curious to see what you guys are doing. list both for stainless and aluminum!

 

120 grit belt sander .. leaves a nice finish .. and acetone wipe down ..
soch pad type disk on a die grinder .. not the corse *** ones .. but the blue ones
those work good when the part isnt able to be put to the belt sander ..
last wire wheel . not my fav b/c overtime the brissles become contaminated with black stuff from cleaning so much .. no biggy just takes more acetone to remove the black film left from it ..

i aslo whipe the filler rod donw and tung tip befor i start ..

 

turbo gli goes way more in-depth than me,but it probably shows in his work.
for me,i use a bench ginder to knock off any burrs from cutting,then a wire wheel to clean things up a bit.
chris

 

Deburr with sanding drum

whacks with hammer for perfect shape and fit

flap wheel for final touch

spray with brake clean or whipe with acetone

 

turbogli's way is sounding good. Just take your time, ensure your material is clean, take your time and clean up is easy when you do this! Plus good welds make the project that much nicer

 

I only use stainless steel brushes and acetone for the final cleaning on aluminum. If you use any abrasives there is a chance that grit can be embedded into the aluminum.

 

i have this crap called "Weld o" by Arcal Chemicals. its pink, smells like liquid death, and if you get it in a cut you want to instantly shoot yourself. says its for "preping aluminum for x-ray quality welds" anybody used this stuff?

does acetone work bettter than brake cleaner?

 

IF you use the right brake cleaner it leaves aboslutley no residue behind which is ebautiful that and its usually in a high pressure can so it can remove some embedded material

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backpurge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I only use stainless steel brushes and acetone for the final cleaning on aluminum. If you use any abrasives there is a chance that grit can be embedded into the aluminum.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It is also possible to get bits of the brush embedded in the aluminum. If you're running a high speed grinder or brush too much, it can make the aluminum really crappy to weld.

You guys can also use alcohol...just cheapo rubbing alcohol works well, and will not leave any residue. The ONLY thing acetone has over it is that alcohol dries slower. Acetone will leave residue, but it's usually nothing that you'll ever notice affecting the weldability. In other words, there's really nothing wrong with acetone, but alcohol will be cheaper.

 

I don't know if its the same **** ,but on allum. I use eagle one mag wheel cleaner .That **** cleans like you wouldn't believe. And it leaves it a real even color.Its good for allum.plate for taking off water scale.Like on new allum. You cant see it but it turns black when you weld it .And the mag cleaner makes the allum turn black if its non weldable allum.Like 7076 and 2024

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RMF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't know if its the same **** ,but on allum. I use eagle one mag wheel cleaner .That **** cleans like you wouldn't believe. And it leaves it a real even color.Its good for allum.plate for taking off water scale.Like on new allum. You cant see it but it turns black when you weld it .And the mag cleaner makes the allum turn black if its non weldable allum.Like 7076 and 2024</TD></TR></TABLE>

**** works .. i cleaned some mag rims with the stuff .. etches it ..

its acid based .. do u go and wipe down with acetone befor weld ..

or weld right after u clean with this stuff ?

 

I just rinse it off real good with water and blow it off.It leaves no film at all