Grinding beads

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Ok, I am making a set of rocker guards for my jeep. I have welded all the pieces together and want to grind the welds smooth. The outer welds I have gotten with the angle grinder but it seems to remove a lot of metal and it is almost impossible to get at the beads in tight spaces. It seems like a larger disk or something might work. Is there a better way to smooth out the beads for a finished look? I wondered about a flap disk or something. Any ideas?Brand new Lincoln Electric Pro-Core 100 wire feed welder. Still learning to make anything that might resemble a bead.
Reply:A flap disk will work great but it won't take a bead down flush very quickly at all.  I'd recommend using a die grinder and then finishing with a flap disk and possibly hand sanding at that point.-Heath
Reply:Well I got two flap discs, one is 24 grit and the other is 60. I'm using .035 flux core welding 1/4" angle iron, hope these discs can handle that, guess we'll see. I'll report back as soon as I get the time to play again.Brand new Lincoln Electric Pro-Core 100 wire feed welder. Still learning to make anything that might resemble a bead.
Reply:omg u welded 1/4 iron with a 100 weire feed?? :S
Reply:According to Lincolon's manual that's the thickest i could do. It welded it just fine, got decent penetration. Beads look like hell but that's user error.Brand new Lincoln Electric Pro-Core 100 wire feed welder. Still learning to make anything that might resemble a bead.
Reply:maroon,I'm right there with ya. I have a weld-pak 100 and Just went .025 from the .035 flux-cored and I'm having to weld these 2 inch filler pieces on my truck cab floor. I want those beads to look really nice but even going to the has shielded I'm still having to really grind down on them to get them to be smooth. The only advantage I have here is these welds are going to be hidden under th car carpet. But my weld beads look like something out of a horror show. Hey is the maroon for? OK or AM or what? On those weld beads I'm going to keep going I have about 5 feet to do  on each side of the cab floor. So lots of opportunity.
Reply:The maroon is for Texas A&M. And I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one with unsightly beads. The only problem I'm having grinding them, is getting to them. They are on the inside edge of a tight angle, just can't seem to reach them. The flap disc works perfectly for everything else though.Brand new Lincoln Electric Pro-Core 100 wire feed welder. Still learning to make anything that might resemble a bead.
Reply:hey maroon, I was reading something about a finishing  disc, have you ever tried those on the weld beads? I have never tried the flap disc but it sounds like what I need for my 4 foot section inside the crew cab  I'm welding, here is a picture of one section of the weld where I have alot of pile on top of my weld? Do you think the flap disc would get me back down to flush on my cab floor?my weld bead
Reply:For that I would start of with a grinding disc, then switch to a more abrasive flap disc, like a 24 grit, then go to a 160 grit disc. That's how i've been doing it, seems to work for me. Good luck with it and let us know what you figure out.Brand new Lincoln Electric Pro-Core 100 wire feed welder. Still learning to make anything that might resemble a bead.
Reply:I'm starting the second of the 2 rocker guards tomorrow, weather permitting, I plan on taking pics of the whole process. I'll try and figure out how to post them later.Brand new Lincoln Electric Pro-Core 100 wire feed welder. Still learning to make anything that might resemble a bead.
Reply:Try using a thin 7" grinding disk then a 7" sanding pad / disk for finishing and see if that will get up in there and if so, it shouldn't take as long to grind down as would the flap disks.  Another consideration is the die grinder like halbritt said.
Reply:Tig,Man I bought this 60 grit flap disc for grinding and that thing was sweet. I started with a grinding disc then went to the flap disc and then touched up any weld spots and man it looks sweet. I had one area that I did a full spot weld replacement and ground that thing down flat.... Thanks for the advice it has really helped. Weld-Pak 100 Mig. New to welding and melting anything metal