Wirewheeling bolts-- tips to keep them from flying?

[larryq]

Replaced my dad's pickup's water pump this weekend. As you might imagine, some of the bolts had surface rust and were stubborn to remove.

I put them on the 1/4 HP wire wheel afterward to clean them off. Mission accomplished, but not without one or two nearly flying out of the pliers and across the garage. How do you guys clamp your bolts when wirewheeling?

 

[kunkernator]

Use a pair of channel locks or some vise grips, it always works good for me.

 

[sselander]

fill an old coffee can with evapo-rust or vinegar and let them soak.
Much safer.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-gallon-evapo-rust-rust-remover-96431.html

 

[larryq]

Has HF always sold evapo-rust? Heard good things about it... I've used vinegar before on old wrenches and it took a week to get things looking decent. Would it be quicker for bolts and such?

 

[sselander]

evapo-rust is pretty quick. You can re-use it quite a bit.
Filter it from time to time.
It works better when warm and not ice cold.
I just keep it in the furnace room and not the garage.

 

[dirtydogintex]

good quality/condition, somewhat fine wire wheel
light, steady pressure - don't get horsey or rush things so you're finished yesterday

if fasteners are too short to hold in finger tips, try locking vise grips w/nice square jaw ends - worn out pliers need not apply!


My grandfather, who was also my instructor on cool things like this, never did understand why anyone would ever need pliers to hold small things! *L*

 

[KPSquared]

Bolt in the vice. Wire wheel on the angle grinder. I like it that way better than the wheel on the bench for most things.

 

[#1SomeGuy]

Yup, throw it in the vise and use a wire wheel on something (drill, die grinder, angle grinder, etc)

 

[srmofo]

Anytime Im wire wheeling a bolt I grab a pair of vise grips. Works like a charm everytime.

Pliers always seem to let the bolt twist in the jaws (not spinning, but more of a 90 degree motion). Then the wire wheel grabs and the bolts go flying.

Right about now someone should be coming along to tell us how a wire wheel will make the fastener critically unsafe

 

[1982fxr]

Cheap leather gloves and hold on tight. Learn to use the corner of the wheel. Wheel not as damaging to your hand as you might think

 

[ChargedUp!]

Cheap leather gloves and hold on tight. Learn to use the corner of the wheel. Wheel not as damaging to your hand as you might think

That's how I do it too. Solved my bolt flinging problem. Just wear gloves and go to town!

 

[Outlawmws]

Cheap leather gloves and hold on tight. Learn to use the corner of the wheel. Wheel not as damaging to your hand as you might think

Depends on the wheel: the fine ones are pretty forgiving but the braided wheels can eat your finger tip off in an eye blink.

"Gloves" - Leather ONLY! and ONLY on the fine wheels... (One of the few places where I'd risk any glove and power tool...)

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

For some cases I like to hold a nut in the vise grips and put bolt in that, holding it so wire wheel is tightening and not loosening. Once the visible area is clean, back it off and add a second nut to lock it while you clean the hidden portion. Better access and a bit less fumbling and re-gripping on many jobs.
If not in a hurry...throw the bolts in a can of thinner, forget them for a while, shake or agitate or move basket up and down every now and then.
Once clean...throw into evapo rust and forget them again for a while. Evapo is GREAT stuff, but expensive enough that you don'r want to corrupt it with grease.

 

[BobKovacs]

I tighten a nut in the vise, thread the bolt partially into it, and hit it with a wirewheel on an angle grinder. You can hit it with one side of the wheel and it'll spin the bolt down into the nut, and then just touch it lightly on the other side to spin the bolt back up and almost out of the nut.

 

[87Pomona]

Use Vise grips and the corner of the wire wheel.

 

[mossyboy6]

Fine wire wheel and man skin.

 

[Dthreap]

Cheap leather gloves and hold on tight. Learn to use the corner of the wheel. Wheel not as damaging to your hand as you might think

That's what I do, just had to clean up 20 lug nut studs on a customers Mercedes yesterday

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[buening]

Don't overpay for Evaporust at HF. My local HF has it for $30, whereas my local Rural King has it for $20. I think auto parts stores like O'Reilly sell it for $20 as well.

