Thread: Angle Grinder Fatality

All my angle grinders are set up for their respective tasks - mainly 5" units but 1 9" grinder that is my last resort if I need the depth of cut or the sheer grunt. Otherwise it lives in the cupboard.

I usually have:

1 with 1mm cutoff disk
1 with wire brush
1 with flap wheel
1 with grinding wheel
1 with rubber backed disk for sanding - this is a variable speed unit I bought cheap from Aldi on the principle of 'how bad can it be'.

WRT safety gear I have at least 8 pairs of safety glasses and 2 full face shields so I have no excuse for not wearing at least something. Safety glasses IMO are not sufficient; I have had 3 incidents over the years where a piece of grit has ricocheted off my cheek, under the safety glasses *and* my corrective vision glasses, and embedded itself on the inside surface of my glasses. Couple other times a piece has hit my eyeball but fortunately with insufficient force to do any damage. But I take the lesson - if I am doing extended grinding or using the big grinder, it's a full face shield every time.

I also wear my way through a ton of pairs of riggers gloves and quite a few pairs of overalls, steel capped shoes etc. I am not a professional but I've worked with them and was responsible for their OH&S, plus served many years on an OH&S committee reviewing accidents.

If I can help it, I'm not going to be (another) example to others. I already have a semi-crippled left arm from a moment of utter stupidity with a ladder.....

PDW

Originally Posted by Ben Dono

I don't understand the no guard thing! I see it all the time on youtube. Yep they can get in the way sometimes but I can't remember a time when I could not work around it.

I can't say I check the rpm on the disk and grinder anymore.... I just buy the standard 125mm accessories for the little ones and the standard 9" for the big grinder. Am I missing something? If I'm picking up something that looks exotic I will check it though...

Doing what you are doing highly unlikely to end up with the wrong discs.

I would imagine a 4" grinder may spin faster than a 9" so putting a 9" disc on a 4" grinder could be an issue. NOT that I would know or even have any scars from such a thing but a 9" disc on a 4" grinder has a couple of other issues one mentioned in a previous post. Guard wont fit and barely anywhere to grip the tool because the blade is so big.

I heard of this accident shortly after it happened as he was a friend of a local builder and my neighbours daughter lives in the town where it happened.

As for no guards ... especially in a 9" ... saw a guy cut completely through one of his lower arm bones once only moments after warning him of the danger of using it without a guard. The lead caught and as he gave it a tug the grinder pivoted in his hand and the blade went straight through his arm ... I drove him to hospital.


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

Good to see so many people here actually understand the basic safety concepts and are actually thinking about what they are doing. When you investigate the vast majority of incidents, there is actually no other potential outcome other than an injury and for those familiar with the hierarchy of risk control, remember, PPE is your last line of defence and also the least effective and elimination of the task, the most effective. Sometimes we all reach for an angle grinder when another tool or method may be more appropriate.
I love thin cutting discs in correct applications, but do think that they are an overused tool these days. 1mm discs are brilliant for aluminium, stainless and other detailed sheet work, but I cringe when I see them used for cutting roofing iron, (hard on any disc due to its propensity for vibration), cutting wire rope and other applications where a side loading is potentially applied. Hilti used to make a .75mm disc but discontinued them due to their fragility. I have also found that the thin discs cut flesh far quicker and deeper than the old 2.5mm discs which tend to burn and graze far more.
No job is so important that it cannot be done safely and the worst place to hurt yourself is at home, (think, no work cover insurance etc).
Stay safe people.

http://www.renovateforum.com/f210/cu...-blocks-73759/

Do yourselves a big favour - do a Google search for "angle grinder injury photos". Then say it can't or won't happen to me.

Injuries do happen - very frequently - and affect mostly those who take short cuts or do not read instructions, safety warnings, or follow safe work practices..

Those who follow widely accepted safe work practices generally avoid serious injury because they have learned to reduce the risk to themselves and have all the injured angle grinder users (substitute any power tool name here) out there to thank for doing the "research" on what not to do.

Like Grahame, I have been using angle grinders since the '70's and still have all my fingers etc.
I also understand about the safety sense that kicks in and consequently have always worn safety glasses.
Reading this thread reinforces the safety issue as well and seeing as I am probably on borrowed time, safety wise, I will be purchasing a full face shield for home use before I turn the angle grinder on again.
Thanks guys for the collective wisdom
I doubt anyone is exempt from injury but everyone can lower the risk.

Phil

We live in the age of youtube! I regularly look up workplace accidents! Not because I'm into watching gore, I'm reminding myself what can happen.

I wonder if youtube has made us safer on the tools or it has encouraged some people to try something a little too much past their skill level?

Maybe it depends on the person I guess.

The one problem I can see is that most of the learning today is in the comfort and solitude of your own home, not next to your Dad when you were a kid or on a construction site with other people in earshot. The DIY market it huge. I'm always encouraging people to have a go as we all started somewhere.. Ask lots of questions and doing it safely is paramount.

I was flame drying some huge bamboo staves a few months back and forgot to knock a hole in all the nodes with a length of reo. ...well...about 10mins into it.....BOOM as the cane split! It was like a shotgun blast! My Mum and the Misses came down White as ghosts to check on me!

