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  #1  
Old 10-07-2015, 08:15 AM
Flatheadsmith Flatheadsmith is offline
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Default Wire Wheel

Several years ago I was using 6" or 7" flat wire wheel on a Black&Decker Wildcat to clean some welds, the guard shield was removed. Usually I use a full face shield, heavy long sleeve shirt, and jeans, and that day was no different. Later that evening, while taking a shower, my wash rag sort of hung up on the middle of my thigh. I felt around and something very pointed was barely just sticking out from my skin, and all the sudden I was aware that my leg did hurt a little, but I had been ignoring it. I got out of the shower and found a pair of needle nose pliers and grabbed the object and pulled it out. It was a full length, about 1-1/2" long, slightly spiraled wire from the wire wheel.

After that not only did I make sure to wear a full face shield, I also wore safety glasses and a leather apron, whenever using a wire wheel. I have determined that the wire wheel is one of the most dangerous common tools used in metal work. Many time the metal guard/shield on these grinders is removed which is necessary for some operations, but then we never put it afterwords even when it not in the way and that is a mistake. An option might be to take another guard/shield and cut it down smaller, or better yet use your fab skills to make a custom one, because one can seldom use the full diameter of the disk, and something is better than nothing at all. Another option is to have a several grinders, and have one set aside without the shield for those special occasions.
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Last edited by Flatheadsmith; 10-08-2015 at 09:49 AM. Reason: grammer
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Old 10-18-2015, 07:30 PM
supervee supervee is offline
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Default Wire Wheel

I have also experienced the wires coming out from the wheel. ( 8" diameter )
Typically it has happened with heavy pressure on the wheel.
Fortunately , I have not actually been struck by them.
Face shield as well as light pressure on the wheel is a good idea.
Dave
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Old 10-18-2015, 08:16 PM
weldtoride weldtoride is offline
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Way, way, back when I was student teaching (1973), one day in class a kid walked up to the instructor, who couldn't help but notice a heavy crimped wire from the wire wheel stuck smack dab in the middle of one plastic lens of the kid's safety glasses, the kid wasn't aware it was there!

That concreted a precedent for yours truly who then went on to teach HS shop for 35 years, and consistently insisted on wearing glasses in the various shops I taught in. Even under welding hoods and when not operating machinery.

My own "thank the Universe" story was when a kid brought me his broken safety glasses, in pieces after a valve spring struck him in the glasses. The bridge of his nose was a little bruised, but his eyes were uninjured. I always stressed compressing valve springs with the spring orientated horizontally, not vertically, but being a teenager....
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Old 10-19-2015, 04:41 AM
Charlie Myres Charlie Myres is offline
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Good post Mark! I also went mad when I was young bloke and became a teacher.

With regard to whether the wire brush should be guarded or not, I have always preferred to have it unguarded for the following reasons;
1. I met a fellow teacher once who had witnessed someone who had had his hand dragged into the space between the wheel and the guard; I think he may have been wearing gloves, which compounded the problem. In any case he had to wait for the machine to stop before he could pull his fingers free. His advice to me was to leave it unguarded so that an errant hand would bump clear and to never wear gloves.

2. With regard to the errant bristles, I think that the ones that hit us are flung out of where there is a gap in the guard anyway.

I have had great success with twisted-wire brushes; they rarely seem to hit me with bits, unlike the straight wires, which would leave me looking like a hedgehog,

Cheers Charlie
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Old 10-19-2015, 10:21 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Good safety warning, Mark.
I changed to twisted wire rotary brushes many years ago, mfg Germany. And I also changed to using them on slower but more powerful drives. I used to absorb a share of wires from high-speed straight brushes, though I always wear good gear. That absorbing dropped way off when I made the two changes: twisted wire and a slower, stronger drive.
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Old 11-21-2015, 10:47 AM
fridofreak fridofreak is offline
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Hello Mark,

Thanks for the warning here for those that did'nt know that, for myself i did have bad luck with a wire wheel based on a grinder.
I was cleaning my front axel of the first beetle i've restored (20 years ago) it was in the summer it was hot and i was wearing a full face mask.
I did'nt see the end result because of the swet dripping of my face on to the mask, i took it of and saw a small spot that need to be cleaned i did not put on the mask and in a few seconds a wire flew right in my eyeball!!!
It was like somebody shot a stone with a catapult in my eye, for a second everything went black and wen i was able to see something i managed something is in front of my eye......
I thought it was in my eyelid but when i toucht it every singel muscle in my body was shaking, i knew what happend and i need to pull that wire out of my eye and i felt that my eyeball was comming forward as i pulled it out....
At that moment i need to sit down my face was totally white and i did'nt feel so well.
I could managed to drive with my car to the eye-specialist and he told me after he checked and cleaned my eye that i was very very lucky because in the center of the eye there is "eyefluid" inside and when that starts to run out i was going to be blind!!!!!
So always where face protection and safety ware like leather !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regards Wesley
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Old 11-21-2015, 10:58 PM
fciron fciron is offline
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I prefer the 'knotted' wire cup brushes. I seem to be jerked around less by the brush and it doesn't start to fling wires until it's nearly worn out.

It is important to check the speed rating of the wire brush because the brush will be smaller than the other tools for that angle grinder. The correct 10,000 rpm cup-brush for my 4-1/2" grinder is only 3" in diameter.
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  #8  
Old 11-22-2015, 05:16 AM
Babych44 Babych44 is offline
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Do you all use angle grinder with adjustable speed? I find that using 125mm wire wheel with full 11000 rpm is really scary, even if you have welding mask and thick gloves and shirt
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Old 12-22-2016, 02:03 AM
jezznz jezznz is offline
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i know this is an old thread. ill comment anyway.
i have noticed over the years it seams harder and harder to buy real quality products. i have used wire brushes and twist brushes. the speed ratings match my angle grinder. and they still fly apart. i tried a fan speed motor controller to slow down my angle grinder and drill. so far with limited trialing ,it appears the lower speeds are going to help brushes hold together.
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Old 12-22-2016, 03:00 PM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jezznz View Post
i know this is an old thread. ill comment anyway.
i have noticed over the years it seams harder and harder to buy real quality products. i have used wire brushes and twist brushes. the speed ratings match my angle grinder. and they still fly apart. i tried a fan speed motor controller to slow down my angle grinder and drill. so far with limited trialing ,it appears the lower speeds are going to help brushes hold together.
Yes, I slowed my motors to keep the "arrows" in the "rotating quiver," too - and my wire wheels are staying together much better.

Note: Heavier wires tend to release at higher speeds - the fine wires seem to stay put at higher speeds..... Although, cheap wheels shed their sharps at the same slower speeds that the German twisty wheels stay intact at ....
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