Easy grind wire... and welding inside out?

I weld mine inside out whenever I can

 

Inside out definetely saves time grinding, no clue on the easy grind wire, thou.

 

if you can get someone to help
maybe holding a piece of copper on the outside would help too?

keep as much contained as possible into the shape you need?

** i dont use a MIG so im just guessing that this will work **

good luck
Zach

 

When possible, you can back up the weld with a 1/4" piece of copper (the wire won't stick to it). I had a friend hold the copper (with vice grips) on the back side of my firewall, while I filled holes on from the outside.

J.

 

Yes, you can weld insideout. The metal doesn't know- or care.

 

Another option for backing with copper is to flatten a 1 foot piece of copper water pipe an inch or two and bend it at a slight angle. Hold the flat piece on the back of the weld, and use the rest as the handle.

 

as for the easy-grind wire? the steel is soft steel, so why would you use anything harder than easy grind?? no reason for hardweld.....

 

I weld from the outside
both sides get ground and grinding the inside can be tough

never tried the easy grind wire
is it more malleable too?

 

I've used it and didn't think there was any difference. A friend with a welding shop likes it. He used ESAB wire. There you go, two different opinions. Lotta help, huh?

 

I did a story with John Balow of Muscle Car Restorations in Wisconsin. His shop has restored many Mopar Nationals OE Certified Gold cars, as well as several factory light-weight drag cars (high end muscle car restoration is what he does...some of the highest end).
The story I did was putting a quarter on a Charger...the quarter was like 8 feet long, and he joined it right down the middle, and left the factory flange at the door jamb.
He swears by the easy-grind wire. The whole quarter was put on using tach welds spaced the entire way, and then the welds were ground with the edge of a grind stone, bringing down the high spots only, rather than a flat grinding disc that also removes material from both sides of the weld joint.

But here's the real tip you're after: He did a demonstration for me with the easy grind, and but welded two 8-inch pieces of metal together. He then bend the metal along the seam, and it didn't crack. Then he bent it 90-degrees, through the seam, and no problem. Then he twisted it, and it still held. The easy grind behaved like the parent metal.

I haven't had the opportunity to weld on my own panels yet, but when I do, it's going to be with a spool of easy grind. I'll keep the hard wire for welding my shop equipment, welding tables, etc.
-Brad

 

I bought a spool of the Easy Grind a few months ago to weld patch panels on the '57 truck. Be ready for the sticker shock when you go to buy.

It is easier to grind, but does definitely spatter more. A cool trick is to use a 3 inch cut-off wheel to grind the majority of the bead down and finish with 2-3" rolocs.

Regarding welding from the inside versus the outside, if the welder is set up properly. you should end up with the same amount of bead on each side.

 

I use the easy grind .035, (with gas) always have. Don't have access to the welder to get other specs right now.

The only "problem", is sometimes when grinding, the wheel edge has a tendency to gouge and dig in. My welds have always been super strong.

Makes me wonder what the advantage of non-easy grind is...like if extra strength pain reliever is avaliable, who would use "regular" strength?

 

I never heard of easy grind wire ?

Where do you get it ?

 

I have not used Easy Grind (have heard some people really like it though), but I use .023 (bigger Wire means more Amps, more chance of blow through)-as far as grinding, I usually use Rolocs (and lots of them)-if I use a 3" cut-off, I double stack them to try and help the "gouge" factor. I have always used Lincoln ER70S6 wire, though-

 

If I'm MIGing, I weld from the backside whenever possible. But I still grind the knobs off the top, just so it looks good.

Never tried the easy grind wire though.

Been doing TIG work lately and getting better every day. Definitely doesn't make any difference front vs. back then.

 

What? They have Easy Grind wire?
Dammit - I wish I'd know that before I spent years grinding what seems like miles of weld seems!
Being self-taught really ****s sometimes - I need a supervisor to let me know when I am doing it the hard way.

 

I would like to try the JW Harris 20 Gauge sometime-I hear it grinds easily and is designed for thin Sheetmetal-they advertise that it won't burn through although I find that hard to believe-

 

I really like the ESAB easy grind wire. It is definitely easier and faster to grind. It grinds at about the same speed as normal steel. I think it is definitely worth paying more for. I got mine at the local welding shop.

