Lets talk bench grinder/ 4 1/2 angle grinder attachments

[a31ford]

Sorry to hear about your uncle, but so true about the disks, we use them at work, been lucky so far........

 

[brinker88]

He's doing okay now, but yea, it was messed up. He was helping a friend out at his garage and it happened. The friend has no insurance and he's flat broke.

 

[88_Eddie]

i dont know how, but in the 9-10 years i've owned my grinder, i've had just two cut off wheels explode on me. one of them just disenegrated and the other hit me on the hand (had gloves on). i've seen some nasty pics of things that happened to people from flying cut off wheels. that's why i wear one of those heavy duty respirators (i dont like the black snot either), clear eye protection, ear phones and then a face shield on top of that. i usually wear the clear eye protection no matter what when i'm working. they can reattach fingers and limbs, you only get 2 eyes

 

[cvar]

For my angle grinder, I use metal-grinding, metal-cutoff, wire-cup, wire-wheel, and flap-disk attachments. Esp. the first three.

I agree that most bench grinders are underpowered. You press into it a weensy bit and it stops the *^#*@! wheel. I hate that. Anything less than 1 hp won't do. Size 6" is too small (even for home), but 8" is ok. Baldor is high-end, and Delta/Jet/Grizzly seem good. Variable speed is not useful to me. For attachments, I have only a coarse grindstone, fine grindstone, and a wire-wheel. I use the wire-wheel side as often as the grindstone side. Wire wheel is perfect for rust removal, cleaning threads, etc., but then the tool-rest & shield gets in the way so they're taken off. A dressing wheel to square off the grindstone is a good idea. A regular water bucket for cooling hot parts will prevent burning metal. That multitool attachment you pointed out looks spiffy & useful, esp. with the disc/miter-table on the end.

Use a good full-face shield to protect your eyes. Wire wheels also fling off wire strands at high speed (ouch).

And use thick leather gloves. A 16" grindstone removed my knuckle down to bone about 35 yrs ago, and it took 1 second. That finger hurt for many years.

Happy shopping!

 

[OilPatch197]

You should truthfully wear a full suit of armor plated steel and/or be a knight of the round table. Last month my Uncle was life flighted to Giesinger because a cutoff wheel exploded and proceeded to lodge itself in his chest....

Ouch, yeah isn't there like a "special" guard you are supposed to put on a angle grinder when you use cutoff wheels? I have never seen them.

Also I've heard people say that if you use a good quality cutoff wheel it will be less likely to shatter. They said the quality cutoff wheels has more flex.