How to work with a grinder correctly?

Every man's house should always have various kinds of tools that will allow you to quickly and easily fix something in the house. These include a hammer, nails, a hacksaw, and more. One of the items is an angle grinder, which in the common people has long been called a grinder. Its main purpose is grinding and polishing various surfaces and materials. But in order for these processes to be as effective as possible, you should know how to work with a grinder correctly.

To begin with, it often happens that there is a need to cut planks or trim a piece of wood. For such work, there are special discs of one type. This disc is a solution with side teeth that increase the kerf. It should be used very carefully when it comes to sawing boards with a thickness of no more than 40 millimeters or to make cuttings on the knife. In no case should you use circular discs, due to the fact that they are designed to operate at speeds of no more than 3 thousand revolutions.

If we talk about cutting ceramic tiles or there is a need to cut porcelain stoneware, this can be done using a disc made of steel and having a fine-grained diamond coating. Another similar option is called dry cutting. Such disks can be solid and segmented. Home use of such solutions allows you to cut ceramic tiles without refrigerants within 1-1.5 minutes. Then the disc should be allowed to cool down by idling. If we talk about a solid disc, then it perfectly cuts ceramic tiles for sidewalks.

Metal is the material for which the instrument was originally designed. Using a grinder, you can easily cut a rail, fittings, cast iron, various metals. You can also cut the tube straight off without any problem. It should be said that metal cutting requires maximum attention and care. In addition, special discs made of hard wire are required to clean the surface from scale or rust. If you have to work with this material, then you should follow a number of rules.

• In work, it is necessary to pause every 5-7 minutes of cutting. This will be especially important for a household instrument, which is not suitable for particularly strenuous work. And the durability of the device and disks will greatly depend on this.
• The workpieces should be fixed as securely as possible using clamps or a vice.
• When cutting thick metal, it is best to cool it down. This can be done by pouring cold water over it.
• If you are cutting aluminum, then in order to reduce friction and the disc is better cooled, you can drop a little kerosene into the cut. But here you should be careful in terms of fire safety.

When working with metal, the main attention should be paid to the cutting disc. Care must be taken so that it is not pinched by the edges of the metal workpiece. It will be best if the piece that is being cut will seem to hang in the air. We are talking about cases when work is carried out with materials such as pipe, angle, round timber, fittings, and so on. It will also not be superfluous to note that cutting metal profiles - various rails, corners should not be carried out at one time, but cut each separate part.

In workpieces that are thick, all cuts should usually be straight. If there is a need to make a certain contour of a curvilinear type, then you should first make segment rectilinear through cuts and remove unnecessary parts. When working with metal, do not apply too much pressure on the device. Too much force can cause damage.

Before you start cutting glass, you should understand the characteristics of such a transparent and seemingly fragile material. Glass has quite good strength characteristics, although it may seem, at first glance, that this is not the case. It has not only good strength, but also hardness, heat resistance, and good optical properties. Cutting a glass bottle at home just won't work. You must have a certain tool and certain conditions.

It should be said that glass with an angle grinder can only be sawed. And this can be done quickly. But for this, you should have a disc made of steel, equipped with diamond spraying for cutting concrete, granite or other building materials. When cutting, the cutting area should be constantly watered with cool water. Considering the high strength of the glass, there will be a lot of heat at the cutting site. High temperatures will have a negative effect on the cut edges and blade. And thanks to the cooling, the cut will be smoother and the diamond dusting will not quickly wear off. This method allows you to work with almost any kind of glass for household use.

A number of categories of stones, including marble, concrete, granite and others, have high strength. Even the most powerful grinder can not cope with such in all cases. Use special cutting tools to cut stones. We are talking about cut-off options with diamond sputtering, which were already mentioned earlier. It is based on a high-strength steel plate, on the outside of which certain segments are located. The toothed ends of the segments are covered with high strength diamond chips. During operation, such circles encounter strong heating, which is why there are special slots for cooling, which are called perforations. During twisting, cold air passes through the slots into the cutting area, which cools the material being worked with and the blade. With diamond options, it is easy to cut the strongest finishing stones with a natural base:

• granite;
• flagstone;
• marble.

But artificial solutions are also well cut by this method. As with the same concrete, its age will be very important, since the older it is, the stronger it is usually. It also matters what kind of filler was used to create the material. In general, concrete can only be handled by a powerful, truly professional angle grinder, which has diamond-based abrasive discs and the ability to switch speeds. Let's say that today there are only two methods for cutting stones of natural and artificial origin:

• dry;
• wet.

In the first case, a large amount of dust is formed. In the second case, there will be a lot of dirt. Preference for one or another method should be given depending on the amount of work. If we are talking about some one-time work, then you can easily get by with the dry option.If there is much more work, then you should resort to the second option. In addition, the use of water can reduce dust formation, improve cutting conditions and reduce wear on the diamond blade.

