What do you guys generally use for a cut-off wheel on a die grinder? The one I have now doesn't work nearly as well as I'd like it too and I have LOTS of rusty floor that needs to be cut out. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks again, Adam
for big jobs, you can use a sawsall reciprocal saw, or I use a circular saw with a metal cutting blade (about $7 each). Cuts almost as fast as it does through wood, on the thin metal like our floors.
Well, I like the cutoff wheel, because it can get into tighter spaces. The circular saw will work well on the areas where a big tool isn't a problem. I'll buy some better blades for my reciprocating saw too. In a perfect world, I'd have a plasma cutter and a sawzall, but that's more dollars than I have right now.
I use the brand that Harbor Freight sells most of the time but the Dewalt brand I have found last longer. I usually get these at tractor supply.
I use a plasma cutter it is a lot quicker and easily removes what i dont want....but for wheels i use wheels from home depo....Barry
I use the Dewalt ones you get from Lowes. The thinner ones are best. I dont know what size your using? Are you using an electric or air powered grinder? Electric works 10x better IMO. I've used these to cut my floors out with no problem. I've even used them to cut the 2x3 steel tubing for my subframe connectors.
I'm using a standard fiberglass type 3 inch wheel from sears on my pneumatic die grinder. For $2 I can't really go wrong with the dewalt wheel.
What I have found is that the pneumatic die grinder does not have the rpm's that an electric grinder does, it also doesnt have the continuous power of an electric. The electric simply doesnt bog down. It may kick back however. You can get an electric one relatively cheap, and you will be glad you did. It's better for use with the flapper grinding wheels as well for when you get ready to knock down those welds. Yeah for $2 you cant beat em.
90* or a die grinder with a 1/8" or 1/16" phenolic cutting wheel are the best. just be careful, you will get the stuff in your eyes pretty damn fast, and the metal particle WILL cut your eyeball. i used this setup in the military when i worked on jets for cutting anything you can think of. just wear some good quality goggles and you are good to go.. and for cleaning up the edges of the metal when you cut, you can use sandnig disks on a little arbor. you can buy the kit from grainger or harbor freight, comes with different grits of sanding disks and usually comes with the attaching arbor that you can chuck into a 1/4" chuck on a die grinder or 90* grinder
Yeah, I've got some pretty decent safety goggles. I might pick up a full face shield too. I didn't wear my dust mask last time I did this crap and I was blowing black stuff out my nose all night. I'll have to pick up another filter for the thing too. I'll keep an eye out for those phenolic wheels too.
I have a two speed electric sander/grinder that I like to use for wire wheel and grinding and stuff like that. I don't know what it's max speed is though. Not real fast, but the thing is pretty torquey. Maybe 8,000 RPM. I used it to cut off what was left of a broken tie rod end one time. It took a while, but it got the job done. My air grinder will hit 25,000 RPM (if you got by the spec on the box), but yeah, it does bog down. I almost like that better than it kicking back at me though. I'll try both and see how they work out.
a face shield is good to have and use WITH goggles. i used to use both .. double protection is good.. just take care of the face shield.. once it gets scratched, its hard to see through
You may be right it might be the electric has more torque, that and my air grinder might be wore out lol. One thing the air grinder is good for is getting right next to the rocker to cut the floor pan. It can fit alot of places the electric grinder wont. But for long cuts you cant beat the electric grinder.
Also, wear a welding hat. I used goggles AND shield and still got a chunk in my eye (costs just about $100 to get it out, and you look like marilyn manson for a couple days because one pupil will stay fully dilated after they put the medicine in there). The only thing I can think of was that I had some crap in my hair, and as I was taking of my shirt, a chunk of metal fell into my eye, and I must have rubbed it in... I now wear those colorful welding hats, and take it off after I am done and BEFORE I take off my goggles.
Well, I used my 4 1/2 inch .045 Dewalt cutting wheels last night and they worked awesome! Especially on my dad's 5 inch craftsman angle grinder. They cut through that sheet metal like butter. I got a little too aggressive with the first wheel and it turned into a 2 inch wheel when it got hot. I have most of the rusty floor cut out of the passenger side now. I stopped short of cutting it all the way out since I still don't have any frame connectors and the torque box is destoryed. So, there's really not much other than the floor and the tunnel holding up that side of the frame. Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone for their help.
