Grinder Safety: How to Properly Use an Angle Grinder

hey guys welcome back to welcome so  today we're going to do a comprehensive   safety video on the proper use of  a right angle grinder stick around what you're watching right now is a video on how  not to use an angle grinder correctly everything   I'm doing right now it's completely wrong nothing  about it is right I highly recommend that you   don't attempt to do work like this at home or  in the shop what I do recommend is you hit pause   drop down in the comments section and list as  many safety violations as you can find in the   video once you're done hit resume play and we'll  be right here waiting for you to show you how to   use it correctly alright so the angle grinder  is typically used in a lot of work applications   especially involved with welding so you're gonna  be cutting you're gonna be grinding you're gonna   be polishing you're gonna be blending so I mean  it's it's a big part of your arsenal as a welder   or as a fitter as a helper you're gonna be using  this quite a bit aside from your welding machine   this is probably one of the the number one items  are gonna have your toolbox and you're gonna use   it quite a bit at work right 80 percent your works  into preparation 20% of its gonna actually be the   welding so this is where the preparation comes  in before we get into grinding one thing you   definitely want to make sure of is that you're  doing it in a safe place you want to make sure   that the work area that you're gonna be utilizing  the grinder in is free of solvents you don't have   any chemicals laying around all your cardboard  trash woods been picked up I don't know if you   guys know this or not but when you use a grinding  wheel you project sparks that are in excess of   1,800 degrees Fahrenheit okay that's hot enough  to burn your skin melt paper set chemicals on fire   so do some general housekeeping make sure you know  your co-workers are out of the way wherever you're   gonna be directing your sparks make sure that  area is clean free of debris and you're ready   to have you know you got a nice safe work area  that you know you're gonna build it to do all   your cutting and grinding work in and you're not  gonna cause injury to yourself or someone else so   before we get into that let's go ahead and talk  about some of the proper protective equipment   that we want to consider when we're gonna be using  the grinder you want to have eight-inch work boots   you know preferably steel toe I like steel toe you  can do composite but if your company requires it   you know use that but just make sure you have some  other boots next up you want to make sure you have   like denim or wool jeans I prefer denim that's  just my choice again cotton shirts you want to   stay away from anything that's synthetic so in  any synthetic fibers because like I said before   1800 degree sparks you're gonna catch yourself  on fire you're gonna muck closed your gloves   whatever so make sure whatever equipment you  have on underneath the regular clothing is fire   retardant so natural fibers versus synthetics so  think wools denims duck all that good stuff khaki   next you want to you know we're gonna dress for  the actual application so I have a welding jacket   or an fr clothes I prefer a welding jacket because  if you have a regular t-shirt on it's not going to   provide enough coverage we'll get into it a little  bit further but grinding wheels can actually you   know get sucked up in your clothing so if you do  have a long t-shirt on you want to make sure you   tuck that in I like balding jackets because they  provide a little bit more protection if something   was to go wrong or the grinder was to wrap itself  up in your clothing welding jackets are thicker   than your regular t-shirt so it's gonna be able  to stop that tool a lot faster for some reason   something happens cover up your head man cover  that Graper yours right especially if you're doing   overhead grinding you want to keep that covered  keep the sparks out anytime you're dealing with a   grinder or any other power tool that's gonna make  a lot of noise you're gonna want to wear some sort   of hearing protection not only that it's gonna  block sparks from getting in your ears today I   actually have a head set of headphones in made  by ISO Tunes and they meet the requirements of   OSHA and NIOSH so they can actually be used  in the workplace as hearing protectors as   well cameraman's gonna put a link down in the  description if you're interested in checking   them out obviously we're gonna use safety glasses  should be using safety glasses for everything you   do in the shop and then a pair of good quality  leather gloves now if you're thinking you know I   don't wear gloves because I don't want to get them  caught up in the grinder we're gonna teach you how   to use the grinder the correct way and when you  use it the correct way you have two hands on the   grinder at all times right so you can't get your  gloves caught in the grinder if they're nowhere   near the disc while it's spinning right the next  thing in addition to your safety glasses you   want to make sure that you have a good quality  face shield okay these should be rated does the   eighty-seven point one or the 87 Plus through ANSI  I have a beard guard on this one because I have a   beard and most people ask me how do I keep from  getting too burnt up use this piece of leather   right here to keep keep this thing in pristine  condition so make sure you have a good quality   face shield now depending on the work environment  you're going to be in there's different types of   face shields available so general shop work where  I have well-ventilated area and on to worry about   overhead hazards this is a good face shield right  you can get one just like this you want something   that's gonna protect your face you have to wear  safety glasses in addition to this right in   addition to your face shield you want to make sure  you have safety glasses next up we have one for   you've got a little working out in the field this  is one with a hardhat attachment or a hardhat