Broken grinding disc

daredo222 · Oct 21, 2017

Popped in to see a welder/fabricator friend and he was reluctant to shake hands, took off a glove to show me a bandaged hand that had four stitches in it. The photos show what happened, a broken disc while using a 4 1/2" angle grinder. He was wearing goggles but the thin gloves he had on where not enough to save him from this sort of force. A customer was standing a few feet away when it occurred, could have been much worse. Note - this is rural Portugal, health and safety is a new concept here. Just posting as a warning, take care all of you.

Limy Sami · Oct 21, 2017

Nasty

Spyderedge · Oct 21, 2017

One of the basic rules when operating any grinder is to not keep sensitive bits in the firing line if the disc breaks.

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Screwmachine · Oct 21, 2017

Spyderedge said:
One of the basic rules when operating any grinder is to not keep sensitive bits in the firing line if the disc breaks.

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk

And it's one of the most likely tools to be misused in such a way. Frequently and by knowledgeable users, probably people who would cringe at scribing with their calipers.

I scribe with my calipers but on the rare occasion I use an angle grinder it's like when I used to use a weedeater in poison ivy infested areas.

SAG 180 · Oct 21, 2017

Some grinding discs have a "use by" date of three years past the date of manufacture as the phenolic resin binder goes off with age. A retired boiler maker over here stopped a grinding disc with his windpipe while doing the same sort of fabrication work he'd done all his life. I guess his grinder hadn't been used for a couple of years and the disc aged too much.

Man seriously hurt in angle grinder accident | The Western Weekender - Penrith's leading newspaper

Mike C. · Oct 21, 2017

When at the museum in the restoration shop one night, had a thin 4" cutoff wheel whiz by my ear and stick edgewise in the plywood skin of a glider wing 20ft away. They are terribly dangerous.

Spyderedge · Oct 21, 2017

Screwmachine said:
And it's one of the most likely tools to be misused in such a way. Frequently and by knowledgeable users, probably people who would cringe at scribing with their calipers.

I scribe with my calipers but on the rare occasion I use an angle grinder it's like when I used to use a weedeater in poison ivy infested areas.

Once you take a grinder guard off your safety is really in your hands.

I use my calipers to scribe through layout dye on occasion. It's about getting the job done.

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DDoug · Oct 21, 2017

Removing the guard then posting pictures of a injury
really ranks right up there.....

Ron Hofer · Oct 23, 2017

Had a fractured cutting disc imbed a shard into the lens of my plastic safety glasses. Wouldn't dream of operating any machine without them now.

MattiJ · Oct 24, 2017

Mike C. said:
When at the museum in the restoration shop one night, had a thin 4" cutoff wheel whiz by my ear and stick edgewise in the plywood skin of a glider wing 20ft away. They are terribly dangerous.

Thin 1mm cutoff wheels are bit too easy to break if the angle grinder is laying on the floor or packed to shelves with other tools.(or worse yet packed to toolbox in your pickup truck and jumping around with 24" crescent wrench) Wont need much abuse to crack it so that next time you start the grinder it will explode. Ask how do I know :nutter:

Illinoyance · Oct 24, 2017

The worst I know of was a contractor doing tuck pointing. He was us inf a Stihl masonry saw to remove mortar. Ran out of blades for the Stihl. Mounted a blade from his walk-behind concrete saw. Blade was too big so he took off the guard. When the blade exploded he was uninjured but his wife got a shard in the belly that perforated the bowel. Big time medical expenses.

nerdyrcdriver · Oct 24, 2017

I let other people take care of tasks requiring anything besides a wire brush or flap disk on handheld grinders given that all of ours don't have guards.

Happened to catch a budget show about boat repair one day. A guy was using one of the big angle grinders to cut through part of the boat vertically. It worked great until there was an internal support running horizontally and the grinder kicked back straight into his arm. Caused a huge gouge up his forearm and his muscles retracted up to his shoulder.

adama · Oct 24, 2017

SAG 180 said:
Some grinding discs have a "use by" date of three years past the date of manufacture as the phenolic resin binder goes off with age. A retired boiler maker over here stopped a grinding disc with his windpipe while doing the same sort of fabrication work he'd done all his life. I guess his grinder hadn't been used for a couple of years and the disc aged too much.

Man seriously hurt in angle grinder accident | The Western Weekender - Penrith's leading newspaper

Spose that saves haveing to fill a gash in the wall at least. As to running a angle grinder, i have yet to have a disc explode, but i do look it over carefully and very much inspect before every start with the thin disks, had several nasty kicks though over the years. think people become way too complacent with them! Theres a bonkers amount of stored energy in that disc which is all near invisible and harmless till its not!

As to running with out a guard, IMHO its bollocks, have never had a job yet i can not get to with the guard on, my fear with out guard is not the discs exploding but wedging a finger between disc and grinder body!

SeaMoss · Oct 26, 2017

Those thin disks come in two versions ; reinforced and fragile. The fragile ones cut better but it's not worth it to me.

michiganbuck · Oct 26, 2017

Disks are easily pinched, or bent to an angle to cause fracture.. Another problem is RPM as many air motors and some electric can turn higher that the wheel specifications..
We had a fellow get a serious eye injury with with using a 3400 or so disk wheel at about 10K rpm...

Care in storage of disks is important.. I like to keep them in the box and take out only one at a time.
Holding the wheel at mounting can crack them..so better to wrench the spindle not the wheel.

Also good to stay out of throw direction on any grinding machine until full speed is made for a time.

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Broken grinding disc

daredo222

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Limy Sami

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