Vise Grips tend to damage the bolt head due to the clamping force needed to prevent the wire wheel from flinging the bolt. Leather gloves with a fine wire wheel for me when I don't use Evaporust.

 

[rlitman]

"Gloves" - Leather ONLY! and ONLY on the fine wheels... (One of the few places where I'd risk any glove and power tool...)

I hear what you're saying, and agree somewhat, but for someone who doesn't know what they're going I need to strongly say NO GLOVES.

If you're doing the hold the part in the vise and work around it with a wire wheel in a handheld tool, then yeah gloves are fine.

If you're holding the part against the wire wheel in a grinder, no gloves! This is the easiest way to have a finger ripped off. The reason I agree with you at all, is that with a leather glove, the glove is more likely to rip off with the finger than wind your arm around the machine and pull your face into the wheel. This is not at all uncommon with cloth gloves.

But, saying all that, I've been wire wheeling on a bench grinder all my life, and I never use gloves. If you get the feel for it, you don't throw parts, and you don't wheel off your skin. I'll routinely wheel 1/2" long 1/4-20 bolts. No pliers necessary, although I sometimes reach for vise grips when the part gets too hot.

The truth is, this is a VERY useful skill. Practice a lot, and eventually you get in the proper habits of holding the part so it doesn't get thrown.
BTW, you learn a lot faster when you're buffing irreplaceable brass gears from an antique clock with rouge on an open muslin buff (which is MUCH more likely to grab and toss parts than any wire wheel).

Why learn the improper habits of clamping parts in ways that leave permanent marks (vise grips)?

Oh, and did you seriously say 1/4 HP? Dang, that's really not putting up a fight. Figure out what you're doing wrong, and you should be able to wheel a part between held your knuckles on such a small motor.

I've got a friend with a 2HP grinder (ok that thing scares me), but anything less than 1/3HP and I don't think I could get anything done. Most of my wheels are on 1/2 or 2/3HP motors (with a few on 1/3).

First tip:
Be gentle. More pressure on a wire wheel will cause the wires to bend. Then they just kind of drag along the surface, but it is the impact of the wire with the surface that does the work. Push too hard, and you actually slow down the cleaning action, wear out the wheel faster, and make it more likely to grab. This is completely the opposite of how a grinder works. With a grinder, you can keep pushing until the machine starts to slow down. With a wire wheel, you need to pay attention to the shape the wheel takes when it wraps around your part. If the wheel is starting to slow down, you're pushing WAY to hard.

 

[zmotorsports]

All I have ever done is used a bench grinder mounted wire wheel with light pressure and spin the bolt in my fingers. Occassionally I lose one and it gets sucked into the wheel but just throws in on the floor. I have only had that happen a few times, usually not a problem. I don't use gloves as I think that would be one more thing for the wire wheel to grab but that may just be my thinking. Just remember if the bolt gets grabbed by the wheel don't chase it, let it go.

A friend of mine bought one of those cheap tumblers from HF and uses that. I have thought about it but I can usually hit the wire wheel and take much less time than waiting for the tumbler. If I am going to paint the bolts then I throw them in a metal basket in my glass beading cabinet, blast them and then poke them through a piece of cardboard for paint.

Mike.

 

[dirtydogintex]

I hear what you're saying, and agree somewhat, but for someone who doesn't know what they're going I need to strongly say NO GLOVES.

If you're doing the hold the part in the vise and work around it with a wire wheel in a handheld tool, then yeah gloves are fine.

If you're holding the part against the wire wheel in a grinder, no gloves! This is the easiest way to have a finger ripped off. The reason I agree with you at all, is that with a leather glove, the glove is more likely to rip off with the finger than wind your arm around the machine and pull your face into the wheel. This is not at all uncommon with cloth gloves.

But, saying all that, I've been wire wheeling on a bench grinder all my life, and I never use gloves. If you get the feel for it, you don't throw parts, and you don't wheel off your skin. I'll routinely wheel 1/2" long 1/4-20 bolts. No pliers necessary, although I sometimes reach for vise grips when the part gets too hot.

The truth is, this is a VERY useful skill. Practice a lot, and eventually you get in the proper habits of holding the part so it doesn't get thrown.
BTW, you learn a lot faster when you're buffing irreplaceable brass gears from an antique clock with rouge on an open muslin buff (which is MUCH more likely to grab and toss parts than any wire wheel).

