Technical Angle grinder etiquette

Guess you missed Iron Resurrection this week ? Mike had a disc blow up on him..

 

THAT IS A MUST. Never lay the grinder down with the disk down. If you drop it on the floor change the disk and throw that one away.

I've got a Sellstrom Ratchet face shield that curves under my chin a bit and doesn't let stuff bounce up under it off my shirt. Not cheap but I tend to wear it a lot more than I did my other one.

Side note: 20 something years ago when I was buying the parts and equipment for the maintenance department of a fruit juice/apple sauce plant and we were using a couple of boxes of cut disks a week we came to the conclusion that the "Thin" disks that made those nice thin cuts were the ones that were far more prone to blow up than the thicker ones. That was with guys cutting stainless all day long. I quit ordering the thin ones and problems with them flying apart dropped immensely.

Personally it is almost always when cutting multiple layers of metal that I have an issue with a cut disk. I try to stay away from doing that and use the sawzall or go a different way.

 

A few drops of ATF on the shirt pocket, three inch cut off tool, shirt on fire. It's hell what you have to do to entertain the students. We now have a tool that is reversible. Love it.

 

I can second this, I once tried to cut off a shock, the guard would not allow me to get to it so I took it off.
It caught, thru the grinder across my chest and into my left arm. Never again, I had to drag my battery charger down from the barn attic, jump the truck, drive myself to the hospital, lost time working, all for
being stupid. Left arm is still only about 1/2 as strong as my right.

 

I agree on using quality discs and guards.
I wear heavy gloves, safety glasses AND a face shield over it when cutting and grinding

I too am amazed at TV shows of people grinding and welding w/o gloves, eye protection or welding helmets....while wearing shorts.

 

The one I was using came from a farm store, go figure.

 

On the job the rule for angle grinders is a face shield over safety glasses. One good safety course included line of fire. If something happens where is are things going going to fly. Keep face & body out of line of fire, where are the sparks flying, what are the risks around the work etc. One of the guys on the job had angle grinder jumped and caught him on the side of the nose. It was not serious but could have been had his safety glasses not limited the cut. No guard and no face shield. They scare me and some of the previous posts show that they can really injure someone.

My new Dewalt side grinder does not seem to have as much guard coverage as should have & that is going to get fixed. I made finger contact with the zipcut last fall and was close to a stitch or two. Should have had work gloves on and that is on me. I always inspect the zipcut before using it as it is too easy to crack or nick the discs. One of my least favorite tools. My son has the long handled side grinder and it seems to give him much better control than the small bodied grinder. Stay safe.

 

I think I've once once removed the guard on my 5" Mikita angle grinder, but can't remember what exactly for now. I've had enough metal removed from my eye (3 times now, and luckily a 4th piece came out on its own a couple weeks) such that I now always wear full googles. Safety glasses just don't cut it as I 've had stuff bounce off my chest and into my face and eye. I was looking again at a face shield and I've used them in the past, but I found the plastic seemed to scratch even if I just looked at it. I'm so tired of all the cheap ass stuff being sold. Just as important as eye or face protection is hearing and respiratory protection. I now do all three when grinding/ cutting steel.

 

I always use mine in a grinder. Never had any issues. I set up an account with an abrasive disc company. I am not fond of the 5 for $1 HF discs.

https://www.aaabrasives.com/shop-pr...kAAziZW9LewXe1lbI6dcZMoh6gFsaHlBoCfm4QAvD_BwE

https://www.unitedabrasives.com/cat...SQ2JMeqxnbe5iRNZZre9xkU8KR4MbrfRoCz3sQAvD_BwE

 

Years ago I was working in an iron foundry and we had these big electric grinders with flat discs for grinding the slag off truck brake drums . One of the guys down from me had a grinding disc break
and the disc went probably 50 feet across the shop and stuck into a cinder block wall.
I can only imagine what would have happened to soft tissue had that hit someone.
I just had an eye doctor stick a needle in both of my eyes last week to flush the grinding dust out of my tear ducts. Pretty freaky to have a 3inch needle poked in your tear duct.
don't use a guard on your grinder. Chicks dig scars.

 

It’s quite obvious that OSHA does not watch these TV shows. American Chopper was also very stupid about this.


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Many years ago I worked in the grinding department of a manufacturing plant. When thy would change stones on the stationary grinders they would cordon off that department and run the grinders for 6 hrs before opening the area

 

Now most of the angle grinders I find have that safety button that you have to depress for the trigger to work. One more hazard for us lefties.

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I don't use cut off wheels on angle grinders, the angle of the wheels makes for a poor position to control the cut off wheel, and it places the fingers too close to the wheel for me. I have a few welding gloves with cuts in the fingers, needless to say, I don't do much with a cut off wheel without putting on the welding gloves.
Cheap cutoff wheels disappear really fast, and are more prone to breaking then the better quality cutoff wheels. My health is more important then saving a few bucks on cutoff wheels.
If a cutoff wheel starts bouncing its time to stop and probably oput on a different cutoff wheel. The bounce is a result of a chunk broke off the wheel, or a possible crack in the wheel, neither is good for a wheel spinning at the rpm the cutoff wheel is spinning. I also keep my face out of line with the spinning wheel, that keeps the sparks and the possible flying debris away from my face. Gene

 

I use my air powered grinder for just that, a grinder. I don’t try to cut with it. For small cuts, I have a air powered die grinder type cut off tool made to cut with, one with a guard, one without. For larger or thicker material, I use an abrasive cut off wheel on a metal case Skilsaw. It has to be a metal one, the sparks will melt the guard on a plastic one.

