Die Grinder vs. Angle Grinder; Cutoff Wheels

I don't think the Checkers guy was BS-ing me or trying to push me around. He gently also said things like, 'just make sure to have the bushing sleeve in a vice before using the die grinder on it.' (I had an old sleeve in my hand to show him what I was up against. Then I explained that it was the ones already quite secure on my car that I was planning on cutting.) Plus, as I mentioned, when I first asked him what he thought might work, he suggested exactly what people on the Usenet archives said to use.

PB Blaster, heat, hacksaws, drills are pretty futile. Angle or die grinder was the best approach. Plus, today I saw that other makes (besides Honda, that is) often have this problem with the suspension bushings.

At Lowes a little while ago, based on your guidance, I found adapters for the cut-off wheels; a person bolts the wheel to the adapter, and the adapter has a shank to then fit onto the die grinder. Then three or so brands of cut-off wheels (with the holes in the center, for metals, rated a little over 20,000 RPM) were available as choices.

Thank you for your help. It was dead-on what I needed to know. I'll update the group about how this goes.

"*" wrote

cut-off wheels are supposed to be used in cut-off tools that have a guard. Yes you can use them in a die grinder if you get a chuck for them, but you must be extemely careful. (wearing safety glasses is just the beginning) because the wheel is completely unguarded. If your going to do that, my suggestion would be to take the guard off a cut off tool temporairly instead of messing with a cut off wheel in a die grinder.

Angle grinders (at least all the new ones) have guards and so are a lot safer than screwing with a grinding stone in a die grinder. The only time I use die grinders is in situations where I'm working on a hole or some such. And I have broken quite a lot of grinding stones in die grinders, it is very exciting when the stone breaks and the end of it goes flying off in a random direction and bouncing against things. I don't care for such excitement.

If you don't care to save the parts a cut off wheel will work a lot faster than a grinder, it will cut through even hardened steel like cutting through butter. There's not a Master Lock in existence that can stand up to one.

While grinding stones in a die grinder can work in some tight situations an angle grinder cannot reach into, an angle grinder grinds a lot faster than a die grinder because you can put some pressure on the wheel. Grinding stones must have some pressure forcing them against the work or they will not do anything. With a grinding stone in a die grinder you have to side load the entire tool and it's hard to control it, since the stone wants to grab the work and fling the tool sideways. With an angle grinder the tool will still be flung sideways but because the stone is turning slower it's easier to control it and keep the stone on the work, instead of it crashing into nearby parts that you don't want to have grind marks all over.

I own all three of the tools and several variants of each of them.

One last warning about using unguarded grinding or cut off tools. Do not under any circumstances put any part of your body in the same plane the wheel is operating in. Try to keep as close to the axis of the wheel as possible. Do as little work as possible with one. Never use just one hand to hold the tool. It's better to remove an assembly to get access to it if possible with a guarded tool than try to rush it.

Ted

Ted, thank you very much for elaborating with your experience, especially on the safety points like no-guard means a face mask is needed. I haven't been under the car yet with my air die grinder, but from my recollection I'm pretty sure I couldn't do this bushing (and likely bolt) cut-out job with a guard in place. I wouldn't be able to see, because it's such a tight space. I have about a half-inch gap into which to insert the die grinder, with a few more inches on the other sides, and that's it.

I do indeed have a bona fide cut-off wheel that fits the die grinder now.

Yesterday I tried out the die grinder on a lesser job (grinding stone applied to a tool that needed a very minor modification). I put the lesser job in a big box and set the vice, with tool-to-be-ground, in it. Worked well enough. I need to buy some spindle oil for the die grinder, though. Or maybe an in-line oiler.

I think I'm going to go at the bushing underneath the car today, since I have an old, duplicate bushing sleeve and bolt assembly to put in place until the new set arrives. I will rig up more safety shielding per your suggestions, in anticipation of, say, the wheel breaking. Certainly the question always to be asked is: Is there a safer way to do this? (An old friend who oversees men performing a lot of jury-rigged, by necessity, jobs reminded me of this maxim last year. He asks his men this all the time.)

Thanks again.

"Ted Mittelstaedt" wrote

The air die grinder, with cutoff wheel, worked great. I cut all the way through the bushing sleeve and about one-third to one-half through the bolt. I tapped on both ends and on the exposed bolt in the sleeve. I applied a wrench and advance the bolt fully and then unscrewed it again. Squeezed in a little PB Blaster here and there (dunno if that helped). I heard some popping noises and the bolt ultimately came free of the sleeve. Took maybe an hour altogether to free it.

I probably only ran the grinder for about two minutes total. I did so in a few steps, to check my progress and keep reviewing the safety of the situation. The air die grinder was indeed very fast.

More details appear in my post of a little while ago at rec.autos.makers.honda.

Thanks again "*" and Ted. I am really pleased that I got this free. I now may go after the rear suspension sooner rather than later.