wondering
westonboege
XS650 Addict
You could just clean the paint and flow over with the tig torch, but youd need alot of heat to get through those globs. As to EternalCitizens worry about rewelding too many times.. you might need too much heat to be beneficial I would think...
As for how many times you can weld something im not really sure. Getting anything metal too hot once can make it brittle. Sometimes ill get some porosity when welding stainless, and will go back over it with some 309 rod. But I would worry about doing it more than 2-3 passes. But it all depends on what kind of steel that tail is made out of and how thick it is.
Youll be fine if you clean them down and go back over them once or twice if you hit some dirty spots...
As for how many times you can weld something im not really sure. Getting anything metal too hot once can make it brittle. Sometimes ill get some porosity when welding stainless, and will go back over it with some 309 rod. But I would worry about doing it more than 2-3 passes. But it all depends on what kind of steel that tail is made out of and how thick it is.
Youll be fine if you clean them down and go back over them once or twice if you hit some dirty spots...
Been doing some gloss-over cursury reading on GTAW (tig), and come to realize just how seriously ignorant I am on this process. It's a massive world unto itself.
Did find an article on tig wash welding that mentioned "dilution" and "chromium depletion":
https://app.aws.org/forum/topic_show.pl?tid=27294
Metal Wizard Machine
XS650 Addict
You can't know how many times will put too much heat into the material unless you know exactly what the material is. As in grade.
On a bike frame? You'll be fine. It's not rocket science.
I'd sand them close to flush. Leave them a bit convexed to save you from grinding too deep and gouging. Have your friend run a weave over with the TIG and some ER70 rod and then prep for paint.
On a bike frame? You'll be fine. It's not rocket science.
I'd sand them close to flush. Leave them a bit convexed to save you from grinding too deep and gouging. Have your friend run a weave over with the TIG and some ER70 rod and then prep for paint.
Metal Wizard Machine
XS650 Addict
wherearewe
Rub on Ya Titties
Try the 'blue' discs. I forgot what they are called but you can get ones that look sorta like my link at the bottom, but fit onto a grinder. They are less abrasive than flap discs. They are excellent for prepping a surface before mig welding and they won't eat into the metal very fast at all. With skill they can be used to knock down a high weld without putting the surrounding metal at risk of scalloping. They also last for ages. The surface of the discs look like these...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PX262LQ?psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PX262LQ?psc=1
EternalCitizen
XS650 Enthusiast
Ohh yeah!! I used these on my last bike. Or something close to that. It was great for stripping all the paint down and cleaning up blemishes. I'll grab one of these. Good call where are we. And thanks everyone for the info. Makes me want to take some time and learn to properly weld. If only I could get my hands on a welder.....