halo   so you put that on boom right we're all safety  it up what I've done on this is I've actually   put a magnet on here with some double-stick tape  so if you're out in the field you're doing some   overhead grinding all that grinding dust should  collect in this area because once you lift this   flap up here all that dust can then fall into  your face a small breeze will blow it right in   your eyes the next thing you know you're on your  way to the optometrist to get that stuff removed   you know what they have to happen so little tip  throw a magnet on there right it's a neodymium   or a rare earth magnet so it'll collect any  of those dust particles you know built up on   there you can blow it off alright so the next  one we have this is a pepper systems afternoon   this is your death and speaking we're currently  crews again and out the do to 39,000 feet folks   keep backing into the play so these are great if  you're working in you know confined spaces you   don't have good ventilation or you're generating a  lot of grinding fumes if you're working on exotic   metals like stainless or aluminum or titanium you  don't want to be breathing that stuff in if you   have to grind a lot of galvanized off this is  what I would recommend probably this would be   my preference over respirator for obvious reasons  but this one is a pure flow by gentex and it was   sent to us from frame safety so go ahead check  those guys out thanks for sending this to us so   we could have a visual aid for the video and then  show show you guys how to use this system but this   actually goes over your head it has AF our Cape  that goes around there to protect your neck beard   all that stuff nice little drawstring on there  so you can keep everything nice and close and   then tuck that up out of the way obviously and  then you have full access you can open this up   talk to your coworkers it has a filtration system  in the back so it's you're getting purified air   brought in to your welding hood so you don't have  to worry about things fogging up with this because   it keeps your head it's nice and cool do some  demonstrations with this a little bit later in   the video so now that we know to keep our work  area clean we know what we're supposed to wear   let's go ahead and talk about the grinding setup  alright so let's talk about the actual grinder   that we're gonna use the first thing you want  to do when you pick this up you want to know   what type of grinder it is so this is a four and a  half inch angle grinder so anything that I'm doing   that's the appropriate size wheel that I need to  be putting on here in addition to that I want to   check the housing in the head make sure there's  no cracks nothing's exposed all the fasteners   on here nothing's loose nothing's out of the  ordinary the arbor lock works I want to make   sure that the trigger mechanism works obviously  I'm unplugged right now so I'm gonna test that   and make sure that that's not locked by what they  call the the trigger lock or the suicide switch okay again we've got some pictures  at the end of the video and I want   to stick around and check that out because  some people decided to use the suicide lock you'll see go check it out we also want to go  through and check out the cord that's on here   ok the cable make sure there's no Nick's cuts  frays anything exposed wires you don't want any   of that because if I plug this into the power  source and I touch the cord it's electrically   hot I'm gonna get zapped in addition you  wanted this is a three prong cord you want   to make sure all the prongs are there okay  so one thing to note if you can't take this   thing and and just like whip it like a bull  whip and it land in the X electrical outlet don't yank it out from back here whenever you  unplug it you want to make sure that you unplug   it from the end of the cable and that's how you  should plug it in that's how that grounding cable   or that grounding lead gets pulled out right so a  lot of a lot of grinders are missing that because   people just yank them when they're done at the  end of the day and that pops out so once I'm   sure that this thing is serviceable what I want  to do is I want to start putting it together now   there's a handle that comes with your grinder  okay this is one of the items along with the   garden that gets thrown out soon as somebody  opens the box they pull the grinder out they   throw the handle away throw the guard away they  put a disc on there and go to work right wrong   don't do that take the handle and mount it to  the grinder okay next up this is a four and a   half inch grinder so I'm going to make sure  that I put a four and a half inch guard on   here I don't want to put a five inch or 6 inch  make sure you put the appropriate size guard on   there all right every guard is gonna mount a  little bit different so make sure you consult   your manual for the specific piece of equipment  to you owned to make sure you're mounting the   guard on there properly okay there also a lot of  these I like these because they have little quick   locks on them so I can actually rotate the guard  to where I need it to be and it'll it'll lock in   place okay a little push button back there I can  move it around whether I'm cutting or grinding I   can select the appropriate orientation for this  guard okay now that the guard is in place the   only thing left as far as the setup or the the  ferrule or the bushing and the locking nut I'm   gonna hold off on these because depending on the  type of wheel that you're gonna use you're gonna   use a different type of nut and you're going to  use a different side of the nut so we're gonna go   in we're going to cover that next so depending  on the type of material you'll be working on   whether it's aluminum stainless steel or carbon  steel you're going to want to make sure you pick   the appropriate disk so these disks are designed  specifically for aluminum cutting and grinding you   don't want to use these on steel because they're  just not going to last as long likewise I don't   want to use a steel disk on aluminum because  it's