Thread: Where to get decent quality wire buff wheels for 8" bench grinder in Adelaide

When I was in Blackwood's last week I had a look at the wire wheels on display, but didn't think to ask if they had any heavier duty ones.

May have to visit them again.

Took a couple of shots to show the type of wire wheel I'm after.

The one seen in the bin is what I don't want - imported rubbish that flies apart and is no where near as wide as the 20 year old one on the (new) grinder.

Both the old Futura grinder and the wire wheel were the same age and both are stuffed pretty much at the same time.

You can see how wide and thick the old wire wheel is. Real heavy duty grade made locally by a guy who was down Kilburn way.

I actually machined away the side plates about ten years ago with the lathe to get another third more life span out of the wheel - worked well

But it's nearly had it now.

w1.jpgw2.jpgw3.jpg

Cheers

Rob

Originally Posted by nearnexus

They look to be the type of distributor I'm after.

Thanks for the tip. I will go there asap.

Rob

I haven't been there yet but I was looking on their website amongst others as part of my search for a 10" grinder. Their price for an Abbott & Ashby 10" grinder is $970. The same grinder from GRH Industrial Supplies at Wingfield or South Road is $630 - on that basis it would pay to shop around before dealing with Collins.

Originally Posted by Gavin Newman

I haven't been there yet but I was looking on their website amongst others as part of my search for a 10" grinder. Their price for an Abbott & Ashby 10" grinder is $970. The same grinder from GRH Industrial Supplies at Wingfield or South Road is $630 - on that basis it would pay to shop around before dealing with Collins.

Thanks for the heads up Gavin.

I'm still grounded with this damn flu so will have to wait a while.

Just for info I bought an 8" Abbott & Ashby grinder to replace the old 8" Futura one and prices vary by $100 between sellers on those.

Got it from Paramount for $149 which was way below the $270 some places ask for.

Seems like a good gutsy grinder except for the on/off switch which is a bit dinky and has one of those clear plastic shrouds over it. The other negative is that both ends of the shaft are right hand thread, which is a bit lousy compared to left and right setups.

Rob

I bought an AA 8" grinder a while ago too, it appears that there is an Australian made version of their grinders and an offshore made version with the latter being a lot cheaper. I bought the Aussie version and you are right, the plastic covered switch would be a pain to use.

My machines are all fitted with external industrial switches mounted up high so that (a) equipment can't be turned on accidentally by young visitors and (b) it's easier for me as well if my hands are greasy.

Yep I agree Collins can be pricey, they are quite often the only supplier of certain Items, GRH can also be pricey.

I dropped into Collins Industrial today and bought a wire wheel from them, they stock Dixbro / Josco wheels which look to be better quality than the junk I was sold by Flintware.

The package says "designed and assembled in New Zealand" so I'm assuming that the materials are from China.

They have 28 & 38mm width wheels, the 28mm was $45ish.

Originally Posted by Gavin Newman

I dropped into Collins Industrial today and bought a wire wheel from them, they stock Dixbro / Josco wheels which look to be better quality than the junk I was sold by Flintware.

The package says "designed and assembled in New Zealand" so I'm assuming that the materials are from China.

They have 28 & 38mm width wheels, the 28mm was $45ish.

Thanks for the info Gavin. I will have a look next week.

You don't mind paying a bit more if it's going to last. I hate buying junk that flies apart in no time at all.

I bought some little Dremel style wire wheels for the air die grinder off Ebay a while back, and up to a certain speed all is OK. Pass that point and they simply explode into millions of flying shards. Hmmmmmmm.

Of course there's no way of knowing what's going to happen with this stuff.

But that's life, and there's naught we can do about it

PS.....any chance you could post a photo of it so we can see how dense etc it is ???

Cheers

Rob

Not yet sadly, my Mac is in being fixed so I'm using my iPad to access the forum and I'm unsure how to get pictures to the forum via that.

Hi All,
Not to sure what you are using these wheels for.
My Story is, I have a 1992 Ryobi 6" / ½Hp. Grinder, with a 8" Wire Wheel on it at this time.
There is a " Rags to Riches " Market, in Laverton, Vic. & Sat. is the day to go.
I bought my 8" W/W there for the grand sum of $8.
I have taken all the Guards off that 1 side, & anyway I consider it to Dangerous to have Guards on even if it was a 6" Wheel.
I clean all my rusty buys on it. Yes, it throws a few & only a few wires off.
The only thing wrong with it is that the Corners are gone, but I have had it 2 yrs. now, so you will not get any complaints from me, about Cheap Wire Wheels. Yes, it maybe Chinese, but I'm not sure about that.
Exactly, what are you all using your W/Wheels for anyway.
I wood be very surprised if yours did any more work than mine.
Wood love to hear your comments.

Originally Posted by Gavin Newman

Not yet sadly, my Mac is in being fixed so I'm using my iPad to access the forum and I'm unsure how to get pictures to the forum via that.

oh thats rignt...they dont have buttons to push

Might be worth buying this for the shed

You could probably get it for $10.

Canon PowerShot A40 Digital Camera | Digital Cameras | Gumtree Australia Holdfast Bay - Somerton Park

I had one of these and they aren't half bad. Remove the memory card to read the files easy.

Rob

Originally Posted by nearnexus

Might be worth buying this for the shed

You could probably get it for $10.

Canon PowerShot A40 Digital Camera | Digital Cameras | Gumtree Australia Holdfast Bay - Somerton Park

I had one of these and they aren't half bad. Remove the memory card to read the files easy.

Rob

Thanks for the link but the camera is not the issue, my daughter is a professional photographer and works in a camera store so I'm right for the hardware, the issue is how to get the photo from the camera into the iPad which has no slot. I'll try and get a photo up using the wife's iMac in due course.

Originally Posted by Gavin Newman

I dropped into Collins Industrial today and bought a wire wheel from them, they stock Dixbro / Josco wheels which look to be better quality than the junk I was sold by Flintware.

The package says "designed and assembled in New Zealand" so I'm assuming that the materials are from China.

They have 28 & 38mm width wheels, the 28mm was $45ish.

Hi Gavin,

I dropped into Blackwoods today and picked up a wire wheel for the 8" grinder.

They had two sorts (different densities) in 200 mm x 35 mm at $40 and $47 respectively.

The dearer HD one (looks about 30% more dense/more wire ??) is same wire grade - SIT brand made in Italy - EN1083/2.

Got talking to the guy about the current crop of wire wheels and he basically said you won't get anything like the same quality in large wheels as 20 years ago. He reconned the Chinese ones are particularly bad.

He reconned the cup wheels for angle grinders were Ok in Chinese brands though, which I have found to be the case.

This Italian wheel seems well made. He recons it's about as good as you can get now.

Sold the Italian HD one to me for $31 which I thought was a good price.

Rob

Thanks for the info, I might head out there and buy a spare wheel while they are still available - I doubt if the situation is going to get any better in time.