The only thing funny that I noticed about it is that it seems to weld just slightly hotter than the normal wire. You need to use just a hair less power than you would with the normal wire.

For sheet metal work where you're not using much power, the backup piece of copper can be as thin as 1/16" -- as in the side of a 1-1/2" diameter piece of copper pipe or a 1-1/2" diameter copper pipe fitting. The different curves that are on a big copper elbow fitting make it easy to find an area that you can hold up flush to the curved backside of a piece of your car's sheetmetal.

I sometimes weld from the backside and sometimes from the front side. If it's a low crown panel, welding from the front side kind of seems better. Because when you weld, the bead shrinks as it cools, and that tends to pull the bead inward into the car. You wind up with a slightly depressed area around the weld. When you go to sand the bead flush, you'll see a slight depression in the surrounding metal above and below the actual weld. That works out good if you're going to skim some body filler over the weld. You'll wind up with a little filler above and below the weld after you sand the filler down flat.

If you weld from the inside, it can tend to push out a ridge on the outside. It's harder to sand on the inside of a curve to get rid of the bead on the inside, and then you might have that ridge on the outside to deal with. You can't just grind that ridge down flat on the outside, because you will be thinning the metal above and below the weld and making it weak. So you might have to do a lot of hammer and dolly work and maybe some shrinking.

I think some people weld on the inside so they won't have to bother sanding it that carefully because you can't see the weld, and because sanding down weld beads takes a lot of time. But if you switch to the easy grind wire, the sanding takes a lot less time, and it's easy to sand it nice and flush. I use 50 grit 3M "Green Corps" 3" sanding disks in a die grinder with a rubber backing pad. It really is easier with the easy grind.

With regular wire, the bead is a lot harder than the surrounding metal, and it dulls the sanding disk faster. When the abrasive on the disk gets dull, the harder bead of the regular wire sort of just polishes instead of grinding down.

 

I went to buy a spool of easy grind after hearing about it three or four years ago... I remember something about it being a trade name, and he said he had something that was the equivelent.

Anywho, I bought it... and it works great! Grinds smooth, welds easy, but you do have to dial in the temp.

As far as welding on the front or back of a panel, I don't think it matters... IF you're going to grind the weld.
I'm thinking that when you look at the back side of a weld, there is usually some scale or crusties there... maybe even some divits. And if something were to get trapped there, it might be bad for the filler or primer you use.

And to me... I'd rather see that nice(er) back side on the back side rather than a weld on the back side.

But then again... it sure would bea easier and put less heat into the panel if you only had to do minor clean up!

Why don't you experiment for us and report back!


Sam.

 

If it's softer can you hammer weld it after running a short bead?

After you weld and grind can you work the metal easier than normal MIG without cracks?

 

I have tried both and eazy gring is a lot eazier to grind down, therefore putting less heat in the panel when grinding. It is also closer in chenistry to the older metals.

Jim H

 

It's a little more malleable than normal mig wire, but not quite as soft as the surrounding steel. I never had it crack on me after doing lots of hammer and dolly work on it.

 

I have used it, I think Sam bought his after one of our discussions here years ago. The only thing I worry about when welding from the insdie is the penetration. On some patches that were welded from the outside I have seen enough of a "hairline" left at the seam that I could see it working back thru paint and bodywork and showing up as a fine crack. I would want to make sure it was sealed up with solid penetration. I have done "touch-up" welds on the backside of a panel if it was going to be exposed and ground down to eliminate this when welding patches from the other side.

 

I went to two years of school for metal fab/welding and I worked at a resto shop for 5 years, then in a fab shop and this is the first time I've ever heard about "easy grind" wire. Now I've got to try it! Do they make 2 lb spools?

 

How bout turnin the wire speed down a little, and movin a little faster.....that makes for less grindin too.

 

I haven't heard of it either but I sure wish I had. Someone please educate me. (name, mfr, p/n). After I get some easy grind, I'll want some easy money, a**** other things.

Can you hammer & dolly a bead of this like a gas weld?

 

Try this link: https://weldingsupply.securesites.com/cgi-bin/einstein.pl?Next::5:UNDEF:OR:C::PC
Welded with it for some years now. Great to work with.