Alternative to spanners

Martyn will be along shortly to check you have all the safety kit.

Seriously, it's a very dangerous tool (probably as bad as anything else you can own). I hate mine, and in fact only recently realised it was nicked in a car break-in over a year ago.

Blimey, I sound like my Dad!

On or around Sun, 25 Jul 2004 11:01:31 +0100, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:

they are dodgy if misused. safety goggles, even if you wear specs, are very much recommended. If you wear specs, you'd be unlikely to get sparks in yer eye, but they're a bloody sight more expensive to replace.

the really nasty bit is when you do something that snags it and breaks the disc, fortunately this is rare.

Needs must I am afraid, once I get rid of those stubborn screws and nuts, and put new ones in, I will be a lot better off.

Of course I will wear goggles, ear defenders, and a mask.

Screwdrivers can be dangeros too, how many times do the slip and stab your fingers.

Put copper grease on the new ones too!. I recently had to grind a bolt off my landy, and it was a nice new one i put on when i rebuilt it a few years back. I copper greased most of mine and they are still nice any easy to get off when i have to :)

Or use stainless nuts and bolts :D

Alex

And never, Never, NEVER use it without the guard. The owner of the rural supply store near here had a disc break and hit him in the face a few years ago. An inch lower and it would have got him in the throat ......... Later that day there were farmers all through the area putting the guards back on. JD

Much easier. I just removed the super doopa tow bar the AA fitted to my

110 at the weekend as I want to paint and waxoyl the rear crossmember.

Without an angle grinder I would have been lost.

8 x M16 bolts 6 x M10 bolts 4 x M8 bolts

None of which would come undone. The angle grinder made short work of it. Spent most of yesterday scraping rust off the crossmember and tow bar fittings.

I've now painted what I can get at of the crossmember with POR15 and it seems like pretty good stuff, I'm going to overcoat the bits on show with hammerite smooth.

On the POR 15 tin there is a sticker warning that you can't get dry POR off you skin. Don't ignore the warning, they really mean it!!!

What the hell were you thinking of towing, the Titanic?

As well as the dixon bate adjustable towhitch which accounts for 4 there are tow jaws left and right as well as all the associated braketry and plates etc.

You can just make it all out here

I got a list of what was fitted to it by special vehicles and its listed as something like an AA special dixon bate towbar.

in article snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de, Simon Barr at snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net wrote on 26/7/04 11:36 am:

Bruce's came in very usefull the other day when cutting off the rear fold up step which refused to stay up. Goggles are essential as bits of metal in your eyes aren't very nice.

In message , Larry writes

Am I the only person in the world who is trying to find a decent, cheap battery powered grinder?

Just before Texas DIY closed down I bought one and several batteries. It has been absolutely marvellous for small jobs on boats and on trailers in fields. It cost something like £12 so I can't really complain that all the batteries seemed to die simultaneously just after Christmas last year.

A search of the local stores throws up nothing. A search of the 'net yields one at about £100, which seems a lot of money for a cheap motor, a small metal guard and a battery.

On or around Mon, 26 Jul 2004 17:46:14 +0100, Bill Holt enlightened us thusly:

see if you can get the battery packs apart, chances are you can replace the cells. If they're quick-charge NiCads, you need the expensive sintered ones, or you'll risk a nasty poisonous (very) mess, if you use orindary ones with a fast charger and the overheat too much. alternatively, you might be able to use lead/acid gel batteries instead.

It takes about 2 weeks to wear off..

Also, if you get it on the floor or the drive it doesnt come off either.

In message , Austin Shackles writes

Hmmm, I did get a 7.2volt battery pack apart. It seems that in all of them one or more cells has oozed and there is extensive corrosion around the heat-sensitive switch. This might be more bi-metallic corrosion rather than the result of the ooze.

I have got some Ni-Mh batteries of just above the right size, so I'm thinking that I might make a holder for these (the fragile plastic and spring holders I've used in the past have been hopeless) and put some sort of socket on the bottom of the now-empty battery pack. A flying lead to the new belt-worn battery pack would probably just about work OK.

But it makes me tired just thinking about it, so I was really hoping someone would say something like "Look out for the SuperDevil 24volt Grindermaster Deluxe - a fiver from Lidl", but no-one has....

Grinding can be really hot work. Also wear a very strong pair of gloves, ie Rigger Gloves and long sleeves. With sparks flying everywhere you will get burnt on any area of exposed skin. This includes the wrists, arms, neck and face. As someone who uses an Angle Grinder, almost, daily, I would also recommend that you take off the fitted plug on your extension lead and fit a combined plug and RCD. Costs 7 - 9 quid from B&Q, but will save you from a big jolt if you accidentally cut the cable. This is even more important if you have a DIY machine that runs on 240V. Not necessary if you have a 110V pro job, but then you will have a transformer with a built in RCD anyway.

Hope you find that useful and happy grinding. Those B*****D screws deserve nothing less.

Jase

I used my cheap one so much I let the smoke out, so decided to replace it with a rather nice 900W DeWalt. It had better last at least 3x the B&Q junk one it supersedes...

I use my grinder when I'm playing at blacksmithing, primarily. I tend to use a lab coat, welders apron, welding gloves, mask, safety goggles

*and* a visor. The thing I probably ought to add to that is a hat - I've had a few occasions where I've ended up with hotspots on my head and the smell of burning hair. I frequently use mine on high-carbon steels, and the sparks tend to go on a bit longer than mild.

Using them with cutting discs, they'll freqently grab on the sides of the disc, which can result in disc fractures or jumping; wire brushes are a liability at those speeds; grinding discs are heavy - which is a consideration when they break. I quite like the thin "plasma cut" discs from Machine Mart, but they wear down much more quickly and are much more fragile. I'm also fond of the zirconium flap discs for general clean up, but they are hellishly expensive.

Buffers get my vote as a more dangerous tool.

Peter

The gloves are a seriously essential piece of kit - I keep the heavy leather gardening gloves I used to use as a "reminder" of just how easy it would be to do yourself a SERIOUS injury - the left index finger is *nearly* cut thro from a slipping grinder. Better the glove than me, and without the glove I'd be minus a finger for sure!

If you're working anywhere near the fuel lines, be super-careful too. I've also got a piece of metal fuel line with a nice nick in it from a slipping grinder.

Dangerous hobby!!

Mike.

I nearly cut a finger off sharpening a sickle once, didn't bother going to casualty though, just bound it up very tightly and it healed OK :)

I also managed to saw into my wooden draining board while using it as a makeshift bench while using a jigsaw.

Guess I ought to practice on something relatively safe before getting into any tight corners

Use the discs designed for stainless steel when cutting/grinding the high-carbon stuff - they seem to last longer.

Breaking cutting discs is operator error - hang onto the grinder well and don't twist the disc in the cut. I get a lot of amusement out of new apprentices shattering discs until they work out what they're doing wrong. The thin discs are awesome - much easier on the grinder. If you buy really good quality ones they seem to last okay but they are still expensive (I buy them by the box of 100 for the equivalent of about a quid each). What do you call expensive for the flap discs? Here they run about 3 quid a go.

Yep - how often has the thing you're working on been snatched out of your hand and tossed against the wall or across the workshop?