Cutting a Sanke Question

I built a jig (that seems to be working pretty well geometry wise) but it does not seem to be cutting all that well. Am I just not being patient enough? Or did I miss the boat with what cutting wheel I have? I just grabbed a 4 1/2" metal blade from harbor freight. Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks

What thickness cut-off disc did you get? 1mm should be best for this. Also do not try and go through in one past, just keep going round and round a little deeper each time. I think I did mine in about 4-5 passes freehand.

Edit for more info: When you do finally start breaking through, watch out how far you let the disc drop into the cut. Again you want just the tip of the disc to go through outherwise the flat blade is being bent round the cut while spinning at 1500+ RPM = recipe for exploding discs!
And as normal for all working with power tools - make sure you have the right PPE = Saftey galsses/facesheild, gloves, hearing protection, long sleeves/pants, no loose fitting clothing and tie your hair back if it is long

blade? is the cutting disk fiber or metal? you want fiber disks. like matt said, go around several times lightly scoring until you finally break through.

Yep. Might take a few minutes and a dozen or more revolutions. I've got a bunch of notes here. I guess I'm repeating the guys above. Good luck.

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-depressed-center-cut-off-wheel-for-metal-68137.html

this is what I grabbed...too thick and wrong material I'm guessing :/

awarner322 said:

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-depressed-center-cut-off-wheel-for-metal-68137.html

this is what I grabbed...too thick and wrong material I'm guessing :/

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Yea, I think that's pretty thick. I use DeWalt XP Extended 0.045", which is 1/3 of the thickness of yours.

right material, wrong thickness. that is a grinding wheel for smoothing welds or removing large amounts of material.

you want the thin ones that require you use the hardware on the grinder to attach.

http://www.harborfreight.com/pack-of-10-4-1-2-half-inch-cut-off-wheels-for-metal-45430.html

I use the DeWalt discs (.045" thickness) that also specify for use with stainless steel. They have NO issue cutting through a keg, top or top shroud/section.

slakwhere said:

right material, wrong thickness. that is a grinding wheel for smoothing welds or removing large amounts of material...

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I would be cautious calling it a grinding wheel as I have seen 3mm cut-offs (a plant I worked at restricted cut-off below 3mm because the thought shattering dics were a safety issue)

mattd2 said:

I would be cautious calling it a grinding wheel as I have seen 3mm cut-offs (a plant I worked at restricted cut-off below 3mm because the thought shattering dics were a safety issue)

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They are a hazard. Those shards fly when it goes. Try pushing the disk into the work if you want to see it happen

Eye protection is mandatory with these things.

passedpawn said:

They are a hazard. Those shards fly when it goes. Try pushing the disk into the work if you want to see it happen

Eye protection is mandatory with these things.

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Sorry, I was not meaning that they are not a hazard. The issue was they restricted engineers that had the appropriote level of training to use an angle grinder to cut metal, who know what PPE to were (plus it was written into the JSA) to only use 3mm cut-off wheels which cause more heat and take longer to do the job.

Yeah...this was the only wheel at HF that didn't come in a 'pack' of 6 or 8 or whatever they come in....took a chance on it. I will swing in HD or Lowes tomorrow...so thinner the better then eh?

awarner322 said:

Yeah...this was the only wheel at HF that didn't come in a 'pack' of 6 or 8 or whatever they come in....took a chance on it. I will swing in HD or Lowes tomorrow...so thinner the better then eh?

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Lowe's has the DeWalt ones (at least in this area they do) that are made for cutting stainless steel. Says it right on the disc. The discs made to do this job are thinner so that they do a better job.

mattd2 said:

Sorry, I was not meaning that they are not a hazard. The issue was they restricted engineers that had the appropriote level of training to use an angle grinder to cut metal, who know what PPE to were (plus it was written into the JSA) to only use 3mm cut-off wheels which cause more heat and take longer to do the job.

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I worked for GE Aerospace for a while. They outlawed Exacto knives after an engineer cut himself. It was absolutely forbidden to posses one for my 5 years there.

passedpawn said:

I worked for GE Aerospace for a while. They outlawed Exacto knives after an engineer cut himself. It was absolutely forbidden to posses one for my 5 years there.