Why learn the improper habits of clamping parts in ways that leave permanent marks (vise grips)?

Oh, and did you seriously say 1/4 HP? Dang, that's really not putting up a fight. Figure out what you're doing wrong, and you should be able to wheel a part between held your knuckles on such a small motor.

I've got a friend with a 2HP grinder (ok that thing scares me), but anything less than 1/3HP and I don't think I could get anything done. Most of my wheels are on 1/2 or 2/3HP motors (with a few on 1/3).

First tip:
Be gentle. More pressure on a wire wheel will cause the wires to bend. Then they just kind of drag along the surface, but it is the impact of the wire with the surface that does the work. Push too hard, and you actually slow down the cleaning action, wear out the wheel faster, and make it more likely to grab. This is completely the opposite of how a grinder works. With a grinder, you can keep pushing until the machine starts to slow down. With a wire wheel, you need to pay attention to the shape the wheel takes when it wraps around your part. If the wheel is starting to slow down, you're pushing WAY to hard.

+1

Sounds as though you and I attended similar schools.... at least of thought anyway...,.

 

[rlitman]

I have a friend who uses a tumbler for this, but he's doing thousands of bolts and washers at a batch.

If you're really averse to losing parts, here's a suggestion. Get a towel you don't like, and staple LOOSELY to a frame. Position this around waist level below the grinder, in the area that the parts get tossed. If the towel is loose, the part will not bounce, and will just slump down to the middle.

 

[larryq]

All good ideas. Thanks everyone.

 

[Eddie Hansen]

I know I a late to this dance, I am restoring a 69 Oldsmobile convertible, restoration thread can be found here
http://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...837-eddie-hansens-69-cutlass-convertible.html

plenty of rusty bolts

If you want to use a wire wheel , why not take a piece thinnish thickness bar stock, drill and tap a few different size holes and use it as a handle, saving your fingers, you could use a thin locking nut on either side of the bolt.

I have also glass beaded them and that worked pretty well, but I am finding during my restoration that no matter howwell you clean them re black oxide them etc that it works out better to just get replacements ( if available)

 

[Cryptic1911]

bench grinder and no gloves here.. they just get in the way. I don't like pliers or vice grips either. They tend to make it harder to hang on, and more accident prone.

 

[Matt018]

vise grips

 

[Greatbear]

When holding the bolt against the wheel, approach the wheel from below and bring the bolt up into the wheel. If you do the reverse by approaching the wheel from above and bringing the bolt down into the wheel, you risk the piece being thrown. This is the same technique used with stationary buffers.

 

[rlitman]

When holding the bolt against the wheel, approach the wheel from below and bring the bolt up into the wheel. If you do the reverse by approaching the wheel from above and bringing the bolt down into the wheel, you risk the piece being thrown. This is the same technique used with stationary buffers.

Yep. It is also the same technique used with routers and die grinders (among other things). You must pay attention to the direction of rotation, and feed against it.

 

[kmccorm2000]

old drill chuck with a long bolt mounted to the input. Put the item in the chuck and tighten it up. Doesn't damage the threads like vise grips and is smaller for better control and turning at the wheel.

 

[supra90turbo]

I have a 1/3hp with a coarse knotted wheel and I always hold the bolt with my bare hands. Be it a 14mm bolt or a 6mm bolt, I've never lost one. Gloves only increase the danger, my friend got his finger stuck in the wheel because of gloves, all that's ever happened to me is the wheel cleaned my fingers from lightly hitting it.

If you use common sense, and pay attention, you won't need anything more than that.
Aside from "man skin" as mossyboy6 stated. lol

 

[onewaydave]

I use old junk pliers. I don't use locking types because invariably, I have a short bolt that the head needs cleaning up. Who wants crushed threads?

Think about what you are doing. Don't hold the tip of a 6" bolt and thrust the head into the wheel, grip it close to where the wheel is.

Hold the item perpendicular, not longitudinally.

Hold larger items with both pliers and fingers, just keep the fingers further away than the pliers from the wheel.

I'm no fan of gloves.