gonna tear it up in addition the aluminum   is gonna clog the pores on the outside of this  grinding wheel in addition to that if you have   an aluminum soaked wheel you start grinding  on heavy rust you're gonna create something   called thermate that are made it's very similar  to thermite it's highly flammable so you don't   want to cause that that condition in your shop  next thing we want to consider is what size   wheel are we going to use we pick the size wheel  based on the size of the grinder that we're going   to use even though I can put a six-inch guard  on this grinder because they're interchangeable   I don't want to put a six inch wheel on this  grinder and that's because this wheel is rated   for ten thousand two hundred rpms now this  grinder is kicking out eleven thousand rpms what would be in a more appropriate selection is  to choose a six inch grinder for this six inch   wheel now this is a very versatile grinder because  this is capable running four and a half five inch   and six inch wheels because it's rated for 9,000  rpms and the nine thousand rpms doesn't exceed any   of the speeds that I can use for any one of these  discs so this one's ten thousand two hundred this   one's thirteen thousand three hundred all these  wheels have a higher rpm rating then this grinder   is actually capable of putting out so it's gonna  max out at 9,000 rpms any one of these wheels on   here is gonna be safe to use if I do switch to a  5 or a four inch wheel I want to make sure that   I reduce the size of my guard so I'm gonna use  a five inch wheel I want to put a 5 inch guard   on here and take that six inch off same thing  with a four and a half I would actually take   this four and a half inch guard put it on here  then I can use that four and a half inch wheel   this is probably one of the better grinders you  can get not specifically this brand but this type   of grinder that's capable of running the three  different types of wheels versus one grinder that   can only run four and a half great thing about  this is it's much smaller it's compact easier to   use lightweight so I mean choose what's going to  work best for your shop in your application once   I figured out the type of the size of the wheel  that I'm going to use the type material going   to be working on I want to figure out what type  of wheel I need to use based on purpose what's   the task at hand what job am i doing so if I want  to do some like stock removal I'm gonna use this   wheel right here it's a quarter inch thick  wheel and it's meant for stock removal heavy   grinding and I'm gonna use this at that 30-degree  angle I don't want to use it on the edge because   it doesn't have any reinforcement in here what  its gonna do is it's gonna road back it's gonna   chip you're gonna get chunks out of there and then  you're gonna compromise the integrity of the wheel   and then it could potentially come apart on you  during use same thing with this flapper wheel okay   if I'm going to prep material polish it up blend  it any of those things I can go ahead and select   as the flapper disc now when I use this I want  to make sure that I maintain that thirty degree   angle notice there's really no abrasive out here  there's no reinforcement I don't have any anything   there that's going to protect the edge of this  wheel it's not meant to be used that way I don't   want to go in and try to clean out a groove weld  with this it's meant for flat 230 degrees that's   where I want to try to keep that as the range I  want to keep it in when I'm using that I want to   try to keep it about that angle right there when  I'm going through the material now if I do want   to use edge grinding a cut off wheel is simply  going to be too thin right I have reinforcement   on the outside but I have no reinforcement here so  I don't want to use a cut off wheel as a grinding   wheel okay I can use the edge but this is a little  too thin so if I wanted to grind out a root pass   or remove a weld I'm actually gonna switch out  and I'm gonna get an 8-inch wheel and it tells   me right on the wheel then I can use it at a 90  degree angle so I can go in and I can cut into   the material this way but I can also dress it up  so I can use this at a 45 degree angle or 0 0 to   45 this way because this wheel is designed to have  reinforcement and abrasive material on the edge as   well as on the face of the disc so this would be  a good option for that likewise when I get into   rust removal and I want to use a wire wheel this  cup here is great for cleaning up the surface but   it's gonna be horrible trying to get into a groove  that's not what it's designed for so keep this as   flat as you can against the material now if I do  want to get into a groove or a tight corner this   is what I'm going to use and this is the edge  of the the wheel that I want to put against the   material it's gonna clean up a lot better that  way and it's not meant to run at that 30-degree   angle or in the flat position ok it's gonna start  falling apart these things are going to become   off-centered once it becomes off-centered it's  gonna be unbalanced and then it's a hazard ok so   keep some of those things in mind whenever you're  picking out a wheel make sure you are using the   appropriate wheel for the task at hand and we're  actually going to show you exactly how to use each   one of these wheels a little bit further in the  video once we figure out the type of disc that   we're going to be using the type of material that  we're going to be cutting or grinding on once we   select that wheel we want to check the wheel for  serviceability so one thing we want to look at is   if any of the wheels have ever been wet left out  in the rain automatically throw them in the trash   right destroy them get rid of them all so anytime  you have rust on it so if you have a wire wheel or   you have any of these feral or the any locking  nuts that go on there if any of us caked over   with oxidization because it's been left out get  rid of them okay it's just not worth the hassle   it's not worth your safety go through the cutoff  wheel make sure