my first grinding wheel explosion,lucky...

[ChrisLS8]

I've switched over to Diablo and Lennox diamond cutting wheels at work cause we grind in some very odd angles. Can't shatter a steel disk with a cordless grinder that I've seen yet

 

[rlitman]

What’s a good leather apron? Something like a Hobart from NTE any good, or are ones like that too thin?

I use Tillman. It's thicker than the HF aprons, and you'd need a full-grain hide to get anything thicker than the suede they use. That being said, I used to own a full-grain hide apron. That thing was like armor.

I've switched over to Diablo and Lennox diamond cutting wheels at work cause we grind in some very odd angles. Can't shatter a steel disk with a cordless grinder that I've seen yet

That's the main reason I've switched to diamond for cutting discs (the other reason is reduced dust in the air). I use cutting discs as little as possible though, and diamond does cut slower.

 

[mrjaw14]

How long do those diamond discs last?

 

[rlitman]

How long do those diamond discs last?

They claim at least 10x as long as a conventional abrasive disc. Enough that the cost of cut is reduced using diamond.

I found that while it is initially very aggressive (more so than the best of my slicer discs), the cut speed slows down rapidly, and for most of its life it cuts more like a cheap slicer disc (kind of frustratingly slow). Still, for the safety and lack of black gook in my lungs, I prefer the steel cutting discs. I haven't tried the borazon grinding wheels yet. They're super pricey.

 

[toolmutt]

They claim at least 10x as long as a conventional abrasive disc. Enough that the cost of cut is reduced using diamond.

I found that while it is initially very aggressive (more so than the best of my slicer discs), the cut speed slows down rapidly, and for most of its life it cuts more like a cheap slicer disc (kind of frustratingly slow). Still, for the safety and lack of black gook in my lungs, I prefer the steel cutting discs. I haven't tried the borazon grinding wheels yet. They're super pricey.

Have you ever tried dressing the blade? You can "uncover" more/new diamond cutting surface by making a few wet cuts through a dressing stone. At the fire station, we used a few old fire bricks as a substitute. I'm told a cinder block will also work. It kept our 14" rescue saw blades cutting sharp.

 

[toplessHO]

dog found the largest missing piece in the yard somewhere

 

[rlitman]

Have you ever tried dressing the blade? You can "uncover" more/new diamond cutting surface by making a few wet cuts through a dressing stone. At the fire station, we used a few old fire bricks as a substitute. I'm told a cinder block will also work. It kept our 14" rescue saw blades cutting sharp.

Not yet, but I will now! That’s genius. I use pieces of glass to clean my diamond sharpening stones and files.

 

[FuzzyTiger]

Ive had them blow apart a few times. Last one i had to get a few stitches to hold my thumb together since i wasnt wearing gloves. Im alot more careful since then. Ive also had to have crumbs picked out of my eyes multiple times. Ive learned the hard way for every piece of safety gear i now use.

Now if I could just figure out how to stop catching on fire...

Fire retardant coveralls?

 

[Alaniho]

Stick with brands that are actually manufacturers, i would not trust even DeWalt, Bosch, Metabo brands as they don't make themselves and goodness knows where they source them from 1 year to the next (they will be sourced cheap thats for sure).

Stick with manufacturers like Walter/Globe , 3M, Pferd, Sait, Tyrolit, Klingspor and you wont go far wrong.

 

[joel63]

Stick with brands that are actually manufacturers, i would not trust even DeWalt, Bosch, Metabo brands as they don't make themselves and goodness knows where they source them from 1 year to the next (they will be sourced cheap thats for sure).

Stick with manufacturers like Walter/Globe , 3M, Pferd, Sait, Tyrolit, Klingspor and you wont go far wrong.

Are any of these brands available at the big box stores?

 

[American Locomotive]

Are any of these brands available at the big box stores?

Nope. Local welding stores usually carry them though.

I will say, I just started using Pferd stuff and I am quite impressed. Way better than the DeWalt or Norton stuff at Lowes. The Pferd CC-Grind discs are amazing.

Although, the Pferd cup wheel I bought was a little disappointing. It worked extremely well, just fired a lot of bristles out.

 

[Alaniho]

Are any of these brands available at the big box stores?

I see Menards do Pferd ;
https://www.menards.com/main/tools/....htm?queryType=allItems&brandName_facet=PFERD

but American Loco is right in that you need to go to your local welding store, these guys deal with the Industry and tradesmen and would all have at least 1 of the quality offerings in their range, you will get better value too. Box stores buy on price or big brand recognition and then put big markups on.

 

[Alaniho]

Although, the Pferd cup wheel I bought was a little disappointing. It worked extremely well, just fired a lot of bristles out.

I find that if i run the small cup brushes at around 8000rpm it makes a massive difference with shedding, does a better job and lasts a lot longer. Most brushes are rated around max 12,000rpm to sell to mass market 4.5" single speed angle grinders, but in reality the optimum rpm is a lot lower. If you do a lot of grinding and brushing a variable speed grinder is a good investment.

 

[joel63]

Nope. Local welding stores usually carry them though.

I will say, I just started using Pferd stuff and I am quite impressed. Way better than the DeWalt or Norton stuff at Lowes. The Pferd CC-Grind discs are amazing.

Although, the Pferd cup wheel I bought was a little disappointing. It worked extremely well, just fired a lot of bristles out.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[dnschmidt]

I have no idea as to why people even use grinding discs as flap discs are superior in every respect and WAY SAFER. My only use for grinding discs are for smoothing out a fillet weld on an interior angle. For that purpose I use a wheel dresser to put a radius on the outside rim of the disc and use the edge of the disc to grind the fillet into a nice curve. Other than this one purpose it's flap discs all the way.

 

[American Locomotive]

I find that if i run the small cup brushes at around 8000rpm it makes a massive difference with shedding, does a better job and lasts a lot longer. Most brushes are rated around max 12,000rpm to sell to mass market 4.5" single speed angle grinders, but in reality the optimum rpm is a lot lower. If you do a lot of grinding and brushing a variable speed grinder is a good investment.

It was a big 4.5" brush, I was running it at ~4,000 RPM on my variable speed grinder. It was rated for 9,000.

I have no idea as to why people even use grinding discs as flap discs are superior in every respect and WAY SAFER. My only use for grinding discs are for smoothing out a fillet weld on an interior angle. For that purpose I use a wheel dresser to put a radius on the outside rim of the disc and use the edge of the disc to grind the fillet into a nice curve. Other than this one purpose it's flap discs all the way.

Flap wheels are nice, but they in absolutely no way replace a grinding disc. A good grinding wheel will hog out way more material, way faster, for way longer than even the coarse flap wheels. Step into something like a Pferd CC-Grind, and you won't use flap wheels for general grinding use ever again.

Flap wheels are great for clean up and finishing work, but not for hogging out broken chunks of metal or removing old weld remnants.

P.S: If you do really enjoy flap wheels, Pferd makes a radius flapwheel where the abrasive wraps all the way around the edge of the wheel and onto the top. Diablo also makes one, but considering it says "Made In Germany", it's probably just a rebadged Pferd.

 

[lis2323]

Personally I find cheap import abrasives poor value and of questionable quality safety wise.

Safer and most likely cheaper in the long run buying quality brand name product.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

I've found even name brand cheaper ones poorly balanced leaving me with tingly hands and a toss into the garbage.

 

[dnschmidt]

I never really hog out metal. Most of my welding is steel tubing that I'm making tables from or other stuff. If I was doing farm equipment my views might change but for what I do flap discs kick ****.