I prefer the air powered grinder over an electric one because when you let off the trigger, it stops, unlike the electric which will freewheel for a minute or two.

 

Thanks for the tip on the sellstrum face shield. I just ordered one with the chin guard and anti fog.

 

I use my 4" Makita (swapmeet find for $7 so it doesn't have a guard of course) for years. I use a face shield, thick gloves (or at least cut resistant) and thin cut off discs of good quality. Don't bend the disc, don't drop it or crack the disc and don't move the grinder up or down when cutting to wedge the disc. I've never had one blow up on me, they've broken but no real shrapnel......I think it's because I use a thin disc so it disintegrates before launch (but wear out quicker).

 

I never fire up any rotary tool now without my leathers, welding gloves and face shield and glasses. I had several close calls over the years when I was a lot younger and in a hurry.
One resulted in a broken wrist, a knuckle, and about 12 lascerations on both hands and arms.
These TV shows on now hardly ever show people properly equipped for the work they are performing. It is sending the wrong message to people out there. They should do a show on people hurt by not wearing the proper protective gear.
If it can cut metal it can do a lot worse to skin and bone and a whole lot faster.
Think smart and be safe. Enough unplanned shit happens, no sense addding to it.

 

I use a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a cut off wheel constantly at work. I don't use a shield but wear safety glasses.

I also use a handle to control it.

The trick for cutting is never run the blade backwards in the material. Let's say the blade turn clockwise then you cut left to right. You actually let the blade help pull you thru the material. IF you try going the other direction the blade will try to kick the grinder out of your hands and IF you try starting a cut on an edge backwards your asking for trouble..

My best 40 plus yrs experience.

 

Don't forget about that wonderful cup brush on the grinder when it decides to grab and get a bite of you

 

And those are cut off wheel explosion scars....

 

I use a Milwaukee 4” grinder, no guard, with either Walter Zip wheels or the newer Forney wheels several times a week. I always use a full face shield, and a decent quality dust mask. Sometimes gloves, sometimes not. Usually, but not always, hold the part I’m cutting with a pair of vice grips. If it’s flat stock, then I use flange vice grips. I’ve never had a disc come apart, but I concentrate on what I’m doing and don’t crowd or bind the wheel. You have to use common sense.

 

Whew! Glad your OK. But don't ever do that again!
Go to your room and think about what could have happened!

 

If we are voting on cut off discs my vote goes to 3M Green Corps discs, not inexpensive but they don't turn to dust like others.
When I took over the toolroom at work the previous guy was trying to impress the bean counters by saving money on abrasives, the fabricators wanted a higher quality product.
I proposed the 3M line and EVERYBODY loved them, partly because they spent less time changing them but also by not having to breathe as much abrasive dust.

 

My father-in-law had a wonderful way of commenting on my many garage induced injuries. He would just shake his head and say "What a clobber-ass".

Welcome to the club Lloyd

 

I notice on videos that europe, asia seems to favor cut off wheels, not much saw use for cutting plates, beams. Mostly on the safe side of dangerous.

 

When I was young and dumb I was using one under a car with no safety gear. I had a disc explode and by the grace of God the pieces went everywhere but into me. That was a wake up call. Now I don't pick one up without gloves, safety glasses, and a face mask on.

One last note. I also have a nice scar on my knee from where the sticky slide switch on a garbage chinese angle grinder wasn't as much in the off position as I thought it was. Fk those slide switches. Now I'm using a super nice Makita with a paddle switch. Don't need anymore stupid easily preventable injuries.

 

I never use a cutoff disc without the guard anymore. Managed to get the grinder caught in my sweater while working on a work bench. It took fractions of a second for the grinder to get caught in the sweater, and it being impossible to use the on/off switch. I had to lean over the bench (and the grinder now working it's way towards my stomach) to reach the electric plug. Ended up with some beautiful (but thankfully shallow) cuts in my stomach.

After that little incident it's; guard on the grinder, face shield/goggles, hearing protection, good gloves and snug fitting clothes.

 

Don't mouth breathe while grinding. you'll taste it!
Seriously, when grinding or cutting stuff, bits of stuff go airborne. Masks aren't overkill.

 

I realize not everyone gets the opportunity to use different types and designs of the same tools. In this case 4” grinders.
They all have drawbacks but some are worse than others. The main thing is it’s got to be comfortable in your hands and you need a grip on it with control. A good grip like King Kong and control like a surgeon. Without good grip and control you’re gonna loose both. Kinda dangerous when you have a 10,000 rpm tool.

The short body ones are incredibly hard to do this with, the switch placement matters, the body diameter matters, and amperage matters. For bench work I like a high amperage long body with paddle switch.
The paddle switch can get flaky and become a live switch so it shines everywhere except putting it down.

For out of position work I like a small body low amp tool. The low amp is easier hang onto with one hand behind your back, upside down, and can’t really see. It’s not as aggressive so it’s easy to control.

The worst of the bunch is high amp short body. Those things are incredibly hard to hold on to, blade close to body and the fingers, switches in crappy places.