there's no Nick's dings scratches   or grooves in there so here's a prime example  so this one was probably left on a grinder the   grinder fell off the table and it chipped the side  of the wheel now this whole disk is compromised   doesn't mean stick in the grinder and like cut it  until that part wears out here's what could happen just get rid of it now what I used to typically  do is if I'd find a wheel that was that was pretty   bad messed up I would go ahead and just break it  get rid of it now I've prevented the next user   from coming up and using that same thing with  a hard rock you can beat these up with a hammer   throw them in the trash but this one again this  has been dinged up it was used improperly or you   know got damaged during shipping or it's fell off  the table and excessive amount of times whatever   exterior this edge has been compromised okay  I don't want to use that okay go ahead and get   rid of that one throw that let's crash this  guy right here just talking about wheels you   know continuing on I'm missing some pads on  here something happened to this the camera   guy mistook this for his for a sandwich for lunch  and chewed on it I don't know what happened here   but I'm not gonna put this on a grinder that's  gonna run about 9,000 to 11,000 rpms and try   to use that because the structural integrity of  it has been compromised so get rid of it if you   have any doubts whether it's gonna be a good wheel  or not trash it okay you're gonna thank me for it   later same thing with a wire wheel obviously this  thing has seen better days okay I'm not going to   throw this on a grinder this is going into the  trash it's it's all kinds of jacked up things   aren't spaced out correctly I've got damage to  some of the the twisted ends go ahead and get   rid of it it's not worth risking you know even  if it's the last one you got your gang box you   know run out and get another one you know radio  the boss man tell me you need some other stuff   don't use it guys okay get rid of this stuff  it's gonna hurt you alright let's talk about   mounting these wheels up so as you know there's  different types of wheels available so what I   have right here is called a type 27 and it's  a quarter inch wheel then I have your regular   flapper wheel this already has a mounted nut  in here so I'm actually not going to need any   hardware to mount this or the wire wheel because  they both have the mounted nuts the cutoff wheel   however is called a type 1 cutoff wheel you'll  notice it's flush on both sides whereas the type   27 has a depressed Center the press meeting is  very sad now but on a serious note it has this   raised portion on the wheel whereas the type 1 is  completely flat on both so because of that we're   gonna have two different types of mounting that  we're gonna do with this so let's go ahead and   start off with a quarter inch wheel we're going  to start off with our backing flange or ferrule   and you'll notice that it has straight edges  on two of the sides also you'll notice on the   arbor I have two flat sides here I'm going to  pair these up and put the flat sides together   so that that wash or that ferrule locks into that  Arbor next I'll place the wheel on top of it and   make sure the wheel is sitting center of that  ferrule and then I'm going to put the top nut   on here now you'll notice on the top nut it has a  edge that has a flare on it this is a raised edge   right here this is the side that I'm going to put  up against the wheel and I know that because it   says quarter-inch wheel this side against wheel  so I'm gonna flip it over and I'll screw it down   that way this ensures that the wheel is locked in  and as secure as it can be now I'm gonna go ahead   and push the button on the back to lock the arbor  in place and spin the wheel until it's locked you   can follow this up with a grinder wrench that  should come with your grinder you don't want to   crank down on it just put a little bit of snug in  there about a quarter turn and you should be good   to go now to her and notice the wheel sits behind  the guard sits on the inside that's where you want   it we'll go ahead and do the reverse to take this  apart or take this back off now let's go ahead and   attempt to mount the wire wheel so because it has  this nut already molded into it from the factory   if I were to put this up against that ferrule  you'll notice that the wire brush is slightly   exposed outside the guard I don't want that that  guard is supposed to protect me so what I'm gonna   do very carefully cuz wire wheels bite I'm gonna  take that ferrule off of the back now I can put   that same wheel back on and notice it sets inside  the guard I also have full thread engagement with   that Arbor same thing with the zerk wheel we're  gonna mount that without that ferrule on the back so these are pretty simple so if they have a nut  on the back of them take the ferrule completely   out of the system drop them in your pockets don't  lose them now let's move on to the cutting wheel   now because this is a type 1 wheel OSHA is now  mandating that we should be using a type 1 guard   which is enclosed on two sides as well as the  type 1 nut now notice our type 1 ferrule notice   this ferrule has much thicker than the ferrule  we had been using see it's a lot thicker than   the previous one that's going to offset that so  that wheels not so close to the guard so what   we're gonna do is we're gonna change the guard out  first this one actually you have to swap this out   with a screwdriver so I'm gonna loosen that nut or  loosen that bolt spin the guard take that one off   and then put the new guard on top once it's in  place simply lock it down okay now this guards   ready to go I'll then take the type 1 ferrule  set it right on make sure it locks into place take the type 1 cutting wheel put it to the inside  and then follow this back up with a nut now notice   I'm going to use the opposite side of the nut  this time this side is completely flushed it   doesn't have that raised Center that I need to  deal with so I'm going to put the flush side up   against the wheel push