|
Hello again. Another useful trick for corrosion and weld bead
repair.......After grinding clean and repairing a weld bead, another useful way
to "pretty it up " is to run a cover pass over the bead with silicone/bronze
from a mig gun or stick welder using carbon arc and filler rod. The
silicon/bronze is almost as strong as the steel, corrosion resistant, requires
less heat to apply, and when you grind it smooth, it's very easy to see where
the sil/br cover pass stops and the base metal begins because of the
color difference.
I remember seeing a weld bead on a psub a few years ago
that looked really good, smooth, polished, pretty, and I assumed it was either
welded really thick and ground down, or was covered with sil/br. Upon
closer inspection I noticed some cracks in the paint and even an area where it
looked like the weld bead was lifting off !
Well, as it turns out, the weld beads had been "bondo'd" over and painted.
This sub had seen very little water at that point, being recently remade into a
very different configuration. Overall, a nice job, but I wonder how many rough
spots had been covered with bondo. The sil/br method works well, is easy, cheap,
and adds corrosion resistance to areas that may be hard to get to later. I've
used it in exposed areas and returned years later to find the steel
structure very rusty ( no paint or anything else was applied ) but the weld
beads looked like new. Hope this helps, Frank
D. A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! |