Thread: wire wheel

Hi Pete,
I'm not sure what the others will think of what I do, but it works for me, & I don't have any Accidents.
Being Left Handed, I Stripped all the Components from the RH side of my 6in. Grinder.
Took all the Coverings off. Put the Wheel back on, & it work like a charm.
The Wheel is there just on its own, No Covers, No Tool Rest.
I do heaps of work on that Wheel, like Cleaning Rust from Chisel Blades I have Bought from a Market or Tool Sale, Cleaning Threads from a Bolt, & so on.
I think it is up to you, how you use a Wire Wheel, & they do bite.

Same here Pete pull all of that stuff off and you will only Buff up your finger every now and then [if your a slow learner like me] .
Definitely no loose clothing though

My big wire wheel is on an old washing machine motor & doesn't run as fast as the bench grinder.
It also doesn't have any guard at all so if something get 'snatched' it usually just goes straight to the floor or at worse out the back.
You just have to be careful not to go near it with loose rag or loose sleeves.

Pete, I'm really glad things didn't work out much worse for you. Your description of the event was very well written. I was with you mentally the whole way. My own thumb almost started hurting.

Suggestions to REMOVE all guards and rests from the wire wheel is brand new to me. I'd never considered removing things might just be safer than having them on. It all makes perfect sense and falls into the "Why didn't I think of that" category.
But I must admit, it's going to take a bit more time to convince myself to actually do it. Despite the logic behind doing it, I find myself hesitating actually doing it.

Jim

What others said already, no gaurds is best for wire buffs, and definetly no work rest.
I know they always used to say no gloves, but I put on a leather glove for holding small bits to be buffed, got sick of losing skin and bits of fingernail. With no rest to get caught between, I dont think wearing a glove is an issue.

I personally wouldn't take all the gaurds off, just the outside one. The one at work is like that and no bad accidents. The usual wire burns and every so often some part will get flung, they normally go out the open side. And the main gaurd stops all the stray wires that fly out of the wheel. I have one at home that is still to be set up, but it will be the same.

Every one to their own though

Robert

Ouch, that looks painful!
I am definitely with the no guards, and no tool rest camp when it comes to wire wheels, buffing wheels and mops. Grinding wheels yes, but there is far more chance of getting things trapped on the wire wheels with a guard, as you found out. The few times I've had something grabbed, the work has simply shot to the floor or wall behind and your hands aren't involved.
When we run jewellery workshops at summer school all the seasoned and experienced campaigners work with no guards. There was a bit of convincing the WH&S nazis, but a Google on just any buffing setup will show no guard, even new stuff.


Edit: With the spindle extension shafts a guard is difficult. To appease the WH&S folk I cut-and-shut a standard guard with a length of tube, and retained only the top section of said guard. That kept just above front centre & all the way around (about180*) free from entanglement. Course they weren't happy, as I'd modified a factory standard safety guard, thereby becoming a manufacturer and liable. It worked on wire wheels, but not thicker mops.

It certainly seems everyone is in the no guard camp, I have seen in metal polishing shops that the wheels are on extensions and no guards anywhere to be seen, I was partly there as I didn't have the tool rest or the outer cover on, just the curved section around the wheel, just unlucky I guess that the travel stop did a loop as apposed to being spat out the side.
Thanks all for the input

Pete

There should most definitely NOT be any close mounted guard an a bench mounted machine with either a wire wheel or any other type of soft buff or mop mounted.

A proper risk assessment will show, the greatest risk with any of these soft wheels is, a part of the job or the operator being grabbed and traped between the wheel and the guard with a very high liklyhood of serious injury.

If any guard is to be used at all it should be well and truly clear of the wheel and not extend under or to the front of the wheel.

Anbody who has done any amount of work with wire wheels or buffs will know that things get caught in them.

If as you should, you work on the bottom quarter of the wheel, anything thrown, will be thrown to the ground or to the rear, as will most waste and almost all shed material from the wheel or buff.

Likewise if a hand or other body part should come in contact with the wheel or buff it will tend to be thown away from the wheel.

Unless the wheel in question is a hard wire wheel which probaly should not be on a bench grinder in any of OUR workshops, the consequences of contact with the wheel are small.

As the original poster has found, running a conventional grinder guard with a wire wheel prevents you from presenting to the wheel in a safe way and presents a pinch point.

So many people have very blinkered and short sighted views of rotating machinery and guards.
we need to look at and understand the real risks involved.

Some stuff most definitely should have guards, some most definitely should not.

It like the old rubbish statement...."never wear gloves with a grinder"....this has been previoulsy discussed.

cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

Unless the wheel in question is a hard wire wheel which probaly should not be on a bench grinder in any of OUR workshops, the consequences of contact with the wheel are small.

Soundman, can you elaborate on what you mean by a "hard wire wheel" please?
Jim

Wire wheels come in different types.

The wheels that we should be running in bench grinders for hand held cleaning of relativly small parts should be quite soft, in that they have light guage wires.

there are some very agressive wire wheels available that have very heavy wires, the heaviest have twitsed knots of bristles, these are incredibly agressive and need to be treated with the utmost respect.

I personally would not mount one in a bench grinder, but I have seen them used.....some workshops use them for deburing lengths of steel cut with abrasive wheels

The wire wheel I have in my bench grinder is very soft, I have had skin contact with it many times........its not an occurance I prefer, but it does not rip ya skin off at the slightest touch..if you understand me.

cheers

The wheel I have would be around the medium sort of range at a guess, certainly not the twisted knot type, as Soundman says, those types are very aggressive and you don't want to lose control one of those if you happen to be using one in an angle grinder or such.

As I said in my original post one of the possible contributing factors was the half worn bristles making them stiffer which is more likely to grab rather than the bristles flexing around the work.

A quick update on the actual thumb....seems to be all good, came good pretty quick really, there is still a little bit of a pins and needles tho but no real drama


Pete

just a tip if you want a realy soft wheel, you will probably have to go down to a 6 inch.

The 8 inch wheels all seem a bit hard for my liking for hand held small parts.

cheers

Just happened to measure the diameter of the wire in the wheel today, about 0.3mm, I would've said thicker, not sure what this means


Pete