cleaning welds for painting

[Muggnz]

hi,

how do I best cleaning welds for painting? I plan on using Hammerite Direct To Rust Metal Paint.

Is there way to do this, without having to resort to the wire brush method?

The welds have been created by a gas fired MIG welder.

thanks
david

[Larwyn]

hi,

how do I best cleaning welds for painting? I plan on using Hammerite Direct To Rust Metal Paint.

Is there way to do this, without having to resort to the wire brush method?

The welds have been created by a gas fired MIG welder.

thanks
david

Well, I use a 4.5" angle grinder with a cup brush and then wipe the steel down with a rag soaked in denatured alcohol. Seems to work good enough for me.

[Mike Angeles]

Flap disk on your Grinder, cleans up very nice

[Joe G]

Nothing beats a sandblaster. But short of that, do exactly what Larwyn said.

[Dale M.]

Gas shielded MIG welds should be clean to start with, should not need any special preparations.. Just prep as rest of materials that make up frame and paint. If using "flux" core wire, use various methods described above to remove flux/scale....

Dale

[asianflava]

We used a wirefeed MIG on my frame. It wasn't nearly as dirty as another project when we used flux coated wire on a stick welder. Whe had to use a chipping hammer to clean them

I cleaned mine frame with laquer thinner prior to paint. I also used Rust Bullet paint.

[Steve_Cox]

I did the cup brush on the 4 1/2" grinder, and washed the steel with acetone, since that was what I had handy. Painted with red primer then Hammerite.

[Muggnz]

thanks everybody.

I've got a couple more welds to go before final cleaning & painting.

After that I guess I get to watch paint dry, harden & ablate.

david

[Muggnz]

after all the fuss & botheration I went through to get this far. I decided to try the wire "brush" wheel attached to my electric drill. Just to see what it'd do. And was suprised. It removed ALL the rubbish in & around the welds. & polished the metal very nicely. So half a day later I had a nice polished chassis.

I used white spirits ( AKA lighter fuel ) to rub down the metal before painting. Using an old toothbrush to get into the depths of the welds.

david

[frank_a]

I clean stuff up, then dress welds with a bit of body fill, let it dry, sand smooth, clean again (usually NAPA's Kleanz-Easy), then prime and paint.

Frank