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Hahahaha last place I worked did the same thing and man did the sparkies hate it. Thing was the operators had to cut open bags of powder to dump in the dissolving tanks, 40 bags to a pallet. They had special safety knives that were spring loaded so the blade would retract once it stopped cutting the bag. They gave the sparkies the same knives and they would need to keep extending the blade a bunch of times when stripping the shealthing off cable - kind of made the job more hazardous! Then they said you had to use the same knives to break down shipping boxes (the heavy cardboard ones that are stapled together), that was super dangerous now with the safety knives. Eventually some people found out that if you didn't extend the blade fully that safety mechanism did click in and it wouldn't retract

passedpawn said:

They are a hazard. Those shards fly when it goes. Try pushing the disk into the work if you want to see it happen

Eye protection is mandatory with these things.

Click to expand...

YES!
I am a designer for a metal fabrication company. Our guys use grinders on a daily basis. They use safety glasses AS WELL AS full face shields. We still have someone that has to go get crap dug out of their eyes about once a month.
Take care of your eyes folks! You can't get new ones!

Also, think about who is around you while grinding. DON'T let little kids be anywhere close to a grinder. As in about a 20-40 foot radius.

Huaco said:

YES!
I am a designer for a metal fabrication company. Our guys use grinders on a daily basis. They use safety glasses AS WELL AS full face shields. We still have someone that has to go get crap dug out of their eyes about once a month.
Take care of your eyes folks! You can't get new ones!

Also, think about who is around you while grinding. DON'T let little kids be anywhere close to a grinder. As in about a 20-40 foot radius.

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I just got a clear shield to replace the darker one in a welding shield setup. Since the old (welders shield) is scratched to hell and back again, and darker (oxy-acy welding) I had picked up another entire setup. So now I can have one dedicated for grinding/drilling/etc. and another for welding. I also wear glasses, so I have more protection layers from a direct strike. The new shield has a good wrap-around effect.

Looking into the maunal on the grinder I bought....Am I going to be able to find a wheel that works here?

The Grinding Wheel MUST be:
• rated to at least 11,000 RPM.
• no larger than 4-1/2″ in diameter.
• fitted with a 7/8″ round arbor hole.
• from 0.16″ to 0.28″ thick.
• a type of grinding wheel suitable for
surface grinding, not edge grinding.
• dry and clean.
• proven undamaged by inspection and
by the ring-test explained below.



0.16 is the smallest it will take? Am I wrong here?

smallest thickness, correct. and 4.5" is the largest diameter it will take. go to home depot or Harbor Freight and they should have something that fits just fine. that's a pretty standard range.

I tried buying the ones you linked me from harbor freight...well the same dimensions...but from HD. The wheel didn't fit on the grinder. It didn't make a tight fit...even with the spacer in there...there was slop. User error?

awarner322 said:

Looking into the maunal on the grinder I bought....Am I going to be able to find a wheel that works here?

The Grinding Wheel MUST be:
• rated to at least 11,000 RPM.
• no larger than 4-1/2″ in diameter.
• fitted with a 7/8″ round arbor hole.
• from 0.16″ to 0.28″ thick.
• a type of grinding wheel suitable for
surface grinding, not edge grinding.
• dry and clean.
• proven undamaged by inspection and
by the ring-test explained below.



0.16 is the smallest it will take? Am I wrong here?

Click to expand...

You cut with cut-off wheels, grind with grinding wheels. The only problem I see is if the way the wheels sit in the grinder cause anything less than .16" to be not held tight and just rotate loose... if that makes sense?

Check the nut on the grinder (the one that goes after the wheel, towards the outside). It should have a ridge on one side, and be flat on the other. Typically, you can flip it around and use it whichever way you need in order to secure the disc/wheel you're using.

What grinder make, and model, did you get??

Yeah...edit...I'm an idiot..thanks...nut was on backwards or 'the other side'

awarner322 said:

Yeah...edit...I'm an idiot..thanks...nut was on backwards or 'the other side'

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Flipped your nut and now it's TIGHT!!? lol

First time user SNAFU...