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Re: welding and grinding sheetmetal

To: Mike Lee - Team Banana Racing <mikel@ichips.intel.com>,
Subject: Re: welding and grinding sheetmetal
From: jblair@exis.net (John T. Blair)
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 22:41:53 -0500
At 09:14 AM 1/24/97 -0800, Mike Lee - Team Banana Racing wrote:
>
>....
> I know I need to grind the outer surface (the area I'll be facing)
> down to clean bare metal before I start.  Do I need to do the same
> with the inner portion? 

Mike,

I don't think you have to, but besure to pull any covering off the 
inside, especially if you work on a door panel.  The undercoating
and dirt can catch fire.  In fact, that happened to me when I was
welding on the floor boards of my Spitfire.  I kept seeing this
black smoke after I stopped welding.  Couldn't figure where it was
comming from, until I looked under the car and saw the small fire
in the undercoating.

> Also, I'm going to be shopping for a new grinder this weekend;
> most likely a Makita or DeWalt (I'll be trying to pick up the 
> highest amperage model I can).  There are 4" and 4.5" versions of
> what appear to be the same grinder;.....

I've gone through 2 Makitas.  They are nice grinders, but check the
DeWalt.  The Makita has a metric arbor M10 - 1.25 spindle.  I had
a grinder from Harbor freight with the SAE 5/8 - 11 spindle.  The
only difference I've found is that the knotted wire brushes and all
other items for it are more expensive for the metric shaft than the
SAE shaft.

Also the 2nd Makita came with a nice plastic carring case.  Nice
but now that I have it, I don't need another one when I buy my
next grinder.  They also uped the price by $10 for the case.

>....cut-off wheel (like for the air die grinders), and maybe a wire
> cup brush.  Can I find these types of accessories for either one?
> (what arbor size do they use)?

I've never tried a cut off wheel, I use my die grinder for that, but
in addition to the grinding wheels, I have both flat and brush wire
wheels (note: these MUST be knotted to withstand the 10,000 rpms).
I also have a sanding disk attachment, a backing plate and a nut.
I've used all 3 on the Makita.  They really work nicely.

John
John T. Blair  WA4OHZ          email:  jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va                  Phone:  (757) 495-8229

48 TR1800    48 #4 Midget  65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
     75 Bricklin SV1   77 Spitfire

The one with the most toys, wins!


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