Help Needed With Weld Table Surface Finishing

[kngelv]

I have a table that I plan on using for occasional small welding jobs. Most of the time though my 13 year old son will be using it as his own workbench for bike projects. This bench came out of the old Chevrolet Gear and Axle factory in Detroit and was likely made there. The surface has some sort of industrial paint and a little surface rust on it. He wants to make the whole surface look like the small polished area. That area took him about twenty-thirty minutes with a 40 grit flap disc on an angle grinder. The disc is pretty much done so it looks like hours of work and many more discs to finish it. Does anyone have a better and hopefully quicker method than what we have done so far? Thanks.

James

 

[DustynBeardface]

Maybe just replace the piece of steel with a new piece?

 

[matt_i]

The paint is going to be gummy and bad for loading up disks. So you could strip it off via chemical means or sand blast it.

If you have patience, just work on a 4" area every day with 60 grit paper by hand.

If you wanted at the end you could go back over with 120 grit but I wouldn't bother finer than that.

If you want a work of art then replace or stack another piece of polished 304SS sheet on it.

 

[kngelv]

It does not need to look like a show piece. He just likes the shiny clean look. I tried some paint stripper but that did nothing. The paint looks thin and is kind of integrated with the oxidized surface. You can't really tell but the plate is 1/2 thick and welded directly to the channel frame. The table is already heavy as hell and adding another slab on top is something I'd like to avoid.

James

 

[jkeyser14]

Just weld a nice new clean sheet of steel on top.

 

[gmwelder86]

Paint stripper disk on a grinder works well. Be prepared for the mess it creates. Before I had a garage my welding table lived outside so I put a coat of red primer on it. Was a bear to clean off once I bought my house and moved it inside. Looks almost polished now.

 

[sberry]

Scuff if off some with a sander and let him wear the paint off. My benches are multi purpose, I don't do major greasy filthy jobs on my welding bench but it is very general and not exclusive to welding. I like it smooth n the sense no spatter, after a whole a guy learns to be neater. But want it solid and smooth in the event of a spill and don't want dit thru it. On that bench might find d a heavy chunk of angle along a side and end to create clamp overhang.

 

[sberry]

Scuff if off some with a sander and let him wear the paint off. My benches are multi purpose, I don't do major greasy filthy jobs on my welding bench but it is very general and not exclusive to welding. I like it smooth n the sense no spatter, after a whole a guy learns to be neater. But want it solid and smooth in the event of a spill and don't want dit thru it. On that bench might find d a heavy chunk of angle along a side and end to create clamp overhang.

Depending on the need for final dimension, we need an overall view but might cut that front stiffener off and move it back. If I wanted the top wider would add the angle. The finish of the top would be of minor concern at this point, make it work wise first, form after function in a start up work space.
I like the shelf under, put the face of that in hammer hoops, it's a good place to toss ballast tools and even set the grinder when you want it out of the way.

 

[kngelv]

Depending on the need for final dimension, we need an overall view but might cut that front stiffener off and move it back. If I wanted the top wider would add the angle. The finish of the top would be of minor concern at this point, make it work wise first, form after function in a start up work space.
I like the shelf under, put the face of that in hammer hoops, it's a good place to toss ballast tools and even set the grinder when you want it out of the way.

I want to leave the bench as is dimensionally. The opposite wall has an eight foot bench and a six foot bench that already has a grinder and vises. I plan to put a vise on this one too. The main use will be as a work bench specifically for my son. I want to keep some of his clutter off of my main benches. I have him every other week and he has a carbon copy of my eight foot bench that we built for him to use at his mom's house. He can still use my main benches but no leaving of **** on them.

James

 

[BillK]

Do you have a belt sander ? Some 40 grit paper would make quick work of the paint and you could go from there.

 

[Boilerhouse]

i would not use a flap disc on that although admittedly I have no experience with them. i would use a normal coarse sanding disc. My experience is that the cleaned area should not take 30 minutes to do, more like 30 seconds.

 

[kaymccampbell]

On that, I would try the knotted wire wheel in the 9". Then go to a 4 or 6 grit sanding disc, then a 36 grit disc, and, finally, the flap disc to make it shiny.

 

[PhantomEB]

Grinder then a stone.

 

[hammerhead611]

If it's not fully welded on, cut the top off, flip it, and weld it back on (teach the boy to weld)

 

[alcorelli]

If he is to do the work, get him an electric pad sander with extremely coarse grit. It would be the safest tool for him to use, rather than an angle grinder, etc.
Let him learn to restore a surface step by step. It will teach him the process, results through hard work, and pride of accomplishment.
He might just take better care of all things in his life from that experience.


Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[kmacht]

Wire cup brush on an angle grinder. It will clean all the stuff off the metal quickly and leave you with a semi-polished surface. If you want more of a matte surface after stripping everything off with the cup brush hit it with a palm sander with some scotchbrite in it.

 

[kngelv]

Do you have a belt sander ? Some 40 grit paper would make quick work of the paint and you could go from there.

I actually just inherited one but have yet to use it. Will try it.

Wire cup brush on an angle grinder. It will clean all the stuff off the metal quickly and leave you with a semi-polished surface. If you want more of a matte surface after stripping everything off with the cup brush hit it with a palm sander with some scotchbrite in it.

