I recently bought a new 4.5" depressed wheel, angle grinder to eliminate changing wheels from coarse to med/fine when working on a project. I also bought a thin cut-off wheel. I can't get the thin wheel to tighten down on the arbor on my grinders. Is there some accessory to make this work? I don't see anything in my instruction manuals regarding the mounting of such wheels.
On some models you have to flip the nut over. Look to see if your nut has a recess on one side. The recess will fit down over the hub of the spindle. It's usually not more than a 1/16" of an inch deep or so. On others I've had, I've taken an old used up thin disk and removed everything but the metal ring and placed that behind he new disk to make it thick enough to clamp onto the disks and tighten down. Sure it's not the best solution but it has worked for hundreds of disks. SPark
I bought a cheap angle grinder from Harbor Freight that was just like that. I used a big flat washer to take up the space, when using the cut off wheels, then the nut was able to be tightened down
On 1/4" thick wheels, the nipple on the arbor die goes inside the hole of the wheel. On 1/16" stuff, the nipple reverses and points outwards. Eric
Harbor Freight has 4.5 grinders Gene - I bought a 4 inch because I figured it was the more common size and the discs might be easier to get
I have two 4.5 grinders. I'm thinking the use of the word "angle" has stupified me haha. I have an "angle" grinder for working on cars. It uses roloc discs. They are around 2". So him saying angle grinder and 4.5 inches.. kinda threw me off.
I followed the instructions made by those who said, "reverse locking nut". I was pleasantly surprised when the thin cutting wheel, locked in place. I proceeded to cut some angle iron "ex bed railing" for a project related to my wrought iron porch railing, that has rusted out where it goes into the concrete base. I blasted thru the iron w/ ease. I can't believe the solution was so simple. Nothing in the instructions on either of my grinders pertaining to using the thin wheels. I plan to sandwich the upright between the angle iron fixture and anchor in the concrete w/ expansion hardware, hopefully, before it breaks at the other end - then I will have more work. Thanks to all those who responded. I knew I wud get the problem solved if I brought the problem to the forum. All future metal working projects will go a lot better.
I was skeptical to put anything between the wheel and the arbor. I think these wheels have to be balanced to some degree, or they wud have a vibe issue. Spinning at 12K+ rpm I have never had one to vibe, whether it was frm a swap meet or name brand. I suppose the washer method works - Im just not comfortable working w/ the setup.
Well, if the machine comes w/ the washer or it's an accessory that's another story. I wud assume the washer was part of the quality control and has/had tested to operate w/ the machine. In that case I wud not have a problem using it as instructed.
I only mentioned it because even on the washer where it is specialized and part of the tool, it's still almost never a perfect fit, especially if you need to buy a separate piece. The motors in the grinders are usually self-balancing because the grind wheels don't wear down evenly. They are designed to absorb and ignore a large amount of imbalance at the attachment point. If you've ever opened one up, you might notice most of the areas where one spinning piece contacts another piece are spring loaded or otherwise springy. It's not just to account for internal wear, it's also to cushion imbalances.
As a further note, there should be two little round arbor dies that are supplied with the grinder. Only the outer one flips around with different wheel thicknesses. The inner one (the one closest to the grinder housing that goes on first) should never be flipped. It should have a guide-ring machined into it that locates the wheel, no matter what thickness of wheel you are using. Eric
Well now, that's the exact opposite of my HF grinders. On the four that I have, the inner ring has two different hub steps for different thickness discs and the outer ring (threaded nut) has none. Just the holes for the spanner wrench to tighten it with...
