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Weld prep

Remove rust, cadmium, galvanized, zinc plating/ coatings from nuts, bolts, body panels etc. w/o grinding (and thinning the metal) w/ Muriatic Acid. Remove oil, grease and heavy rust first, then dip or brush on acid to weld area. Part will be clean when total surface is a dull grey, rinse well w/ water. Brushing on larger parts will take repeated treatment. Works great for MIG or TIG welding, the acid digs deep into the pores of the metal where a grinder or brush just can’t reach… much cleaner weld! Also works great for removing rust in prep for paint. Wear PPE, use outdoors or well ventilated space… the fumes are pretty damn nasty. Acid will not harm most plastics so a cut down milk jug or plastic mortar pan (for larger parts) works great. Muriatic Acid is available at Lowes & Home Depot for about $6/ gal. DO NOT use on aluminum!

Comments

daveyboybadion:

what a great tip, I have to weld some galv wheel ramps to the mild steel structure of my home built motorcycle trailer and was going to have to grind the galv off. This is a much better solution.
Sep 1, 2011 12:57 a.m.