Selection and replacement of discs for an angle grinder What are the types of discs for an angle grinder, their typical sizes. How to change the attachment to an angle grinder correctly. What to do if the disc is stuck and the nut won’t loosen?
Roughing
If it is necessary to remove a layer of paint or other application, as well as rust from any surface, use a brush. They are disc or bowl-shaped with built-in metal wire.
The wire in these attachments can be twisted or loose. Its thickness can also be different. The thicker the wire, the coarser the roughing disc or bowl is used, and vice versa.
Choosing and Replacing Discs for Angle Grinder
Angle grinder (angle grinder), in common people called "angle grinder", is widely used in construction and in everyday life during repairs. It can be used to carry out many different technological processes. In order to choose the right tool for performing a certain type of work, you need to familiarize yourself with what kind of discs and attachments for an angle grinder are. The tool for this device is selected by its size and function.
How to properly change a disc to an angle grinder
Since the wheels for an angle grinder are consumables, sooner or later they have to be changed. They are attached to the spindle of the angle grinder using a clamping flange (nut) with an M14 thread. To unscrew it, a special open-end wrench with pins on one side must be included with the angle grinder.
So, to replace your tool with an angle grinder, follow these steps.
- De-energize the device by pulling out the plug from the socket.
- Lock the spindle of the angle grinder using the button located on the front of the housing. When the button is pressed, the stopper enters the hole of the disk installed in the gearbox, which fixes the spindle in a fixed position.
- Insert the pins of the key into the holes in the hold-down flange.
- While holding the latch with one hand, turn the wrench to the left (counterclockwise) with the other hand until the nut comes loose. Then it can be unscrewed without a key and removed from the shaft.
In this case, the spindle of the angle grinder rotates clockwise. But in which direction to unscrew the nut if your apparatus rotates the shaft counterclockwise? Remember: the clamping flange should always be unscrewed in the direction opposite to the rotation of the shaft.
- Now you can change the tool after removing the old one.
If you notice that dirt has accumulated inside the casing, then you should remove the bottom flange and use a steel brush to remove dirt from all surfaces.
- Screw the flange onto the shaft by hand. Tighten the nut until you can no longer turn it without a key. After that, holding the stopper, tighten this nut with a wrench, but no more than a quarter of a turn, otherwise the disc will begin to deform.
After performing the above steps, the tool change is considered complete.
The roughing disc is designed to remove the bark of the tree and rough the workpiece.
If you have certain skills in the solid wood, you can make a selection with such a disk. When erecting a log house, a sander with a roughing attachment is a good alternative to a conventional ax.
You can also cut a board with a roughing disc, but the width of the cut will be large and more sawdust will be generated.
Roughing and sharpening attachments for angle grinders
Discs are produced in different designs. Their difference is the size of the grit size of the abrasive material.
Such abrasive discs are similar to the surface structure of a hand rasp, with a difference in processing speed. If you have the skill and acquired skills, such discs are used for finishing wood.
Diamond option
Granite and similar materials are very durable and it may take more than one circle to cut such a slab, and a diamond disc for an angle grinder makes it easy, while remaining completely intact. Diamond-coated discs work long enough and trouble-free in the production of granite products and commemorative slabs, while their size remains constant and provides the required cutting depth.
It is clear that the price of a diamond disc for an angle grinder is much higher than for an ordinary stone wheel, but in the end it is worth it and fully justifies itself. Such disks have thermal gaps (cuts) along the entire end of the circle, so that when heated it does not bend, and the cut is even. The price of discs from different manufacturers varies significantly and varies from 300 rubles to more than 10,000. Most likely, this depends on the use of artificial or natural diamonds and the prestige of the manufacturer.
Another type of material that is ubiquitous in our life is wood, so a disc for an angle grinder for wood should always be at hand, especially when you need to cut long pressed wood panels, plywood, chipboard sheets, etc. In such cases, you need to hold the angle grinder with two hands and in no case use discs of a larger diameter, removing the protective cover, this is fraught with disastrous consequences.
Typically, a wood wheel for an angle grinder is made with carbide tips on the tips of the teeth, which make it easy to cut through hard wood when installed on circular saws, where the electric motor power is many times higher than the motor power of the angle grinder. Therefore, when working with such a disc, you need to be especially careful and cut it slowly, avoiding overloading the engine or jamming the disc in the tree. The tool must be held firmly, it is imperative to follow all safety measures, using glasses and headphones against noise.
Metal and stone are not the same
However, it is most often used for cutting concrete, stone and metal. Therefore, a well-chosen cut-off wheel for an angle grinder is also a certain guarantee of safety, since it corresponds to its purpose and can only withstand certain loads under the conditions specified by the manufacturer.
Abrasive discs for angle grinders for metal have a specific composition and should only be used for cutting metal. When cutting other materials, they become hot and can fly into pieces, which is very dangerous at high speeds. The greater the depth of the cut, the larger the circle should be and, accordingly, the power of the grinding machine itself.
Also, the thickness of the wheel plays an important role, the thinner it is, the easier it cuts, but you need to be careful so that the angle grinder does not become skewed and the disc does not break.
The structure of metal and stone is different, therefore, a disc for an angle grinder for concrete differs in its composition from a disc for metal. If you need to cut stone or concrete, you will have to choose a circle with the appropriate markings, the stone should be written on the label. And with such a disc, metal cannot be cut for the same reasons, it heats up and can collapse.
Paint Remover Tips
Old paint most often has to be removed from either walls or metal surfaces. In each case, different types of angle grinder attachments are used.
Overview of grinding and grinding wheels for an angle grinder
Removing paint from walls or metal surfaces, as well as removing rust, takes a lot of effort and time. Therefore, it is sometimes impossible to do without the use of a power tool. As a device to facilitate the process, you can use an angle grinder (angle grinder) with special grinding attachments.
From metal surfaces
For roughing work on metal, whether it be removing a layer of old paint or removing rust, craftsmen use brushes. They look like a brush made of twisted or non-twisted metal wire inserted into a metal glass, or a disc made of the same wire.
Depending on the quality of the roughing work you want to carry out, the thickness and hardness of the brushes are selected. It should be borne in mind that the metal wire used in brushes leaves scratches on the treated surface. Therefore, it is better not to use them to remove paint, for example, from a car body. They can only be useful for removing rust and paintwork from hard-to-reach places.
For metal-friendly roughing, it is better to use special discs made of silicone carbide fibers (XCS), they are usually black. Also, for these purposes, Clean and Strip discs, which are more resistant to wear, are used. They are blue in color, have a similar structure, but are composed of nylon threads.
This grinding wheel is available in 2 versions: for a drill and for an angle grinder. Its distinctive feature from other types of nozzles for removing paint from metal is that it does not clog and does not damage the metal in the form of scratches. They also successfully remove welding spatter, rust, various sealants and anti-corrosion coatings.
Often they use petal attachments for an angle grinder to remove paint from metal. They represent a disk with sandpaper in the form of petals glued to its plane.
For rough surface treatment, nozzles with a large grain size are used. For finishing work, it is necessary to select a grinding wheel with fine sandpaper. Although this sanding disc will wear out quickly and become clogged with remnants of stripped paint, it can be easily repaired. How this is done can be understood from this.