Cutting 4mm thick MS plate

After moving house (sheds) I have an unused 4 mm X 1m X 1m sheet of MS, what is the likelyhood of cutting it up with the thin (1mm) angle grinder discs?

Frank

No problem, here is a bit of 5mm I did earlier

Hi Frank

If you are using the grinder handheld be sure to wear the full range of safety equipment, even then it could be a dangerous for health operation.

Better to use a thicker disc, make sure it's a cutting disc and not just a grinding disc.

Emgee

Wear a towel!

I used an angle grinder to get rid of a functionless (nothing at either end) 1" diameter 3/16" wall steel pipe from our bathroom into the loft. I thought doing my exhaust last week was awkward, but this was worse! The shower of sparks just bounced straight off the tiles in a thick stream. Gauntlet gloves, goggles, facemask AND an old towel wrapped around my head and neck!

Neil

Hi, I agree, you should wear all the PPE (safety equipment) however, a good quality thin disc will cut much better and I don't think they are anymore dangerous than any other disc, cutting or grinding. I use them virtually every day at work, the thing to remember is not to press to hard on any disc, if the disc is going significantly slower than when it's not cutting, all you do is tear the disc to dust without cutting much metal.

I've even cut through 20mm plate with them without any trouble.

Regards Nick.

The modern ultra thin cutting disk is much easier to control and produces far less sparks than the older thick cutting disks used to. Set the guard right and you will have very little trouble. Unless I'm in a confined space where sparks bounce I find cotton overalls and glasses are sufficient PPE.

Was reminded of the difference between old an new style disks yesterday when my usual 4 1/2" angle grinder wasn't avaliable (the builder doing my extension had it up on the roof with a diamond blade cutting tiles) so I had to revert back to my old 4" Wolf Grindette to chop up some 7.5 m long steel box section into handleble size. Old style 1/8" (ish) thick cutting disk. Talk about pyrotechnics. Until the thin disks came along I'd always considered the angle grinder very much a last resort for stock cutting.

Clive

I always use Smith and Arrow disc on my small grinder, cuts through 1'' steel plate no problem, the blades Last ages

Thanks

lee

.

Lee,

A very useful recommendation, thank you.

I have just looked at their website, videos, and ebay store

... all very impressive.

... looks like a good company with a quality product.

MichaelG.

.

P.S.

Bought two new angle grinders yesterday ... JCB, from B&Q

Decent price, and an extra 10% discount with the "Diamond Card".

And the big no no..........

Grinding near ceramics and glass. (and the same applies to welding even more so) unless you want specs of solidified steel welded to the surface. They can travel quite a long way. This is one I had to learn the hard way. It was a long time ago but it did cost dearly at the time.

Red hot sparks effectively molten steel stick very well, some will scrape off.... others will pull out a little bit of the surface when you try to remove them.

Oh And...

Watch out that your clothes don't catch on fire! Easy not to notice if it is a long hard cut.

Regards
John

Edited By John McNamara on 17/10/2013 08:31:14

A thin 1mm disc, cut on the flat sheet as long as possible, ie. not on the thin edge. My biggest problem is burning holes in trousers and jumpers.

I don't like the hand cutters and put my 1mm discs into an old black and decker circular saw

Much safer and more manageable.

I have cut a big solid steel plate up to 1/2" (12mm) thick into useful sections with it

The "secret" is don't force the cut, once it's cutting well it fairly moves along

Edited By Ady1 on 17/10/2013 10:31:52

Another vote for Smith & Arrow.

Disk in a circular saw is OK and certainly makes things easier to handle but a bit cumbersome unless you are doing very large sheets. Consider making up a roller support thingy mounting via the side handle bolt holes of a standard grinder. This will take the weight of the grinder and make it easier to guide. Not something I've seen or used myself but a former workmate of a friend had such a device which, according to my friend worked well.

Lidl / Aldi and possibly other suspects sometimes have baby circular saw type devices for shallow cutting at very affordable prices which might well work well with a grinder cutting disk. Not a purchase I could ever justify tho'.

Clive

Another good one is fitting the cutting disc into a ceramic Tile cutter, the one's you normaly use for diamond disc, most of them have the same diameter spindle, you can cut really tight lines nice and square also most of the sparks fly down into the cutter, works a treat!

Regards

lee

Edited By lee hawkins 1 on 17/10/2013 14:19:02

In desperate need of a cheap angle grinder, I bought a £16(!) one from Screwfix. The two reviews give it an hour or so before it starts vibrating so much it's useless. It managed the two jobs mentioned above, and I just took the gearbox apart to see if there were any obvious issues like lake of lubrication or crap bearings.

I bought it on teh basis of being a 'consumable' but thought I'd see if tehre were any issues.The gearbox had plenty of a very thin, white grease. The loadbearing end of the spindle has a double shielded ball race which was securely held in pace and seems tight.

I think the issue must be the other spindle bearing, which is a simple and relatively thin walled bronze bush that can't be particularly well lubricated by the grease. I can see that if this wears the spindle could start to move under load. Fitting a ball race isn't practical, but any thoughts on need for/ways of lubricating thet bush?

Neil

I was Welder for quite a large company called Mcarthers , fabricating railings and industrial Gates, all our grinders there were 110 Hitatchi, and that is what My grinder is, I have had it for years, faultless, goes on and on, indistructible.

Regards

lee

Yep I have a 115 Bosch industrial grade Blue body angle grinder made by Scintilla Switzerland, Bosch bought them out. I have had it for 20+ years never a problem. just a couple of sets of brushes. I Love it.

I do have a Bosch 9 inch.... A real beast of a thing. Nothing will stop it. I hate using it having seen what it could do if it gets out of hand.

Regards
John