Keep the area free of debris, clutter and cranneys, 'cause your gonna have to find the occasional flung bolt/nut/spring sometime.

I prefer soft wheels on a bench grinder and agree with a vise and angle grinder for twisted sisters and aggressive cleaning.

Rust converter products are fine but sometimes a guy just needs to wire wheel something.

Dave.

 

[rlitman]

old drill chuck with a long bolt mounted to the input. Put the item in the chuck and tighten it up. Doesn't damage the threads like vise grips and is smaller for better control and turning at the wheel.

+1 That's a damn good idea for round parts. Still, it won't work on the tip end of bolts if the head doesn't fit in the chuck. It can still damage threads, but is much less likely to do so.

I used to have an old propane torch where the plastic knob fell off the valve, and it was permanently fixed with a junk Jacobs chuck.
The shop sink must have had it's cold water knob replaced by a pair of vise grips for over a decade before I finally got around to fixing it right.

 

[dirtydogintex]

....

I used to have an old propane torch where the plastic knob fell off the valve, and it was permanently fixed with a junk Jacobs chuck.
The shop sink must have had it's cold water knob replaced by a pair of vise grips for over a decade before I finally got around to fixing it right.

actual 'garage art' predating the 'garage art' period? *L*

 

[Shoottx]

Here are a couple of solutions I use for wire wheeling bolts and or nuts.

First is a salvaged chuck from a dead battery powered drill in a handle. Next is a set of rough handles with a nut JB welded in the end. screw a bolt in and buff away

[/IMG]

 

[greasemonkey44]

wow nice^

i chuck the head in the vice and use a wire wheel with a drill

ive done it other ways but this is very controlled and fast

 

[tomshep]

I just hold them but the best tip I have is adjust your tool rest properly and let the bolt rest on the tool rest. Don't try to hold it, just guide it.

Tom

 

[rlitman]

I just hold them but the best tip I have is adjust your tool rest properly and let the bolt rest on the tool rest. Don't try to hold it, just guide it.

Picturing that with a wire wheel just makes me cringe. Even with the tool rest making contact with the wires, I can so picture a part getting sucked between the rest and the wheel, and with that kind of force, it will be thrown VERY hard when it happens.

 

[Carla]

I have a friend who uses a tumbler for this, but he's doing thousands of bolts and washers at a batch.

If you're really averse to losing parts, here's a suggestion. Get a towel you don't like, and staple LOOSELY to a frame. Position this around waist level below the grinder, in the area that the parts get tossed. If the towel is loose, the part will not bounce, and will just slump down to the middle.

concur

Few things are as frustrating as being on a time-pressed job, cleaning small parts on a wire wheel, having the part 'grabbed' by the wheel, and watching it bounce once or twice, appear to just 'evaporate' into 'thin air' and never be found again. Don't bother asking me how I know this.

An 'old timers' trick' is to use a cardboard box of suitable size, on any improvised device, such as another box, to have it directly under your wire wheel.

Line the box with old bath towels, neatly folded.

When the bolt or other small part is grabbed and thrown by the wire wheel, it will land safely, and not 'bounce' on the folded towels.

Simply stop the wire wheel (reaching past a moving wire wheel isn't prudent) and recover your bolt or part.

The most practical way to clean bolts/capscrews is to glass-blast them, if you've the equipment. A few scraps of round stock with a few turns of thread tapped in the ends makes a convenient way to handle the bolts for cleaning. This, of course, doesn't clean those first few threads. A 'second op' blasting with the bolt heads stuck to a strong magnet finishes the job, after which they can go to the black oxide.

A small tumbler of the type sold for hobbyist rock tumbling, charged with a fine abrasive such as glass beads, with some water and a little bit of dish soap, will clean bolts/nuts and suchlike nicely, and won't cost much to set up.

cheers

Carla

 

[dirtydogintex]

Picturing that with a wire wheel just makes me cringe. Even with the tool rest making contact with the wires, I can so picture a part getting sucked between the rest and the wheel, and with that kind of force, it will be thrown VERY hard when it happens.

Saw that happen once after a new hand re-installed the rests on the wire (wheel) grinder.
Long story short? He soon discovered why the rests had been removed in the first place....

May not be OSHA approved but how much is in R/L?