Hiding tack scars?

Does anyone have a trick to cover up tacks scars on the sheet metal? I have tacked some hangers and noticed a little scaring. I do not plan on painting this sign and would like a clean sheet metal look.

Hi @Ernesto . When I do stuff with hangers I just typically do a rough cleanup of the metal and finish up with the flap disc/sander after I’ve got it all welded up before finishing.

On this one (not quite the same as a hanger but the principle is the same) I finished and painted the back piece, ground down the finish to bare metal where I wanted to spot weld it and then spot welded the front to it. After that I used the flap disc and sander on the front to remove the weld spots on the front piece and clear coated the whole thing.

Not sure if that’s really a trick, just how I do it. :grinning:

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What sander and what grit sandpaper do you use? I like the finish.

tig or mig? you would need to tack very low amperage. its hard to make the mill scale not pop off. you can clamp a large piece of aluminum directly below where the weld is going to act as a heat sink.

I use a flap disc to get the big stuff of then hit it with a 120 Grit random orbit sander. If I’m leaving plain I might go back with a 240 grit to really smooth it out, but that’s project dependent …Some projects I stop with a course grinding wheel and hit it with a hammer a few times. Just depends what effect your going for in the end.

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That one was flap disk 80 grit and then I think 120/220 on my random orbit sander. Not sure if I finished with 220. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t :grinning:

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What kind of sander do you use? Grit?

Oops sorry. Y’all answered my question already. That is nice. Thank your for the tips!

No problem. Just show us a pic of the finished piece :grinning: