Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys,

I had a question in regard to grinding aluminum. I'm ordering different types of flap discs from Lehigh Valley Abrasives, who have great prices by the way! My concern is on the roloc 2" and 3" flap disc on aluminum. They offer aluminum only flap discs but only in the 4.5" size. Does anyone know if the traditional flap discs can be waxed to prevent loading on traditional aluminum oxide flap discs, or even roloc discs?

Thanks

-Ben

The alum designed flap discs work well, other wise they will load up. I've never tried to coat the discs....

I would NOT "wax" or otherwise treat a disc in an attempt to "clean" aluminum.

Any additive you use to help a non-aluminum disc to work WILL interfere with your weld, or require far more effort to clean than the "savings" are worth.

Use the right tool the first time, and save both time and money.

Steve S

I agree with Steve. I once tried some bandsaw blade wax on a 7 inch right angle grinder to keep the stone from loading up while grinding cracks in an aluminum fuel tank. I had much trouble welding it until going back over everything with a new flap disk and wiping everything with acetone and then stainless brushing. rinse and repeat, before all the wax residue was gone.
Hope this helps.
Cheers.
-Eldon

So what did you end up using? How were the results?

Have you tried Norton Blaze?

Thanks for all the responses guys. I've been busy with various projects. I ended up ordering flap discs designated for aluminum, and also some Formax abrasive belt grease stick. The formax didn't work out all that well. The aluminum flap discs work much better. I'm organizing all my abrasives at the moment. I'll post a some photos when I have it all done.

Thanks again!

Interesting stuff. Thanks:)