About to become a *true* DIYer ...

[dmc]

blue with a diamond disc. Just got an email from Screwfix about it.

Seems to have a picture of a small spotlight for some reason - I assume they will fix that though :)

[PeterC]

It's to show that anything can be done with an AG.

[John Stumbles]

Darwin award? :-/

[Jules]

That's the thing I've always found with the cheaper grinders - they come with a tool to get discs off, but not one for removing flap wheels (which need a spanner of sufficient thinness to fit between the flap wheel and the grinder - most are too thick). First thing to do with a new cheapo grinder is to make a tool for removing flap wheels... :-)

Interesting - not come across those. Will have to take a look...

cheers

Jules

[Jules]

I've got some spare chainsaw chain hanging up in the garage - maybe I could make one of those by simply glueing it to the edge of a grinding disc?

;-)

[Andy Burns]

Surely for such a task you'd use body filler instead of copydex?

[Jules]

Duct tape. Oh, and I forgot to point out that adding a chain to the edge of a grinding disc might make it foul the guard, so it'd be best to take that off.

;-)

[Ian White]

Body filler is exactly what you'd be needing...

[Andy Dingley]

40 quid! You can't really argue with that, can you.

Looks totally different in 110V

[Andy Dingley]

I've never had a problem with that. Almost any grinder now, even the cheapies, seems to have a spindle lock pushbutton. So you no longer need the open-ended wrench (the one with the clearance issue?) and just need the pin spanner. Although the flap wheels have more cup to them and a bit less access for a flat pin spanner, I've not had a problem there either - it's hardly a precise fitment!

For shifting wire brushes of course, you need a decent thick glove and just grab the thing.

As so many cheapies have spindle locks, I simply wouldn't buy a new one that didn't. But when a good Blue Bosch is only 40 quid anyway, why go cheap?

[Steve Firth]

Metal cutting disk.

Don't even think about it.

Grinding disk, but an angle grinder will generally file something that is too big into something that is either (a) too small or (b) dust.

Difficult to get the whisks.

The way you're setting about it, eyes, fingers and possibly hands.

There are companies that make disks for gouging wood, I'd keep well away from them, since they also look good for gouging flesh.

[Bob Mannix]

Metal cutting/grinding disks also good for grinding flesh. I know first hand :o(

[PeterC]

So you still have your second hand...

[Andy Dingley]

Grinding disks are only a fraction of the flesh-chomping hazard that carving disks are.

Do the experiment - next time you have a barbecue, stick a few spare sausages into an old welding glove and have a go at it with both sorts of disk. Plasma cutters are relatively benign for this, wire brushes are worse than grinding disks (they tear the leather rather than scorching it) but carving disks go straight through both glove and sausage / finger. I haven't tried them on chainsaw trousers, as I can't afford to damage those.

[Dave]

Various posters have mentioned getting some sort of face protection, but I can't see that anyone has mentioned the quality of them. Try to find your local workwear shop and tell them what you are going to use them with and they will supply the right quaality. In my days in engineering, they were known as grade "A", but they have a different name these days.

Dave

[meow2222]

mind if i simply quote some of this in the wiki article?

Regards, NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Things like safety specs are mandatory on building sites these days so in general you'll only find ones that are ok for using an angle grinder if you go to a reputable supplier. Welding etc needs specialist ones.

[meow2222]

A lot of good info in this thread about AGs, but one thing seems to have been missed. If youre fearful of other power tools, an AG will scare you silly.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yup. And rightly so.

[Tim S]

[e-mail] coughed up some electrons that declared:

Might be easier just to get the Borg to upload Andy's head to the Wiki.

;->