Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Dave wrote:
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.

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.

I was thinking about the Chinese ones sold by the sheds. I buy mine from
the local work wear shop. I value my eyes.

Dave

wrote:
Andy Dingley wrote:
On 31 May, 19:53, Al wrote:

So, I need an angle grinder, as clearly this is the solution to 99% of DIY
problems
I use three of them:

* Good 4 1/2" for accurately shaping steel. You need one of these.
Look after it.

* Cheap (Aldi) 4 1/2" with Aldi diamond disks for hacking concrete and
anything dusty. It'll kill the bearings and brushes, but so it goes.

* 9", with another Aldi diamond disk for deep cuts into masonry.
Useful, because of the extra reach.

My two "good" grinders are pretty good (Metabo & Makita, both around
80 quid). You don't need to pay that much. A Blue Bosch iis probably
the best current compromise for quality / price. Blue Bosch are
distinctly longer-lived than Green Bosch in a dusty environment, as
they epoxy-pot the motor windings better. However a consumable grinder
might be an even simpler fix to this, for when you're hacking
brickwork.

Things the good grinders give me:

* No-spanner nuts, with a hinge-out "key" for disk changing.

* Easy adjust guards, so that I can move them to the best position
easily enough that I might actually do this.

* Low-vibration side-handles (Metabo, and available as spares). My
grinders have layers of neoprene pipe insulation (Armaflex) stuck to
them too.

What I don't need is:

* A big 9" grinder for steelwork. Got it, need it, but never use it.
9" disks are too much of a gyroscope and they're uncontrollable. 9"
grinders are also slower than 4 1/2", so their metal crunching
capacity isn't much better (motors last longer on an 8 hour shift
though).

Consumables:

These matter. Your grinder is only as good as the abrasive parts. Get
lots, get the good ones.

* Flap disks. I hardly ever use rigid disks these days, preferring
flap disks. Get a range of 40, 80, 120 grit. Plastic backing is better
than aluminium. Don't catch the edges of the disk on the workpiece -
the disk shreds. Spend the extra (CSM Abrasives) and get the Hermes
disks with the blue coated abrasives.

* 7" flap disks. Lightweight ones are the only way to make the 9"
grinder controllable.

* Grinding disks. Ho hum. Anywhere is cheap now, even Tesco. Get some
metal and some for stone. They'll go into a corner better than a flap
disk. I don't use them much, but sometimes you need them.

* Cutting disks. Flat ones, again for both stone and metal. Aldi do
some "stainless steel" disks (couple of quid / ten) that are great and
super-fast cutting, as they're extra thin and don't need to remove as
much metal. Bit brittle and wear very quickly, but they have their
uses on awkward cuts up ladders (job done quicker) and indeed on
stainless steel sheet.
Only thing that

* Diamond disks. Aldi does great ones for little money.

* Wire brushes. Get good quality ones, and twisted wire. Great for
rust & paintwork, esp. tarry paints that clog abrasives. Only use the
good ones as cheap ones shed bristles too much.

Disks of less usefulness:

* Sanding disks. Sometimes useful, but they're very prone to leaving
crescent-shaped grooves from the disk edge. Usually flap disks are a
better bet.

* Paint removing sponge pads. Good performance, but they shred rapidly
if you catch an edge. Handy for stripping aluminium or fibreglass
without damaging the metal. Otherwise too expensive and quick-wearing
for steel.

* 3M's triangular sanding disks. These avoid the edge-crescent
problem.

* Beartex disks. Again good for paint off aluminium, but not cheap.

* Arbortech wood carving disks. Great fun for chainsaw carving, but
powerful stuff and borderline scarey. The chainsaw disks are too
dangerous to allow in my workshop.


Ancillaries.

You need these, but the quality of each can vary from dirt cheap
upwards.

* Eye protection. Can't be bothered with goggles myself and prefer a
hinged faceshield (I wear glasses too)

* Ear protection. Cheap ear defenders are a minimum. Most angle
grinder noise isn't loud enough to be harmful, but it's annoying.
When worn with a faceshield you might need ears with a swivel band
that you can put to the back, otherwise an integrated hat & earmuff.
My favourite ears have Radio 4 in them, which is cheap nowadays. As
I'm often grinding for a few hours at a stretch, it's worth it.

* Gloves. Thin leather keeps flying bits off. Thick leather gives some
vibration insulation too. Best of all though are gel anti-vibration
gloves (Arco, twenty quid). If you're grinding steel for welding (i.e.
hours of it), then "fizzy fingers" is really something to be avoided
afterwards.

* Apron. Aldi have leather welding aprons for cheap - less than I paid
for the leather to make mine. This is essential with wire brushes, as
they'll stick you with porcupine quills otherwise. Even when grinding,
an apron keeps you cleaner and gives you something to kneel on.

* Dustmask. You need something, especially with stone. 3M 3000 / 4000
series are a good start (search this newgroup a few weeks back).

