Special guard for cutoff wheels?

[49degreesnorth]

Hey, all,

My Makita 4.5 inch grinder says to use a different guard when using cutoff wheels. It looks like the thing sortof wraps around the cutoff wheel -- might make it easier to guide and would definitely provide more protection than the "open face" guard the thing came with.

Thing is, I've never used one of these special cutoff wheel guards and I've never seen anyone else use one either... Am I flirting with Death? I do use a full face shield, etc. Do you folks use the special guard?

Thanks,
Chris

[MAC702]

They put that sentence there for two reasons. One, if you do everything else right, and the thing does anything wrong (like electrocute you or something else non-related) and hurts you, you can't sue because you weren't following the safety recommendations of the manufacturer. By not making the guards popular, they have their $$ pretty well covered. Two, if a contractor gets on the wrong side of an inspector (like me) I can use penny ante stuff like that to make them remove tools from the jobsite. If they stay on my good side, they can do anything that common sense allows.

That said, those guards WILL help, if you can find them. But, I, like most of us I think, just use glasses AND a face shield, and also we don't put ourselves in line with the spinning disc if we can at all help it.

[49degreesnorth]

Actually, you know what scares me more than cutoff wheels are wire brushes in grinders. I saw a guy get one of those caught in his fleece jacket and the thing just grabbed hold and chewed in. Good thing it was a total piece of junk grinder and didn't do more than destroy his coat.

Chris

[dee]

Originally posted by MAC702
They put that sentence there for two reasons. One, if you do everything else right, and the thing does anything wrong (like electrocute you or something else non-related) and hurts you, you can't sue because you weren't following the safety recommendations of the manufacturer. By not making the guards popular, they have their $$ pretty well covered. Two, if a contractor gets on the wrong side of an inspector (like me) I can use penny ante stuff like that to make them remove tools from the jobsite. If they stay on my good side, they can do anything that common sense allows.

That said, those guards WILL help, if you can find them. But, I, like most of us I think, just use glasses AND a face shield, and also we don't put ourselves in line with the spinning disc if we can at all help it.

Mac,
I would think the shields would do as much or more to protect bystanders and unsuspecting co-workers than the oporator.
I recall the first thing my dad impressed upon me about saw safety was how to remove some of the dad-burned safety equipment- the next was how to work safely with the saw now that the safety equipment is out of the way... it included keeping people the heck out of the area and allowing for some kind of backstop to limit how far missiles could fly.

[smyrna5]

If this isn't a late reply, I don't know what is From the Makita manual I see the cutoff wheel guard is enclosed on both sides, unlike the regular guard.



I was doing a lot of tube cutting this weekend (for me), and I found that I can cut about as fast with my hacksaw as I can with my cheapo HF recip saw on a maximum speed of "2," , both running Lenox bi-metal blades. When my patience wore thin, I decided to use a Norton 4" cutoff wheel on my old B&D 4" grinder. That thing really scares me. Besides, I have a hard time getting a straight cut with it.

Someone mentioned not long ago here, that they use the (double sided?) guide by laying it against a straight edge or something to that effect. It seems like it would be a tool worth having and doesn't look that hard to fabricate. In the mean time, I stay on the protected side of the one sided one I have when I am cutting.

[V8BoatBuilder]

My Dewalt 18v cordless grinder came with both the normal guard, and the "enclosed" guard in the box. They're easy to change out, but I never do.

I saw a cut-off wheel break the other day at work, it was a VERY good thing that the grinder operator was wearing safety glasses and his leathers. A full guard on the wheel might have helped contain the pieces, or at least deflect them away.

[Sundown]

Looks like all one needs to do is weld a peice of 20ga on the other side of a regular guard and provide access to the spindle nut. I might try that out.

[whateg0]

Or, if you have two normal guards, place them back to back. If you really want to.

Dave