Angle Grinders: The Portable Cleaning and Cutting Powerhouse
For clean welds, smooth finishes, and quick cutoff work, an angle grinder is an indispensable tool. First designed for clean-up and removing excess material, these versatile tools have found many uses over time due to the handy interchangeability of abrasive and cutting discs. Their portability means you can take the grinding or polishing work to the piece, rather than bringing the piece to the tool. And for quickly cutting through material at the job site, an angle grinder is ideal.
Angle grinders can be used for a variety of shop, household, workplace, and even emergency settings.
Common Uses
- Polishing metal: grind welded joints and polish the surface for a great finished product.
- Cleaning metal: a wire brush can restore metal, such as a corroded (rusty) metal tool left out in the elements, a cement-caked shovel, or dirt-crusted garden implements.
- Cutting cylindrical metal: a cutoff disc is ideal for slicing through rebar, rusted or broken bolts, fencing wire, small diameter pipe and damaged nails.
- Cutting stone, tile, concrete, and mortar: diamond cutting discs are handy for stone, tile, and brickwork, both for construction and demolition.
- Blade sharpening: using a grinding wheel, you can restore the edges of a variety of tool blades.
Grinder Safety
Grinders are small, but they pack some power—particularly in their speed. Spinning at roughly 10x the RPM of drills, it’s important to exercise proper caution when using this powerful little tool.
- Wear eye protection and gloves—and a face shield is a good idea.
- Only change discs with the device turned off and
- Use the guard whenever possible.
- Firmly grip the grinder with both hands using the handle.
- Test new wheels for defects by running them for a minute or so in a safe area before using them on a project.
- Angle your workpiece and the tool so that debris is aimed, and the wheel spins, away from you.
- Use caution with sparks in the presence of flammable materials.
Angle grinders come in a variety of diameters, but the most popular are 4.5” and 6”. We’re happy to carry a number of excellent grinders from Metabo in our shop, including corded and cordless models in both diameters, as well as a beveling tool from their expanded family of products. With excellent ergonomics, a number of safety features, and quick disc changing, these grinders are sure to become favorites in your toolbox.
Find your favorite Metabo angle grinder now!
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