* Ioniser (sometimes a water spray). Makes concrete dust indoors fall
out of suspension a lot quicker. Just try it!


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

Great minds ;-) I read that earlier and thought it seemed worth
recording for posterity somewhere!

--
Cheers,

John.

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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
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Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article
,
wrote:
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.

Yup. And rightly so.

And watch where red hot pieces of metal end up :-)
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....ffd75c7748e883


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:15:42 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article
,
wrote:
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.

Yup. And rightly so.

And watch where red hot pieces of metal end up :-)
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....ffd75c7748e883

Red-hot metal can be nasty! My last GF had a patient in A&E who'd been
doing some heavy-duty drilling and a piece of swarf had gone through his
overalls and trousers and embedded itself in his foreskin!
My GF, being a [sort of] surgeon, had a go at removing the metal (had the
patient known that she was Jewish...!) but said that she sent him to a
'proper' surgeon as everything was too wobbly - she was also concentrating
too hard on not laughing.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

On 1 June, 18:53, wrote:

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

Sure, if I stick it on Usenet I assume it's going to be assumed to be
PD

Anything I care about gets Creative Commons markup on it.

On 1 June, 18:57, wrote:

If youre fearful of other power tools, an AG will
scare you silly.

You haven't met my other power tools... 8-)

Tim S wrote:
coughed up some electrons that declared:


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

Regards, NT

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


;-

Better go upgrade the server then ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

PeterC wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:15:42 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article
,
wrote:
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.
Yup. And rightly so.
And watch where red hot pieces of metal end up :-)
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....ffd75c7748e883

Red-hot metal can be nasty! My last GF had a patient in A&E who'd been
doing some heavy-duty drilling and a piece of swarf had gone through his
overalls and trousers and embedded itself in his foreskin!
My GF, being a [sort of] surgeon, had a go at removing the metal (had the
patient known that she was Jewish...!) but said that she sent him to a
'proper' surgeon as everything was too wobbly - she was also concentrating
too hard on not laughing.

Oh, that has got to sting!

(not in quite the same league, but I made a mental note the other day
not to wear trainers with a nylon mesh panel on the top again when
welding. Blobs of molten steel seem to sink right through the trainer,
ones sock, before finally cooling on your foot!)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 1 June, 16:32, "Bob Mannix" wrote:

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

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

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.

Jeez, Barbecues sound a hoot round your place )


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 1 June, 18:57, wrote:

If youre fearful of other power tools, an AG will
scare you silly.

You haven't met my other power tools... 8-)

Quite. Actually I would rate the circular saw and the electric planer as
better aids to concentration (fear would be too strong a word) even though
the AG was the only one that got me (so far). Someone else was wielding it,
in my defence. We were working our way towards each other across a
demolished corrugated iron roof, me bolt cropping and he (with goggles on)
grinding bolt tops off. Yup, we both went for the same one and he took the
top 0.5 mm off the inside of my forearm. Ouch! Never work with children,
animals or, indeed, other people.


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 1 June, 18:53, wrote:

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

Sure, if I stick it on Usenet I assume it's going to be assumed to be
PD

Anything I care about gets Creative Commons markup on it.

great, thanks Andy


NT

In article ,
Bob Mannix wrote:
"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 1 June, 18:57, wrote:

If youre fearful of other power tools, an AG will
scare you silly.

You haven't met my other power tools... 8-)

Quite. Actually I would rate the circular saw and the electric planer as
better aids to concentration (fear would be too strong a word) even
though the AG was the only one that got me (so far).

[snip]

I've never had a power planer 'bite' despite intensive use. Provided you
keep your hands on the handles don't see how it could. I have much more
respect for a circular saw - and only ever use mine with the work on the
floor (suitably spaced off it) and invariably with a clamped on guide to
work to. But I have a bench compound mitre sliding saw which means the
hand held one isn't so much used as once.

--
*"I am " is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:27:42 +0000, Huge wrote:
The scariest power tool I ever saw(!) was something my late father had which
he used to carve the seats of Windsor chairs. It was a hemisphere of metal
with 2 or 3 curved blades set in it, that went in a drill or angle grinder
so it cut a curved "scoop" of wood out of the surface as it rotated.

Prior to the invention of that tool, they just dressed folk in cheese
grater pants and got them to sit down a lot...

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bob Mannix wrote:
"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 1 June, 18:57, wrote:

If youre fearful of other power tools, an AG will
scare you silly.
You haven't met my other power tools... 8-)

Quite. Actually I would rate the circular saw and the electric planer as
better aids to concentration (fear would be too strong a word) even
though the AG was the only one that got me (so far).

[snip]

I've never had a power planer 'bite' despite intensive use.
Its when you put it down before its spun down..

Same goes for hand held routers.

Far more dangerous IMHO than those built in to tables..

Provided you
keep your hands on the handles don't see how it could. I have much more
respect for a circular saw - and only ever use mine with the work on the
floor (suitably spaced off it) and invariably with a clamped on guide to
work to. But I have a bench compound mitre sliding saw which means the
hand held one isn't so much used as once.


at least they have spring loaded guards, which routers and planers dont.