I was fine and just kept working but it cough me but surprise! I puckered up pretty quickly though!

The one image that serves as a reminder to me about being safe as I can with an angle grinder was a pic one of the local WWForum members posted a year back. He had half a 9" imbedded in his abdomen! I'm going to buy that bloke a beer some day as it serves me a reminder why I bother with a mask, guard, ear and eye protection.

I'm glad he took the time to post it up! If I find myself in a similar situation I promise to to a good write up on it and post up the pics!

This thread is a good reminder to the likes of me, who does tend to get a bit lax.
I blame it on the time I came through (77yo) but that is no excuse, and like many
I work out in the shed alone a lot, so should be extra careful. Thanks for the thread.

I've never felt comfortable or 100% safe when using angle grinders, the things are an accident waiting to happen . I've had one or two thin cut off discs fly to pieces , those cheap ones that sams warehouse sells . Optomertrists and eye doctors had their retirement funds boosted when angle grinders became very cheap to buy . First one I ever saw was a WOLF ( UK ? ) brand , that was in 1976 . Mike

Originally Posted by morrisman

I've never felt comfortable or 100% safe when using angle grinders, the things are an accident waiting to happen . I've had one or two thin cut off discs fly to pieces , those cheap ones that sams warehouse sells . Optomertrists and eye doctors had their retirement funds boosted when angle grinders became very cheap to buy . First one I ever saw was a WOLF ( UK ? ) brand , that was in 1976 . Mike

I had one of those .It was light grey colour , had a slip clutch and was a weak as pee- but then I was comparing it to to the same size air grinder we had at work.Even then they were worried about damage it could do.It came with warnings about using the guards and handle.

Grahame

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

I had one of those .It was light grey colour , had a slip clutch and was a weak as pee- but then I was comparing it to to the same size air grinder we had at work.Even then they were worried about damage it could do.It came with warnings about using the guards and handle.

Grahame

Yes that's the one, I remember the slip clutch.... I had borrowed the WOLF from a friend and the silly thing fried itself . I then drove to the Wolf agents in Melbourne and bought a new grinder for my friend

When all you have is a hammer everything starts to look like a nail. I see a big part of the problem with angle grinders arising from the fact that they can be used for so many jobs, both properly and not.
I think that the best use for a grinder is grinding. Cutting, especially sheet stock, is too dangerous in my opinion. I have saws, shears, nibblers and a torch for that kind of work. I will only resort to a cut-off wheel if the work is small relative to the size of the wheel and none of the other tools will do the job.
I only use wire wheels on sub 6000 rpm grinders. On the higher rpm angle grinders detached wires have so much energy that they can embed themselves in leather protective gear.
I've seen guys use wire wheels on concrete, segmented carbide wheels on metal pipes, abrasive disks on wood with embedded nails - all crazy stuff.

Originally Posted by rob streeper

Cutting, especially sheet stock, is too dangerous in my opinion. I have saws, shears, nibblers and a torch for that kind of work. I will only resort to a cut-off wheel if the work is small relative to the size of the wheel and none of the other tools will do the job.
I only use wire wheels on sub 6000 rpm grinders. On the higher rpm angle grinders detached wires have so much energy that they can embed themselves in leather protective gear.

I've used hundreds of thin kerf cutting wheels on grinders and in the last 8 years on an old 1.5HP, 2850 rpm, 8" table saw. Using the slower speeds of the TS means the thin kerf wheels are much less of a problem but I don't think these thin wheels are that big of a deal on higher speed grinders. While using these wheels I have completely broken ~dozen of these wheels, and had pieces break of around 10% of the wheels I use. When these wheels break they nearly all break off at the arbor. They don't go spinning all over the place like a frisbee, they just flop onto the bench. When pieces have broken off and I have been hit on the hand or arm, the sting has been no worse than a fast large wood chip coming off a lathe or a table saw and they do not break the skin. The reason for this is the surface area to volume ratio for the bits is high so they slow down very rapidly in air. It's the bits from the thicker wheels that are a real problem.

The TS arrangement is significantly safer than a grinder because when wheel pieces break off, and the wheels break off the arbor there is a good chance that they will fall into the cabinet under the blade. The mitre slide and fence means that standard TS operations can be used which makes it safer and easier to use than a grinder. I have ripped many metres of up to 8 mm sheet metal with that arrangement but have even cut 12mm plate (albeit very slowly) with it. I do have a metal cutting bandsaw and use that for thicker stock. I used to wear gloves while using this setup but only because the pieces might get hot but have since added water cooling so there is no need for gloves.

Since having this setup the only time I find I need to use these wheels in angle grinders is when the work piece is too large or awkward to put onto the TS.

Od course none of this means not using a full face shield just as I do for most metal work but unlike angle grinders there is no need to use ear muffs.

Just wondering BobL, how do you find the wear rate or the wheels when run at slower than normal speeds?
The rule for a vitrified wheel, (although I do realise these are reinforced wheels), is that a slower speed has the effect of weakening the bond, leading to more rapid wear, high speeds have the opposite effect - up to maximum permissable speed of course. Do you experience more rapid wearing of your discs than if they were run at proper angle grinder speeds?