hey guys,

for any of your who are welders or are pretty good at it. what is the best way to grind a weld smooth?


my son and i are building a go kart and we have the frame welded together but now need to grind all the welds smooth

 

With a grinder?

Have you done any kind of work like this? What tools do you have access to?

- NCSU

 

well i can use an angle grinder but i dont know what type of disc i should use?


i have alot of 90 degree corners etc so i will also need something that can get down into those little places

 

When I welded the gates for my house I used an angle grinder to grind the welds. I'm definitely not a great welder, but my gates turned out pretty good.

 

Is there an airgas/national welders near you? That's where we buy ALL our welding supplies. From what you described, just a typical small handheld 4-1/2" grinding disc. Make sure it is for grinding, not a flap/sanding disc. Also, If you bevel/chamfer the ends of the metal you are using, you will have a wider surface to fill weld. It will be stronger and hopefully wont leave as much to grind.

 

Use an angle grinder. Maybe use a dremel on the tighter spots.

 

Use a small grinder, and then if you want to get it even smother use a cut off wheel for an air grinder and just use the side of it, it will flex as you grind on it and make a very smooth surface.
Use a wheel made of fiber like this one.
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...2048_151162204
If you dont have a pneumatic grinder then you can use this but it takes much longer.
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en...num=1&ct=title

 

like everyone has stated.. angle grinder... im getting pretty darn good at using one. (IE my welds SUCK!)

 

Dont grind the welds smooth, you loose strength by doing this. If you were building something that didnt need to be very strong but needed to look good, then grinding the welds would be okay. But, since you are building the frame of a go-kart that you will be riding in, you want to have the frame as strong as possible to protect you.

 

Ya don't grind them flat, just smooth them up that way they look good with paint, all you really want to do is take off the rough stuff.

 

at work if i need to do metal work, i just knock off the sharp spots so even morons intentionally trying to hurt themselves cant. then i polish it with the sanding/flap disc.

 

i preffer sanding flap disks over a grinding disk, much easier and take off a lot more then you would think

 

^^X2. i also use a pincil grinder for hard to reach places. flap disc leaves a smooth finish. doesn't leave cut marks like regular disc do.

 

ok so, i had already grinded smooth about have the welds on just the bottom frame, thats all we have done.


you guys think i should just stop, hit every weld with a wire brush to clean it off and then call it good?

 

yeah kinda, i'd honestly just take the sharp spots down so that you cant get clothes snagged or cut your hand accidentally.