Many of us are faced with the presence of an empty gas cylinder or oxygen or propane. Most people will throw it away, although you can create a lot of useful things out of it. But in this case, it will not be possible to do without cutting the metal. These instructions are generally suitable for any cylinder, be it gas, propane, oxygen or something else. First, you should prepare a number of materials and devices, namely:

• grinder with cutting disc;
• compressor;
• hacksaw for metal;
• pump;
• irrigation hose;
• construction funnel;
• directly used cylinder.

We put the cylinder on one side to make it easier to saw it. First, we saw off the valve. We take a hacksaw and saw the brass part as close as possible to the place where the docking with the main container is carried out. There will be no extra help from someone so that while you are cutting, another person poured water onto the cutting place so that sparks do not start flying. The container should now be filled with water using a funnel. As it fills, the container should be shaken so that the remaining condensate disappears from the walls. Water should be poured to the very top, after which everything must be poured out. It is better to do this in places where there are no living quarters, since the remnants of some gases have a very strong unpleasant odor.

Now we proceed to the actual sawing of the container. We already need a grinder. The thickness of the metal in the cylinder usually does not exceed four millimeters, because of it, with the help of an angle grinder, it can be dealt with in 15-20 minutes. To cut safely, you should not wait for the inner surface of the cylinder to dry, but immediately start sawing the cylinder while it is wet. The water on the walls will serve as a lubricant for the disc.

Sharpening a chainsaw chain can only be performed by a user with extensive experience in using an angle grinder, who is familiar with the rules for sharpening chains for electric and chainsaws. Such work is required to be carried out from time to time if you actively use a chainsaw. It is best to do this with a small grinder equipped with a protective cover.

Sharpening must be carried out directly on the chainsaw boom. Also, to sharpen the chainsaw chain, note the start of sharpening the first tooth. We install a special sharpening disc on the grinder, which usually has a thickness of about 2.5 millimeters. In this process, good eyesight and the most accurate hand movements with a grinder are needed, so that in no case do physical damage to the bearing link of the chain. If the sharpening of the saw chain with the help of the grinder is executed correctly, then it will serve for another 5-6 sharpenings.

Another area where a grinder may be required is when sanding concrete floors. Now this process is becoming more popular, because it gives the floor covering a spectacular and pleasant appearance. Grinding concrete flooring using a grinder will be one of the types of processing that is needed in certain cases to remove the old coating and level the base so that you can make a screed before applying various impregnations, paints, and so on.

The preliminary sanding procedure should be carried out 3-5 days after casting the base. And the final sanding should be carried out after the final hardening of the floor surface. With the help of the process under consideration, it is possible to remove all kinds of contamination, to level areas that have undergone deformation or in which there are cracks, sagging or chips. And after sanding, the concrete floor will look fresher and have increased adhesion characteristics.

If there are any coatings on the concrete, they must be dismantled in order to level the entire plane. If there are shrinkage seams or cracks, then they must be repaired, and then additionally sanded. Before starting work, you need to make sure that there is no reinforcement in the top layer or that there is a metal-type mesh with reinforcing functions.

Grinding of concrete should only be carried out 14 days after final screed drying. During this period, the material is gaining strength. After preparation, grinding can be carried out. First, the floor should be treated with a special mixture that reacts with calcium hydroxide. For this reason, a binder-type substance on a mineral basis will appear on the surface of the material, closing the pores and increasing its strength and moisture resistance.

As you can see, the grinder is a rather dangerous tool. And in order to avoid injury, you must follow certain rules for handling it:

• various kinds of protective equipment should be used;
• before starting work, you should check the reliability and fidelity of the fastening of the casing so that it does not come off during the work, because thanks to him, sparks should fly from the person, and if the casing falls off, they can start flying into him;
• it is necessary to firmly hold the tool in your hand so that it does not slip out during the work;
• it is necessary to use exclusively whole discs without flaws and only for working with some kind of material;
• the protection shield should be kept between the circle and the person, so that there is protection when the circle is deformed;
• before the start of work, you can check the performance of the tool at idle for about a minute;

• Before use, you should inspect all nozzles in order to determine how suitable they are for use;
• working nozzles, so that they do not fall off, must be constantly fixed;
• if there is a possibility of adjusting the rotational speed, then it is necessary to set the revolutions that are recommended for cutting or grinding the working material;
• cutting should be carried out exclusively at certain speeds;
• so that the cutting takes place without dust, during the process, water should be poured into the place where the cutting process is carried out;
• breaks should be taken from time to time;

• only after stopping the circle can the tool be put off;
• if the working nozzle is jammed for some reason, then you should immediately turn off the grinder;
• sawing wood should be very careful, because hitting a branch can cause the tool to jerk;
• the power cord should be placed away from the part that rotates so that it is not interrupted or caused by a short circuit;
• it is impossible to install attachments from a circular saw due to the fact that they are designed for a different spindle rotation speed.

For information on how to work correctly and safely with a grinder, see the next video.