URGENT Wire wheel on TS??? Safe??? Issues??

[John Moorhead]

Folks -

Santa's elf needs to distress some redwood for keepsake boxes, and doing it with a wire wheel mounted on the lathe headstock to "sandblast" it seemed like a good idea... but there are some hazards..

I got to thinking, could I mount the wire wheel on the tablesaw arbor, with an appropriate zero or nearly zero clearance plate and "rip" my lengths of stock with the wheel projecting say, 1/4" above the table? I have board buddies to use for hold downs and I think I'd get a more consistent texture on the boards.

If the wheel is covered by the board, I'm using board buddies to hold the board firmly, and am wearing safety equipment, what might I be missing, other than the grey matter that I've been after for years?

The wheel is rated for 6000 rpm, the arbor runs about 4,000. Does this seem like an okay idea or will my last words be "hey y'all, watch this!"?

John Moorhead

[Roy Smith]

I'm not sure about the zero clearance plate. Wires tend to spread, and what looked like sufficient clearance during setup may not be when you get going.

[Doug Miller]

That's a candidate for the "Understatement of the Week" award. :-)

Sounds a *lot* safer than using a lathe.

You didn't mention push blocks. I don't think I'd want my hands too close to that. Roll up your sleeves, too, and stand off to the side.

Make sure to blow the trunnions and adjusting mechanisms clean with compressed air after you're finished. Those wire wheels tend to lose bristles at an alarming rate.

Or maybe, "Here, hold my beer." :-)

Sounds ok to me, given enough safety precautions.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

[Searcher]

Before you start could you set up a video cam, Oh Just in case of course. My opinion: Those wire wheels come apart awfully damn fast, I am constantly cleaning up wire shards after using my bench grinder w/wire wheel. I do have an angle grinder that has a wire wheel attachement with it, maybe that would work for you. It's much safer. Got it at Martha Sears for about 30 bucks. Good luck and keep that camera rolling cause its all real TV

RICH aka Searcher1

[Juergen Hannappel]

How can a wire wheel in an (hand-held ?) angle grinder be safer than in a table saw?

[Lee Michaels]

Just a word of caution.

I bought a sears angle grinder and a cup wire brush to clean up some metal. It was a small job. Just smooth off some surface discoloration. Just enough to make a dull surface shiny again, Not heavy rust or anything.

That Sears cup brush totally wore away. It not only threw bristles all over the place but the bristles themselves wore down to the nub. I have used makita before. They lasted at least twenty time longer than the Sears crap. I paid $15 for a wire cup brush and it wore out completely in less than an hour. My old makita brushes literally lasted for years and years of occaisional use. I would say at least 60 hours. And they were still good for many more hours.

I got the Sears angle grinder on a closeout and got a good price. I did not expect to use it that much. I didn't know that I was going to pay far more for supplies.

And the Sears angle grinder was harder to hold and control than the makita. You get what you pay for. Not just in the original tool, but in the supplies as well.

[patriarch]

"John Moorhead" wrote in news:qkkud.31598$ [e-mail]:

You're planning to do this on that sweet General tablesaw you were gloating on last year? What did it ever do to p@$$ you off?

Just how many keepsake boxes was Santa's elf planning on doing, anyway?

I think I'd start with a wheel chucked into a tailed handheld drill motor. The low angle grinder idea has appeal, but my DeWalt can be pretty aggressive, and thrilling to control.

Maybe dig out that face shield that you're 'sposed to have for the lathe work, too.

Patriarch, wondering if John ran this idea by Rose first...

[John Moorhead]

Patriarch -

Heaven, no! The saw has done NOTHING to piss me off... Heck, it's got a welter of new blades, excalibur guard, splitter, board buddies, dust collection... it's had a better year than I have, almost... The way I look at it, if I use the wire wheel on the saw, I am getting to spend MORE time with it.

A am doing about a dozen boxes, and am trying to work efficiently and safely. As for the face shield, Lordy.... I *almost* look like the guy on the back of sheet sandpaper - face shield, my regular glasses, a respirator, hearing protection * and the excalibur guard. I have so much eye protection I have to *feel* around to see where the blade is! D'oH!

I tried the drill before the lathe. I was hoping to get these done before Groundhog Day, hence the Lathe idea... then last night I had the idea about using the saw...

