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Posted for "Mark Ravinski" <mjrav@comcast.net>:
Neal,
I had similar paint peeling on welds on a landing gear leg last year.
Some of the paint "cracked" in a way that appeared to be cracks in the base
weld.
I cleaned up the paint using a glass bead blast cabinet. This method removes
no metal and any "work hardening" of the surface is considered to be an
improvement. The glass media used is a very fine powder - almost dust - and
leaves a satin finish like you find on tools like micrometers.
This satin finish is great for holding paint.
I suggest you find a shop that would do a dye penetrant test for you. (after
paint removal) Many aircraft repair places or machine shops would have a
kit for this. One of the possible explanations of the paint problem is
flexing of the weld and, over time, that can lead to cracks in more than the
paint. Other causes could be to do with the weld metal just being harder.
Mark Ravinski
N360KB 1396 hrs
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