the the button on the back  again to lock the arbor in place follow that up   with a wrench snug it up again don't put these  on too tight rotate the guards in the position   where I'm going to be doing all my cutting lock  it in and I'm ready to do my cutting and now I'm   protected if this disc does explode it's going  to shield me on 2 different directions so I have   less area where that that wheel can come apart  and come at me also notice that the wheel is now   sitting further in from the guard whereas before  if I were to use that other that type 27 nut happy   right close to that guard I don't want to be there  I want to be further out so this type 1 guard and   it's type 1 nut on the type 1 wheel allows  everything to be pushed out more towards the   center and this type one guard keeps everything  in place and keeps me a lot safer than a typical   twenty seven guard meant for a twenty seven wheel  fun fact during the whole mounting demonstration   the grinder was unplugged the whole time while  I was swapping the wheels in and out you always   want to make sure to unplug the grinder anytime  you're swapping out the wheels one thing I used   to do as an educator and I learned actually when  I was in the field working if you take the wrench   that's required to tighten that nut and loosen it  and just zip tie it right to the end of the power   cord right we're right where it gets plugged  in it this forces the operator to unplug the   device in order to be able to access the wrench  and bring it up there make sure you put it on   there pretty snug you know that way doesn't slide  up and down the cord and you should be good to go   so instructors try that if you guys are using the  wrenches it also keeps them from losing the wrench   so I mean you keep track of your wrenches and then  they'll be able to swap those in and out without   any problem and it'll always remind them unplug  it before they do it alright thus far we've talked   about cleaning up your work area making sure you  get a safe place to work we talked about dressing   the part okay so as you can see fully dressed  and everything I need aside from my gloves face   shield but don't have my grinder in my hands yet  we've made we figured out the type of material   we're gonna cut or we're gonna grind on figured  out the best wheel for that application now we   figured out how to mount it to to the grinder  whether it's a type 1 or type 27 configuration   we've talked about making sure that the wheels  are serviceable in good condition inspection   of the grinder all that good stuff so now we're  going to put everything together and we're going   to go ahead we're going to talk about technique  and operating each different type of wheel that   you might encounter so the first thing we're  gonna do we're gonna start off with a cutting   wheel now remember this wheel is designed to cut  so it's going to be used on edge you do not want   to use that to grind anything off I'm guilty of  it myself I've done before I'm sure some of you   have you cut something off and then you go to  you know you just use the edge of that just to   take the bar off don't do it ok get rid of that  bad habit just get in the habit of switching the   wheel over a lot of times if I'm doing a lot of  fab work I'll have two or three different grinders   set when each grinder has a specific task so I'll  have a cut-off wheel on one zark wheel on another   and a wire wheel on another if you don't have  that luxury just take the opportunity to switch   switch the disc back and forth it's not worth it  quick story that's kind of relevant to cut off   wheels Father's Day price seven years ago and  I got a phone call my dad tried to cut a piece   of chain had all the appropriate PPE on there had  the guard in place it was a type 27 guard but the   the nut that was supposed to secure the wheel on  there wasn't the appropriate nut it actually had   a conical shape to it so the wheel was on there he  had just picked up the guard or the the grinder to   cut a piece of chain fired it up let it hit the  max rpms like you're supposed to went to cut the   piece of chain the wheel came apart the disc broke  into several pieces a couple of the pieces ended   up into his abdomen one of them they actually had  to go through his abdomen and intestines and pull   it out of his spine it was so far back so these  things are nothing to mess with so don't don't   take the risk it's not worth it make sure it's  serviceable put a guard on the grinder and wear   the appropriate PPE okay it's not even not even a  joke everybody says I can't get the guard and yeah   I got it I have the guard on there but I can't  get into certain applications the grinder just   won't fit well at that point you're probably using  the wrong tool you need to select the appropriate   tool for the job I'll select appropriate abrasive  for the task at hand and select the appropriate   PPE right more you know guys all right so let's  go ahead get into it we're going to go ahead   and use the the cutoff wheel I'm going to cut a  piece of channel here and we'll just kind of move   through the different types of wheels and show  you the exact techniques to operate them safe   and efficiently okay guys before we get into this  and start talking about each wheel individually   there's something I want to note about all the  wheels okay this is gonna apply across all the   board whether it's a cutting wheel a flap disc a  hard rock eighth inch hard rock wire wheel there's   something you always want to pay attention to the  first one obviously is going to be the speed make   sure the wheel matches the rotation or is greater  than the rotation of the tool that you're gonna   be working with the next one we want to talk  about is pressure I see so many times people   are burning up grinders and burning up discs  because they're you know they're really putting   their weight into it going ham on it just relax  okay let the tool do the work you want to put   light pressure on there just enough get the job  done the harder you push on the wheel the less   work it's gonna do okay because what