Grinding lots of welds

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This is for anyone one that grinds a lot of welds.

I build mostly tube fixtures with anywhere from 1"-2" sq tube. My customer wants all welds that can be seen ground smooth.

I have been using flap discs for a long time and decided its time to change.
I want to go back to a fiber type disc with a backing pad and I am looking at the quick change style.
Everything I do gets painted with a gloss color so flatness it pretty important.

I have been looking at 3M, Pferd, Walters, Norton and I am overwhelmed. I want real word opinions to point me in the right direction.

So any of you that do a lot of grinding and blending of welds that need to be flat and look pretty good please share what your using.
If your using flap discs I already know about those thanks

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I believe the are scotch brite in a twist lock. They do a good job blending in.

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These will give you a nice finish but do not last long with heavy pressure. I would suggest these after you have “tamed” the weld a bit.

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https://a.co/d/3HPg4l3

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I think what @Knick is suggesting is his welds are good enough all he needs is the scotchbrite to blend them smooth… it’s a hard thing for us members of the grinder club to comprehend. :wink: :joy: As President of the grinder club, I have to use an abrasive disc to get it tamed down to where a flap disc will work. :wink: :joy:

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So your saying there is a wide range between one person’s “wild” and another’s “tamed?” :thinking:

I can respect that! :wink:

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I have these already problem with these is sometimes they leave a residue behind. I would use a scotch brite before using this for blending.

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Thanks for starting this, I am interested to see others perspectives on this.

Following

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This is what I have been using here lately:

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Yes, they leave a terrible resin residue when they get warm.

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That Pferd system is very interesting.

Do you use it for “everything” i.e. A high percentage of all your grinding needs?

Do you like it?

And the best recommendation ever is “would you buy it again if you lost it”? :slight_smile:
Thanks

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I just started using it, but yes, I would definitely buy again. I use it on all customer pieces as well as any personal that have exposed welds.

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That’s cool. Thanks for the response Dave.

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I was at Fireball tool today and they have the best prices on the Combiclick but are out of much it.
I am going to look in this system more after I hear more of what people are using.

Are you using a fiber disk to get the weld down close to the base metal or a bonded disk?
What grits start to finish?

I will talking with a 3M rep tomorrow about what they carry in the TN series (just like the Combiclick)

When I was at Fabtech they showed me a fiber disk maybe a 40 grit and than followed that with a very course scotch brite pad. It seemed to do a decent job, but I am not sure if would be ready for paint.
Cant believe you can get all the 40 grit scratch out with a Scotch brite pad but who knows.

I would think you would need to go 40, 60 than S-brite pad. Although it did seem pretty aggressive

Only way to know would be to paint it. I do like the that there is no nut sticking below the pad itself.

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Start with 3" 60g 3m, then 3" 0r 5" 80g 3m on a da, if scotchbrite red if you want. Make sure you v seems, before you weld if your worried about strength. If your welds are big you can start with 5" flap to knock it down to speed it up. You save some money on other brands but you will use more discs.

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You dont use a grinder? A DA seems painfully slow

I am currently using flap disks and thats what I want to get away from.
Its much to time consuming to get a surface that is perfectly flat.
I have some of the 3M fiber discs coming in the TN style and some of the coarser Scotch Brite and will see how those work.

Thanks for posting