PeterC wrote:


Red-hot metal can be nasty! My last GF had a patient in A&E who'd been
doing some heavy-duty drilling and a piece of swarf had gone through
his overalls and trousers and embedded itself in his foreskin!
My GF, being a [sort of] surgeon, had a go at removing the metal (had
the patient known that she was Jewish...!) but said that she sent him
to a 'proper' surgeon as everything was too wobbly - she was also
concentrating too hard on not laughing.

My daughter & her girl crewmate were parked up in Woolwich a while ago & two
plastic policemen tapped on the window of the ambulance. They had come
across a drunk who had managed to trap his willy in his zip. Not just the
foreskin, all of it.

They too were trying so hard not to laugh, they had trouble in sorting it
out. They got him to bite down on a rolled up newspaper then yanked the zip
rapidly downwards. Makes your eyes water just thinking about it. He was so
****ed he didn't feel much at all. Bet it was sore in the morning:-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
om...
PeterC wrote:


Red-hot metal can be nasty! My last GF had a patient in A&E who'd been
doing some heavy-duty drilling and a piece of swarf had gone through
his overalls and trousers and embedded itself in his foreskin!
My GF, being a [sort of] surgeon, had a go at removing the metal (had
the patient known that she was Jewish...!) but said that she sent him
to a 'proper' surgeon as everything was too wobbly - she was also
concentrating too hard on not laughing.

My daughter & her girl crewmate were parked up in Woolwich a while ago &
two plastic policemen tapped on the window of the ambulance. They had
come across a drunk who had managed to trap his willy in his zip. Not
just the foreskin, all of it.

They too were trying so hard not to laugh, they had trouble in sorting it
out. They got him to bite down on a rolled up newspaper then yanked the
zip rapidly downwards. Makes your eyes water just thinking about it. He
was so ****ed he didn't feel much at all. Bet it was sore in the
morning:-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Ouch.

Some years ago the fire service was called out to Barnsley Hospital's A&E
department to remove a wheel bearing from a penis.

Adam

ARWadsworth wrote:
"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
om...
PeterC wrote:

Red-hot metal can be nasty! My last GF had a patient in A&E who'd been
doing some heavy-duty drilling and a piece of swarf had gone through
his overalls and trousers and embedded itself in his foreskin!
My GF, being a [sort of] surgeon, had a go at removing the metal (had
the patient known that she was Jewish...!) but said that she sent him
to a 'proper' surgeon as everything was too wobbly - she was also
concentrating too hard on not laughing.
My daughter & her girl crewmate were parked up in Woolwich a while ago &
two plastic policemen tapped on the window of the ambulance. They had
come across a drunk who had managed to trap his willy in his zip. Not
just the foreskin, all of it.

They too were trying so hard not to laugh, they had trouble in sorting it
out. They got him to bite down on a rolled up newspaper then yanked the
zip rapidly downwards. Makes your eyes water just thinking about it. He
was so ****ed he didn't feel much at all. Bet it was sore in the
morning:-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Ouch.

Some years ago the fire service was called out to Barnsley Hospital's A&E
department to remove a wheel bearing from a penis.

That would have been a delicate job. The penis would have swelled up and
any atempt to handle it would have made it swell again. Plenty of KY and
a strong YANK, just to not cause confusion.

Dave

On Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:06:27 +0100, Dave wrote:

That would have been a delicate job. The penis would have swelled up and
any atempt to handle it would have made it swell again. Plenty of KY and
a strong YANK, just to not cause confusion.

And the connection with angle grinders is ... ?

;-)

--
John Stumbles

This message has been rot13 encrypted twice for added security

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:06:27 +0100, Dave wrote:

That would have been a delicate job. The penis would have swelled up and
any atempt to handle it would have made it swell again. Plenty of KY and
a strong YANK, just to not cause confusion.

And the connection with angle grinders is ... ?

;-)

--
John Stumbles

The nurse on duty told me the fire brigade first went to Koyo Bearings and
practiced their cutters on some bearings with a banana through it. The
banana kept getting damaged so the firemen used an angle grinder to make a
wide enough groove in the bearing to allow some sort of pliers in the groove
to snap the bearing open.

It made the local rag but the man was not named.

Adam

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Dave
saying something like:

Some years ago the fire service was called out to Barnsley Hospital's A&E
department to remove a wheel bearing from a penis.

That would have been a delicate job. The penis would have swelled up and
any atempt to handle it would have made it swell again. Plenty of KY and
a strong YANK, just to not cause confusion.

Pah. Freeze spray and a drift.

On Jun 3, 10:36*am, John Stumbles wrote:
On Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:06:27 +0100, Dave wrote:
That would have been a delicate job. The penis would have swelled up and
any atempt to handle it would have made it swell again. Plenty of KY and
a strong YANK

Arnie? Hulk Hogan?

And the connection with angle grinders is ... ?

Tools?