you're doing  you're heating that abrasive up that at that point   you're compromising the adhesive that they're  put all that the aggregate and the abrasives in   there you're you're compromising the integrity  of that so just back it off a little bit relax   we're just grinding here or you know cutting  so don't force the wheel into it let the wheel   do the work the next always pay attention to  your angles a lot I'm going to list it on the   the edge of the or the face of the disc you know  it'll tell you if you're a little run in a ninety   degree five degree 30 degree 45 pay attention  because that's the way the wheel was designed   to be used so make sure you pay attention to  the angle the next one pay attention to your   wear patterns you know we're gonna talk about  different wear patterns on some of the wheels   if the wheel is too small to be used or you know  damaged or you know it's just kind of past it's   expiration date meaning it's been used way too  much or it was used improperly before you got a   hold of it go ahead and switch the wheel out okay  so before we go ahead to use the tool we're going   to make sure it's in the off position okay if it  has a trigger lock or mechanism where it's just   on and off make sure it's in the off position  before you plug it in okay so it's completely   turned off I'm going to go ahead and plug it in  if you don't do that here's what could happen all right so to use this wheel it's gonna  spin in a clockwise direction from where   I'm standing right now this little arrow  right here tells me that arrow is gonna   or the wheels gonna spin this way so what I'm  gonna do is I will once both hands are safely   on the grinder I'm gonna hit the power switch  I'm gonna turn it on and I'm going to drag this   down the material for the first part of the  cut and what I want to do is I just want to   continuously score that line out I don't want  to try to push the grinder in there and cut   like it's a skill saw on plywood I'm removing  small amounts of stock each time I go through   it you'll see it actually happens pretty quick  but I'm just gonna keep running this back and   forth in that groove I'll then transfer up  here and continue that same motion and then   I'll come over to the other side and and run  that same same motion and cut this piece off so as I'm cutting with this wheel you kind of want  to put an imaginary line through the center of it   this is the good side of the wheel over here  this is where I want to maintain and stay it's   less likely to kick back and bite if I'm using  this side of the wheel if I switch over this way   because the wheels running in a clockwise motion  if I get bound up this thing's gonna kick right   back at me so I don't want to flip it upside  down and use this side of the wheel okay your   your right-hand side of the wheel I don't want to  use that I always want to try to stay over here   as you're looking at it to the left-hand side of  that wheel that's gonna make things a lot safer if   I do get a kickback it's gonna pull the grinder  away from me so now I've rotated the guard this   is still the left-hand side this is the side that  I want to cut with I don't want to cut with this   back this this side over here will flip the guard  around here in a minute and I'll kind of show you   what that looks like but again looking at it this  is the left-hand side of the wheel as I'm cutting   the sparks are gonna come back this way you can  orient the guard to where the sparks you know   they're coming down at the floor so you can kind  of stay out of the way of the fire but because   that that wheels right now it's running as you're  looking at it it's gonna run in a counterclockwise   fashion before when you looked at it this way it's  running clockwise okay but now in this way it's   gonna be running counterclockwise this because  of the orientation the grinder as I'm cutting   okay the sparks are coming back this way if for  some reason the grinder binds up it's gonna pull   the grinder out of my hands okay so I'd rather  be away from the grinder if it catches then 40   if I flip everything over and cut with the other  side of the wheel it's gonna kick back and come at   me so now we're backwards this is the side of the  wheel that you don't want to be cutting with as I   cut the sparks are gonna go that way the wheel is  gonna be trying to force itself back this way and   if for some reason this wheel binds up it's gonna  kick back at the operator now this is only a four   and a half inch wheel but imagine if you've got  a six seven or a nine inch cutting wheel on here   okay it's gonna kick back and it's gonna possibly  cut you so you want to make sure the sparks you   can always orient the guard to where the sparks  are hitting the floor you can stay out of the   firing line so the sparks are coming back at you  once this is turned the opposite way but this way   we're here the sparks are gonna go that way if  this thing binds up it's gonna kick back at me   you want to avoid that now once I'm done what I  want to do this is called the foot of the grinder   every single grinder has one when I'm done with  the grinder and I'm not using it I'm gonna set   it on the table just like this that's what it's  designed for see how it holds it nice and flat I'm   going to wait until it that it completely stops  before I set it down set it down on the material   on the table everything's good you don't want to  lay it down this way or on the wheel itself okay   and I'll lay it down on the foot so that's a cut  off wheel now we're gonna go ahead and move to a   quarter inch hardrock anytime you guys are doing  any grinding or cutting make sure that the piece   that you're working on is is completely fixed or  it's a fixed solid object stationary or clamped   down if you're using the small parts put in a vise  put in a clamp two hands should be on the grinder   at all times you don't want to hold the piece of  material with one hand and cut or grind with the   other it's just not safe so we're gonna go ahead  we're gonna clean this edge up here remember this   disc right here it tells