Hand tighten or wrench tighten your GRINDER?

[tarbellb]

Yup, I will admit it. I HAND TIGHTEN MY 4.5" GRINDER DISC. There I said it.
(w/ no guard as well-gasp!)

I weld every week, and do hours of grinding.

Mostly 60-120 grit flap disc and .125" cutting disc.

I have never had a issue with them coming loose, and in my own experience I can get them about as tight if not more tight as my wrench would.

Grinder of choice: Hitachi G12SR3 4.5" Light, small, powerful, cheap.

 

[Professur]

It's not really an issue as the rotation tightens the bolt.

 

[Ign]

Hand. Metabo has a system which is meant to be tightened by hand anyhow; the loosening mechanism it a little unique but the tightening system is pretty much the same as hand tightening any grinder out there.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

I always use a wrench...(Just in case my HF grinder decides it wants to spin in the wrong dirction.)

 

[Terra Nova]

Wrench for grinding disks, hand tighten for wire Cup brushes.

On an older Dewalt

 

[zkling]

Depends. My older dewalt, has a large knurled nut type thing. On thin cut off wheels I will give it a little tighten with the wrench. Everything else I tighten by hand, especially if the accessory has built in internal threads.

 

[Scout Driver]

Lightly snugged with the wrench.

Scott

 

[schmelpboy]

I have Chuck Norris tighten mine...so I have to buy a new one after each pad wears out.

 

[Stooge]

wrench when applicable, im clumsy and accident prone enough on my own without any more help. my pneumatic one uses a hex key and my porter cable electric uses one of the flate plates with the 2 pins sticking out to tighten it.

 

[gmwelder86]

Use two a day everyday. Never do anything besides hand tighten. Only use the wrench to remove if needed.

 

[rshadd]

Hand tighten, wrench loosen.

 

[jakemac]

For grinding wheels, I hand tighten then snug with wrench. (I've had them get loose before)
For wire wheels, I use a wrench.
For the wood carving wheel (chain saw blade on a wheel) I always use the wrench - twice ! That thing took the tip of my finger off once. I definitely don't want it going rogue on me !

 

[ZRX61]

Hand tighten, wrench loosen.

That.

 

[Monte]

hand only

 

[paranoid56]

wrench. but i do not change disks all that often, as i think i have 4 or 5 4.5" grinders one with each attachment. makes for a easy time.

 

[rlitman]

My Metabo never sees a wrench. Everything else generally only gets a wrench to loosen, except for wheels with a steel disc without a built in nut, such as a diamond wheel, or an arbortech.

 

[Dave in Mass]

For grinding wheels, I hand tighten then snug with wrench. (I've had them get loose before)
For wire wheels, I use a wrench.
For the wood carving wheel (chain saw blade on a wheel) I always use the wrench - twice ! That thing took the tip of my finger off once. I definitely don't want it going rogue on me !

Makita -- I use the wrench and shaft holder that are in the case. I don't use it every day or change wheels often but I am suprised that I see a lot of mention of griding wheels, wire wheels, and the awesome sounding wood carving wheel above but no mention of cutting wheels. That is my primary wheel of choice for this tool.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

First thing I do is throw the wrench away. Hand snug, it will tighten when used. To unscrew, grab and unscrew.

 

[jmscollinsiii]

I have 4 or 5 grinders on my fab table at work. Every one is had tite. The only one I even have the wrench for is the dewalt that is dedicated to cut off wheels, those things tend to get real snug during use.

 

[zkling]

Come on. Where is the person that uses an impact wrench? I've been waiting to see that comment.

 

[Mud]

hand only

yes I agree!

 

[nine4gmc]

Hand only and if you're going to use a cutting/grinding wheel, please do NOT do this:

No hand shield, no safety glasses and most importantly, no face shield!!!!

My landlord...

 

[zkling]

Hand only and if you're going to use a cutting/grinding wheel, please do NOT do this:

No hand shield, no safety glasses and most importantly, no face shield!!!!

My landlord...

No worries, the 2 hand grip is for "precision"

 

[jakemac]

No hand shield, no safety glasses and most importantly, no face shield!!!!

