need advice on smoothing weldsi

I have a t bucket and the welds On the dropped tube axle and hairpin radius arms Are good welds but need smoothed out a little. I was thinking of hand filing them and using a filler either bondo or maybe a metal filler to smooth them. Any advice would be great.

 

just don't grind/file away too much of the weld....you want to retain the strength

pictures?

 

Pics would help, how you go about dressing them up depends on the weld method. If it is an option i would probably take it to somebody that TIG welds and let them make a p*** over it, that might clean it up. MIG welds are terrible hard, you'll have a hell'uva time taking a file to it. Post a pic, somebody on here has dealt with exactly what you are doing and they'll fix you right up.

 

A fairly large diameter rotary file on a air die grinder should turn the trick. Don't go crazy removing material, just smooth out whats there, and be careful of undercutting the brackets. When I say "fairly large" I mean something in the range of 3/8" or larger.

 

It is mig. I can't seem to get the pics to upload.

 

Removing material from a structural weld weakens it; therefore I recommend you don't...........

 

For what it is worth, NO racing ***ociation will allow grinding on structural welds.
There must be some reason for that, huh.

 

I am just gonna hand file a couple of spots that are higher than the rest of the weld. Looks like the weld ran a little bit.

 

Flapper disc and a 4 inch grinder......

 

I wouldn't grind them to make 'em pretty, use some Polyester Putty instead...

 

I see Eastwood has some putty that sets up hard enough to drill and tap and is sandable.

 

If you are just softening a couple high spots, I'd try a flap wheel. I've seen them as small as 2" with a 1/4" stem, for die grinders, or the normal 4-4 1/2' variety. I've also seen them for Dremel tools, but I imagine they would deplete pretty quickly.

 

Is there an echo in here?

 

Here are the pics of the welds

 

I'd usually say if you have to ask how...don't. But seeing as how those lumps are just the stop/starts, it can't hurt if you bring them down to the height of the rest of the weld without touching the parent metal. A file should take care of that in no time at all.