me at the top it's  designed to be used at a 45 degree angle so   we're gonna clean this edge up one thing to note  is I can't use the backside of this wheel there's   no reinforcement there's no abrasives in here so  when we go over to the this piece of channel that   we're working on here I'm gonna do this just for  demonstrations is only so the the camera guy can   kind of point that out you don't want to use the  top of the wheel while you're trying to clean this   stuff up you're actually going to rotate it the  material the surface of material should always be   on the on the front side of this wheel okay so I'm  gonna go ahead swap this out we're gonna switch   over to a piece of 3/8 plate and we're going to  clean up some mill scale now depending on the   type material you're gonna be grinding on and the  type of wheel what you should do with any of the   wheels you're gonna be working with is start  and do a pull technique at first and then you   can start getting in and going back and forth the  reason is if you try to push this in there and it   bites in it could cause the wheel to kick off and  deflect you don't want to do that you could also   chip the wheel so start off and drag the piece  across kind of clean that up a little bit and   then you'll have a good feel for how that material  and that wheel are gonna interact with one another   so as you can see on this I'm using a 45 degree  work angle I want to try to maintain the integrity   that wheel that's what it's designed for that's  exactly how I want to use it try to maintain that   45-degree angle as you pull back your bodily he's  kind of gonna get in that natural rhythm you know   as you're pulling it back across and it's gonna  keep you at that angle so try not to jack it up   too high with your elbow or you know drop it too  low just try to keep that nice 45 degree angle or   if you have a thirty degree angle disc you know  try to keep it in that area as well okay so one   little pro tip whether you know you're using  the grinder yourself or your students are or   the people that are working for you the thickness  of this wheel right this is a quarter inch wheel I   should have about a quarter inch where line right  here throughout the entire life of this disc same   thing if I have an eighth inch disc it's gonna  be an eighth inch where line that's gonna tell   me that disc is being used correctly it's not  being used on its edge that are maintaining that   you know thirty to forty-five degree whatever  is recommended on the disc but that where line   should remain constant throughout the life of  this wheel let's go ahead and move on to the   flap wheel again we're gonna plugged it as we're  switching wheels I'm gonna go ahead and push the   button on the back here line that up screw this  down all the way lock it in place and it doesn't   you know there's you can't use a wrench on this  side just snug it up pretty decent again I want   to verify that the trigger locks not in place okay  it's a paddle style trigger so that the triggers   fully out I'm gonna go ahead and plug it in and  then we'll go ahead and show you how to use this   okay now with the flat four wheel I'm gonna go  ahead and do the same thing I'm going to get the   grinder up to the max RPMs and I'm gonna go ahead  and pull across this material and we'll attempt   to put a bevel on it this stuff's really good for  material stock removal it's not so great on mill   scale removal just because everything gets kind of  glazed over but it's great for taking off corners   deburring edges and blending welds removing welds  these things work awesome but I'm just gonna do a   drag technique on here get it going full rpm start  here and then pull that first one just to see how   it's gonna react with the material and then we can  run back and forth and try and get a decent bevel   on here as you can see with the flapper disc on  there piece of steel we're really able to remove   a lot of stock very quickly without compromising  the wheel you making sure that we use it correctly   nice and smooth and as you can see the disk is  still in good shape now what I'd like to do is run   the same test we're gonna switch over I'm going  to take this disk off I'm going to put a brand   new one on and we're gonna switch over and do a  little bit of stainless alright so I went ahead   and switched out the wheels this was the one I was  using on regular carbon steel I put the same type   of wheel same type of flapper wheel back on the  grinder to do some stainless now in this situation   just because it's for instructional purposes  it's not gonna make a big difference I could   have continued to use this one on stainless steel  wouldn't been a big issue but I wanted to kind of   make note of the fact that since I use this on  steel this wheel is now saturated with iron now   if I switch over and start grinding on stainless  as many of you may know some of you may not once I   start grinding the stainless I've now impregnated  the stainless with the iron from the carbon steel   once I get done with this piece it could oxidize  so in order to eliminate that anytime you use a   wheel that's meant for stainless steel and steel  once you use it on steel market steel only when   if it's only been used on stainless steel mark it  on stainless steel use only that way you know you   kind of remember which disk goes on what where  you can use them so just try to avoid that ran   into a situation where we were doing guardrails  at Disney and one of the young apprentices used   a wheel that already been used on steel we he  polished up some stainless and stuff for us we've   installed that in the field next thing you know  a couple days later there's little impregnated   iron spots in that piece of stainless steel we had  to remove it cut the sections out and redo it so   try to avoid impregnating your stainless steel  with the iron from steel by not switching out   your discs okay since I'm going to be working  on stainless steel I'm gonna go ahead and put   the the gentex papper system on and that's simply  because my beard would interfere with a respirator   