I will try this too.

James

 

[joe_padavano]

You all are making this waaaay harder than it needs to be. A 7" grinder with a couple of 36 grit discs will take off the paint in no time. Change to 80 grit after that to smooth the surface. That's maybe an hour, tops.

 

[sz0k30]

Well if HE wants it nice & shiny, Then let HIM do it.

 

[sberry]

Yes, in my shop it would be a 36 grit on a 7 inch sander/grinder. Making it smooth and easy to work on, some bare spots for grinding. I might make some atatchmnts for welding if it was gonna be a regular deal. I am a career mechanic fabricator and I seen tools done dam near every way they can and a bench edge square and end at 90 is one of the most useful tools I own use, right up there with a vise. Or a vice. I can mock up specialty stuff but there is a level and thing for general work where rubber hits the road. Making it easy to use the common hand tools.
I drilled or cut a hole in my work bench the other day for some odd job. I also re drilled a hole for golf cart tire change just so, reduced a piece or 2 but its been a long time since I needed to add much a jig to do something I couldn't do.

 

[sberry]

You can find used bike mechanic tools. Some of the stands are kind of fussy and hard to build. Fancy clamps have their place but in a home hobby world it can do double duty if its common. Its hard for most people to get too many 11Rand some heavy duty c clamps. Get something special if and when you need.
These benches are scrap. I should have started over but simply moved in and made it up as I needed and found a lot of stuff partially ready made so it worked and worked well enough it got past that it wasn't going to make any more money to make it better.
You have those dawning moments when you realize its steel and you can fix it, add, mod, don't be scared to drill a hole in it.

 

[sberry]

The bolt clip one is super simple. The legs and some of it are 3/16x2x2 angle, all **** fit with a torch and tacked together most of it using itself to build in place, someone had the legs too short when I got it.
If I was to start with a new design and be somewhat economical would ideally use 3 inch angle for legs and a couple long top underneath and 1 1/2 be plenty for shelf and leg ties. Expanded metal, 1 dt overhang off one end, cutting box other end with 4 inch hangover. I could do it with 20 pieces all straight cut.
Did it for other people, never did one for myself, just one of those things always intended to do but didn't really matter enough. It would be a different matter if it didn't work so well.

 

[PCustoms]

Get a strip and prep disc.

They are a very open abrasive "mesh" that won't load up with paint. Also very hard to remove a lot of metal.

Just keep them away from hard edges. They aren't a grinding disc, they will wear out.

Random pic from home Depot, I get the Avanti there for the grinder. Have also ordered Radnor and 3m depending on how well I plan.

 

[KenC]

The first thing I'd try is heat, then scraper followed by a coarse sanding disk on a random orbit sander. Go to finer grit until you get the finish desired.

A heavy duty heat gun might do, but with 1/2 plate to deal with a torch or even a propane weed burner should work.

 

[Snip]

I would use a DA sander, 24 or 36 grit as a start to remove the paint and then move up in grits to obtain the finish he is looking for. This might not be the fastest way but the finish product will instill the fact that fast is not always the quickest. I will also instill a pride of ownership of doing a job right. He will also learn that the finished product is the sum of the time and effort invested. This can also turn into a conversation about the proper PPE that should be used for this (and other) shop projects.

 

[Monza Harry]

I personally don't care for the 4" to 7" grinder approach to cleaning and polishing the top it does take considerable skill to do that and keep it flat, the palm and belt sanders will be much easier learning curve, as they are flat to start with and the safer starting approach. The chemical will work but at 1/2" thick that top will **** up lots of the heat the reaction requires. Some heat (propane torch)a a crimped wire wheel on the angle grinder will progress quickly. Don't start too coarse with the grits the deep grooves the coarse grit creates will be murder to remove. As you progress through the finer grits change the angle 45* per grit change.
Harry

 

[csp]

The paint and strip disc PCustoms mentioned is the ticket!

These work great for removing the mill scale on steel as well.

Get the ones that are made for an angle grinder.

 

[MoonRise]

Manual paint scraper to remove some of the paint. Heat gun if you want to try that.

Or get some different chemical paint stripper. RTFM and use proper PPE.

Then a wire cup brush (I prefer knotted, not crimped/plain) on the angle grinder to remove some more paint and rust.

Then go to the flap disk(s) to remove more 'crud' and smooth it out somewhat. Like all sanding tasks, start coarse (36 or 40 grit) and progress to smoother grits as desired.

Let the tool(s) do the work, if he wore out a flap disk in that small area I think he was pressing down way too hard on the disk.

Oh, and 'old' paint might have lead in it. Might want to get a lead paint test kit. I think I've seen them for a few bucks at home improvement stores.

example:

https://www.homedepot.com/s/lead%20paint%20test

Personally I wore out the paint-n-strip disk way faster when I tried it than I do flap disks. It was a bit less aggressive on the metal though.

 

[ant.foste]

I have a table that I plan on using for occasional small welding jobs. Most of the time though my 13 year old son will be using it as his own workbench for bike projects. This bench came out of the old Chevrolet Gear and Axle factory in Detroit and was likely made there. The surface has some sort of industrial paint and a little surface rust on it. ...
James

Any concerns with the paint containing lead? The chosen method of removal will dictate the proper PPE needed.