Yup, that's how I put my finger into the wood carving wheel. Oddly enough, I had been working away just fine, when I realised how dangerous it was. I decided that I should be wearing heavy leather gloves for safety, so I turned off the grinder, released the side handle, and whacked off half the meat on the tip of my finger to the bone.

I was on a deadline, so I grabbed a wad of paper towels and finished the job one handed. The good news is that the tip of my finger grew back, so I can count to 20 again.

Wait ....... zip ....... make that 21 !









Moral of the story - Thinking about Safety will get you hurt.

 

[lilscorpion]

Over 10 years of hand tightening for production and non-production grinding, wire wheeling, surface prep...you name it. Never had a reason to do it any other way. It flat works.

 

[NHBandit]

They come with a wrench ?

 

[redwrench60]

Well. Clearly I'm the only loser that tightens grinder nuts. I've really never given it any thought. They give you a way to tighten them so I do. I don't crank the piss outta them though, I just snug them up good.

 

[sayoda]

^ I also tighten with a wrench!

 

[Chadwilliam1]

I have never seen anybody tighten one with a wrench. Why would you tighten it with a wrench it tightens it self.

All my grinders now are Metabo excepts one which i only use for a wire wheel. So no wrench for me anyway.

 

[zkling]

Yup, that's how I put my finger into the wood carving wheel.

One of those wheels that look like a chainsaw blade around the perimeter? Those things look nasty.

 

[jakemac]

One of those wheels that look like a chainsaw blade around the perimeter? Those things look nasty.

Yes. It slices, it dices, it julian fries. Oh yeah, it will carve wood also.

 

[zkling]

Yes. It slices, it dices, it julian fries. Oh yeah, it will carve wood also.

Dude you have some stones to use one of those without a guard. Every time I see one, I always think... "There is no F'ing way you could pay me to use that without a bunch of PPE" I've done some pretty shady $hit over the years, but something about a chainsaw blade at ~10K rpm, on a small grinder just doesn't sit well with me.

 

[mtnwkr]

Well. Clearly I'm the only loser that tightens grinder nuts. I've really never given it any thought. They give you a way to tighten them so I do. I don't crank the piss outta them though, I just snug them up good.

Me too. Don't use on much and never really thought about it.

 

[balane]

I get out my 3/4" impact and blast it down until either everything stops moving or something breaks free. More often than not it's the latter.

 

[zkling]

I get out my 3/4" impact and blast it down until either everything stops moving or something breaks free. More often than not it's the latter.

Finally someone with some sense.

 

[mrtoolfool]

Hand tighten only for years. The ONLY time I hunt for a wrench is when I get a grinder someone else has gone APE on.

BTW: another reason I love my Metabo's

 

[Chris83]

Use the wrench unless I can't find it then I'll use pliers.

 

[jakemac]

Dude you have some stones to use one of those without a guard. Every time I see one, I always think... "There is no F'ing way you could pay me to use that without a bunch of PPE" I've done some pretty shady $hit over the years, but something about a chainsaw blade at ~10K rpm, on a small grinder just doesn't sit well with me.

I wasn't too happy about it at the time either, but I didn't have a choice. The carving wheel wouldn't fit with the guard on and I had to get the job done before a film crew showed up the next morning. It needed to be distressed (carved), stained, and aged. It was an outside job and well after dark before I was done. I finished by the lights of my truck.

When I finally got home and my family saw the ****** towels, they just rolled their eyes and went back to watching TV (they've seen it before). I nearly passed out when I put my hand under the sink to clean the wound. I spent the next few months getting ragged on by crewmates on other jobs about my duct tape finger until it grew back.

 

[The Frisco Kid]

I always use a wrench...(Just in case my HF grinder decides it wants to spin in the wrong dirction.)

LMAO, good point!

 

[bahcoswed]

Why use a wrench, i have never seen anyone who has tighten with a wrench, but the last 100 times i have use the bigger hitachi angle grinder with a cutting disc i loose the disc with thick gloves and a heavy hit on the disc Sometimes it has been totaly stuck and allways i use a knipex cobra/alligator or the original wrench to loose it! BUT never ever to tighten with a tool, only by hands and like i said, no person tighten with a wrench(here at least)! It works perfectly and has never got loose or something even that i tighten it loose!