anytime you're grinding or cutting or welding on  stainless steel you should have at the source fume   extraction a papper system with the appropriate  filter or a respirator with the appropriate filter   stainless steel contains hexavalent chromium  which is potentially hazardous so you don't want   to be breathing that stuff in if you can avoid it  right use a papper system well-ventilated area at   the few at the source fume extraction something to  protect yourself from the dangers of working with   stainless steel be at cutting grinding heating  welding whatever the case may be alright so again   we got a lot of stock removal the wheels still in  good shape came out nice and clean use the papper   system didn't have to worry about in just in a  whole bunch of hexavalent chromium any of that   stuff the the system work great you can't even  smell this stuff when you're grinding on it so   it's a pretty awesome system I wish I would have  had one of those a lot sooner alright so now we're   gonna go ahead and we're going to talk about  some wire wheels alright so we have the wire   wheel attached were plugged in everything's good  to go I just want to make a special note that this   is the the bead profile so this is actually going  to be used upon edge so when I run this I'm gonna   run on the edge I don't want to put this into  a different configuration and run it at that   thirty degree angle it's not designed to do that  you're going to put too much pressure on these   these twists right here and what that's going to  do is deform the wheel wants you to form the wheel   you're running out of high rpms you're gonna  throw this thing off balance you don't want to   do that so always operate this on the edge okay  so I just throw a quick weld on top of this the   purpose of this wire wheel they're great for slag  removal if you got little bb's in there I've got   a little bit of buckshot on here I'll be able  to take all that stuff off with this wire wheel   they're really great tool to have in your arsenal  that make cleanup a lot easier if you have access   to one of these versus a chip and hammer and  a wire brush so that stuff comes off you know   relatively easy it's very clean it's ready to  go ahead and continue welding okay so this is   the cup brush it's meant to be used in the flat  position we're gonna go ahead and clean up an   area right in here but this is what you want to  use when you have to switch into a flat so don't   go using the bead brush when what you're actually  looking for is a cup brush this is for the surface   not for grooves alright so as you can see between  the area that we cleaned in the area that's not   been cleaned there's a significant change in the  area you know a lot cleaner all the oxides have   been removed off the top of there the service  rust these aren't the appropriate application   for mill scale so if that's what you're looking  for that's not what this brush is designed to   do but if you have heavy oxidized pieces that  would be the perfect tool to implement to get   all that stuff cleaned up so you're ready to weld  okay the last wheel that we're going to be using   is the eighth inch hardrock okay and this wheels  actually design as you can tell on the front here   I can use that in the the 0 to 45 degree angle  as well as 90 so what's that mean I can do an   edge I can use this to clean up the edge but I  can also turn it on its face and grind that way   so this is kind of like a dual purpose wheel what  I'm going to do with this I have a bad section of   weld on here then I'm going to go ahead and  take and remove that it's kind of what this   specific wheel is designed for removing bad welds  or removing a be cleaning up the route before you   go ahead and do a hot pass so we're gonna go  ahead clean some of this weld out go ahead and   make that appropriate repair and then we'll go  ahead and test the edge out on it as well okay   so what I'd like to do here I'm going to clean off  about a half inch of mill scale from the back I'm   going to clean up this edge that's been flame cut  and then we'll go ahead and put a land on there okay so we're able to get the mill scale cleaned  off got the the bevel face where we had the the   flame cut got all the carbon deposits cleaned  off put a decent land on there and then cleaned   up the backside she's ready to weld alright  guys thanks for watching I hope you learned   something this is gonna conclude this episode  of grinder safety so stay tuned after I get   done here because we have some special videos  and content for you what we did is we actually   pulled our users on Instagram or our followers  and asked them hey if you've ever been injured   by a grinder send us some photographs of the  injury and you know tell us a little bit about   what happened we just want to drive home the  fact how important the PPE is using the right   tool for their job and you know especially putting  a guard on the grinder we probably had to over 200   submissions within about a day and a half and  I would say 90% of them didn't use a guard so   a guard could have eliminated or alleviated a  lot of the problems that they ran into so hope   you guys appreciated watching the the video  and I without further ado grinder accidents hopefully you're still with us and now  you understand the importance of using   a guard face shield safety glasses  appropriate tools for the right job   I hope you guys learned something until next  time make every well better than your last

Channel: Weld.com

Views: 1,443,022

Keywords: grinder safety, welding, weld.com, mig monday, tig time, how to weld, learn how to weld, grinding, grinder, angle grinder, how to use an angle grinder, how to use a grinder, power tools, angle grinder basic, angle grinder safety, angle grinder safety tips, how to use a angle grinder, angle grinder uses, 4 inch grinder, how to use, grinder saftey, grinder safety video osha, grinder safety training, grinder safety guard, grinder safety in hindi, Grinder safety cover

Id: oJRSkBSb5S8

Length: 45min 13sec (2713 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 24 2020