Removing an aluminum weld

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I have a piece of aluminum that needs the welds removed or at least taken down some so I can make a pass over the old stuff. Is there a preferred way to remove this material? what would be the best thing to use. I understand that a standard grinder with a disk may leave some contamination on the surface.any suggestion would be appreciated.Guy_48Welding is an art......Millermatic 252Lincoln SP175PlusLincoln 225 AC/DC
Reply:Originally Posted by Guy_48I have a piece of aluminum that needs the welds removed or at least taken down some so I can make a pass over the old stuff. Is there a preferred way to remove this material? what would be the best thing to use. I understand that a standard grinder with a disk may leave some contamination on the surface.any suggestion would be appreciated.
Reply:well at work we had to cut out a bunch of bad Aluminum welds once and we had little air powered die grinders and bought some blades that were like miniture versions of a circular saw blade. They were probably 2" in diameter. Worked great for removing Al welds. --Gol'
Reply:There is a special white colored grinding wheel for aluminum called "Rexcut" that kicks butt on aluminum.
Reply:its usually a good idea to make sure anything used to cut aluminum or abrasive discs used on aluminum sanding belts etc etc were used only on aluminum i have found that this prevents foriegn material from being embedded in the aluminum. after this is done wiper er down with some acetone and yer good to go
Reply:fast simple cheap and best of all no new contamination. circular saw standard carbide  blade works great hearing and eye protection a must. Jimmy
Reply:We use grinding and cutting wheels designed for aluminum at work all day.  I forget the brand name but they are black and green.  The ones we use for steel are black and red.  We switch them out in the grinder when we switch from job to job.  When we do stainless we use the steel ones but mark them to be used on stainless only.
Reply:I use alum wheels on my 4 1/2" grinders all the time. I have a coarse and a fine. There is no loading up with either. And neither one of them contaminates the following welds. Got them at my LWS.9-11-2001......We Will Never ForgetRetired desk jockey. Hobby weldor with a little training. Craftsman O/A---Flat, Vert, Ovhd, Horz. Miller Syncrowave 250
Reply:i prefer to use a die grinder with a rotary rasp, works pretty well for me...Just dont use any aluminum oxide type abrasive, for obvious reasons....
Reply:AIR-ARC.....