Patent ID: 8851357

Claim:
A method of removing weld flash from a structural assembly, the method comprising: securing a base member to a work surface; friction welding at least one member of the assembly to the base member with a friction welding device following securing of the base member to the work surface, wherein friction welding comprises providing a friction welding device comprising a movable frame member having a releasable engagement mechanism, engaging a connection member with the releasable engagement mechanism; and gripping the at least one member of the assembly with the connection member while movement of the frame member causes the at least one member of the assembly to correspondingly move; providing a tool defining a shaft extending from a wedge-shaped head defining an edge, wherein said providing step comprises providing the tool having the head defining first and second opposite surfaces disposed at an angle converging toward the edge, and a lug extending outward from the first surface with the shaft extending from the lug opposite the first surface, wherein the first and second surfaces of the head are planar, wherein the lug includes a curved surface extending outward from the first surface of the head, and wherein the curved surface of the lug intersects the first surface of the head at a distance from the edge so as to define a sloped interface with the first surface directed toward the edge; following the friction welding, disengaging the connection member from the releasable engagement mechanism and connecting the shaft of the tool to the releasable engagement mechanism of the movable frame member of the friction welding device; actuating the tool with the friction welding device to move in a path along a surface of the assembly to dispose the edge of the head of the tool between the surface of the assembly and a portion of the flash such that the head lifts the flash from the surface such that at least some of the flash passes over a portion of the planar first surface of the head and then outward from the surface along the curved surface of the lug so as to remove the flash from the assembly; and retaining the base member in place in a secured relationship on the work surface during removal of the flash without removal of the base member from the work surface once the base member has been secured to the work surface prior to friction welding at least until the flash has been removed from the assembly.