FWIW 4 in angle grinder

In the spirit of generous tips given on this board I would like to make a modest contribution

In my travels I came across this little gizmo. Its a tct saw blade which you can fit on a 4in angle grinder. IMHO its an incredibly useful tool, so easy to hold for simple wood sawing jobs, much easier than a dangerous heavy circular saw but of course it only cuts to a depth of 2in. I use mine often.

I only got a selection of blades out in the far east for 5quid each but see they are available on ebay now for about 7quid

Once youve had one you wonder how you managed before, My neighbour's always borrowing mine - Ill give him one for xmas

ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=tct+saw+blade+115mm&_sacat=0&_odkw=tct+saw+blade&_osacat=0&_from=R40

Important thing to note is the od is 115mm, the bore is usuall 20mm but you angle grinder normally uses 22,5mm so a little work on your ML7 to cut a little should on the clamp ring is need.

The blades need sharpening after a while especially if cutting chipboard so I got a small diamond sharpening blade which I will try out

See my gallery for pix

Cheers

Robin

Robin, you don't appear to have a gallery! The blades sound interesting. Ian S C

I've wondered about using such a saw but though it was too dangerous without a sole for the saw to pull against. Seems that it could grab. Am I missing something? Colin

The thought of just putting a tct saw blade in an angle grinder frightens me.

The following may help to visualise how it works though : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_tppJnaJNQ

At least that one has a guard, but I think I would still be happier with one of the small purpose made saws with a sole plate

BTW the EBay reference did not work for me.

I tried this with a 9 inch angle grinder, took out the neighbours fence!

I think the small angle grinders don't have a deadmans switch so if you let go for any reason it will shoot off under power.

Not sure what the insurance company would make of it!

Cheers Michael.

Hi Guys

you have to put www. in front of the ebay url cos the board doesnt allow direct links from me yet

I admit the set up does look a bit hairy at first, but you take a firm grip on the handle and the body and move the saw along the workpiece ALWAYS going against the direction of the blade ie so that the blade is tending to pull away from you and you are cutting towards yourself. Any jamming tendency will pull away from you. The small blade is a lot less brutal than a 10" heavy circular saw. Ive used this without any runaway problems for many years, I can even use it one handed, but not recommended. And of course you have to keep your hand on the button to keep it going. I wouldnt ever recommend using it with the type of grinder where you can switch on and leave running without thumb pressure on the switch.

Ive had far more dangerous kick backs and blade jamming from a circular saw - I hate using them

Just dont cut through the cable, make sure on a long cut that the cable wont become caught

and of course, as with a circular saw, never place any part of your body in line with the saw blade

Well thats my take

Robin

Yes indeed, I wouldnt ever try this with a 9in grinder, a wholly different ball of wax

Other people do it, but notice that he is using a grinder with a fixed switch rather than a thumb pressure swithc. I dont recommend that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=-AxCe410N0E&feature=fvwp

Notcie the mistakes being made here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvpLkneuDbM&feature=related

two mistakes

a) he let the cutter run back on itself ie cutting in the climb cut mode - this is potentially unstable

b) he let the axis of the cutter go below the work piece, also potentially unstable, just like a chain saw, it can kick back, dont do it.

Its really not rocket science

dont ever do a climb cut.

Robin

If you are thinking of playing with one of these then its well worth getting a spring loaded guard for your grinder, like the guard on a circular saw it will move back as you make the cut and then spring back to cover the blade when finished or in a mishap.

You will also have ajob getting a 2" deep cut from a 115mm blade as the body of teh machine gets in the way and the bore is 22.2mm not 22.5mm so don't bore things out too big. And one last thing make sure the speed rating on the blade suits that of an angle grinder which spins a lot faster

J

Edited By JasonB on 15/11/2012 18:54:43

Just make an arbour and put an angle grinder disc into a circular saw, things are miles safer

I've cut big chunks out of 1/2 inch steel plate with one, could possibly do up to an inch

Noisy as heck tho... not a midnight job

Once you get the feed right those 1mm discs are pretty amazing

Edited By Ady1 on 15/11/2012 19:10:27

Edited By Ady1 on 15/11/2012 19:13:27

Yes J 22.2 a typo im afraid 7/8s in

Ady I maybe forgot, this gizmo of mine is only for wood but also useful for 15mm cu tube when plumbing old stuff in awkward places, should work on alu as well

My pal uses his with a diamond disc to cut galv roofing sheet

I also used mine to cut a hole in an old plaster and lath ceiling so as to fit a loft ladder kit. It worked very well but blunted the blade. How else would I have managed.

Oh btw always use googles of course, and a breathing mask for ceiling work or MDF (I alwys do that outside, nasty dust give you emphesema)

Robin

It's probably late in the day to post on this thread, but you can buy stands to attach your angle grinder similar to a smaller version of a drill stand.

I think this is a much safer way to use you angle grinder with a saw blade. I use mine to cut brass quite effectively, but it cuts about 3mm wide so some metel is lost in the process.

Hi Eric,
In another thread I think it was John Stevenson that recommended these cutting disks which are only 0.8 mm thick. I have bought some but not yet tried them. I would have thought a saw would be much better for cutting soft materials like brass.

Les.