Cheers,

John ...

[Jim]

John:

I'm not sure I'd want to put my table saw through such a thing, but that's only me.

As an alternative, have you considered sandblasting? Even if you don't have a rig, they can often be had inexpensively, or rented. Sandblasting is the method used to make those nifty redwood "weathered" texture signs. Ofcourse they now use a man-made board instead of the redwood, but they still sandblast them.

Good luck.

Jim Ray, President McFeely's Square Drive Screws

[Searcher]

I have not even taken the wire cup out of the package, so THANK YOU for the warning. I am actually using the angle grinder on a gun safe that I am building and have had no complaints as of yet. Just by looking at the wire cup I thinks to myself, this looks pretty tough, and put it back in the box. The last I saw it it was still there. I really have no use for the wire cup. But, with you post, I thinks me will look for another brand. Thanks Searcher1

[Searcher]

I just can't fathom myself putting an outward expanding wire wheel down into my prissy TS.

Searcher1

[rmcaskey]

but you can bet that the clearance plate will be REAL clean.

martin caskey millers island, maryland

Roy Smith wrote:

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[Dave Hinz]

Yup, please have your survivors post the video.

These things have a max speed rating. The grinder has a speed rating. If A is greater than B, fine. If B is greater than A, don't do it.

[Andy Dingley]

Yeah, they do that. These days I'm _very_ fussy about the brand of wire wheel I use on the angle grinder. I recently heard

very highly recommended over in the welding ng.

For aging boards, I'd definitely use a hand-held grinder and move it over the board. I wouldn't think of using it in a tablesaw - it's just the wrong way to bring the two components together.

I'd also be inclined not to age the boards, but to make up the carcase and then age that.

[J T]

Fri, Dec 10, 2004, 4:40pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (John=A0Moorhead) claims: Folks - Santa's elf needs to distress some redwood

Sounds like Santa's Elf still has that problem with the eggnog.

You want to distress it, let a pack of kids play with it for a day.

Personally, I don't see "distressing" something new. I would imagine the wood was pretty well distressed already, just by being cut down. The Woodworking Gods agree.

If you want something to look "old", I'd say use old, used, reclaimed, wood. Or, alternately, lay some new boards out in the open, until they get weathered enough for you. But, IF I was going to do such a horrible thing to an innocent piece of wood, I'd probably opt to use a variable speed drill, maybe with a wire brush. If you want to use paint, you can try wiping the wet paint with crumpled paper. Or, hitting it some with sandpaper, when it's dry. A short google will turn up all sorts of ways to do it.

My mind just can't quite grasp the reasoning behind "distressing" projects. Yeah, I could do it, and probably well; actually, I've read quite a bit about the different techniques used; but, I want whatever I make to look nice; after all, it isn't an antique, so I don't want to even try to make it look old. Over time it'll get beaten up a bit, sure, but it'll have earned it's old look by then.

JOAT Remember: Nova is Avon, spelled backwards.

[Sandman]

Could a wire wheel in a TS be any less safe than those moulding cutters.. you know the ones...with that windy humming sound... With the safety precautions mentioned previously, I really see nothing wrong with the concept. You can even set the depth of 'cut'. Age a little, age a lot.

And yet.....why does it 'feel' wrong?

They're kinda furry looking.. like a hairbrush...how could that hurt any one?

Rob

[Mike Marlow]

Yeahbut, if you'd have just stuck with the drill you'd have been done by now.

[Scott Lurndal]

Dunno - what is the tangential velocity of an inch long steel needle flying off a 5000RPM 8" diameter wire brush?

scott

[John Moorhead]

JOAT -

I am using reclaimed wood, it just isn't "old" yet... as for the pros and cons of distressing the wood, as with any finish, is subjective. I did one small mock-up of the box with smooth sides, and another with the textured sides with the wire wheel. I liked it, and that's good enough for me. Redwood is *so* soft anyway, that a fingerprint nearly dents it, so I am beating it to the punch.

As for the earlier post about sandblasting, my compressor isn't big enough to run one and rental is nearly $150 a day....

John Moorhead

[Sandman]

Maximum 8" diam x pi x5000 /60/12 = 174 fps The diameter of the hub is MUCH smaller than that. Consider a mass ,