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I Forge Iron

Angle grinder guards


John B

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Most people are lazy and dont want to rotate the gard back and forth or need to take it off for one little thing and just never put it back on.

I try and keep the gards on my grinders all the time I can. Once in a while Ill take it off so I can get in a hole somewhere. But when Im done with the one job they always go back on and stay on most of the time. I like my fingers alot and dont like the idea of snagging a grinder on something and cutting one off.

What can I say many people are just lazy and dont give a hoot about safty.

When I was maybe 15 or 16 I was drilling a little 1/8 hole in some steel with a electric hand drill. The bit broke and the little end that snaped off flew up so fast it hit my thumb and broke through my fingernail. That realy woke my up! I now always wair safty glass's and try and keep safty gards on my tools

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Could be because
* They have not had a grinding disk break
* They have small under powered grinders
* The grinder has not gotten tangled in their clothes and ripped the clothes from their body.

Give the fellow a 7 inch or 9 inch industrial grinder, a pair of torn or tattered blue jeans, a shirt with the tail handing out, and chances they will loose their shirt and / or some hide.

One blacksmith on this site related to me having either a grinder or wire wheel catch on his jeans and walk up his leg, grabbed his shirt and only stopped when the shirt tore away and wrapped around the grinder, stalling the motor.

We can not control the links that members post on the site. We can, and do, push safety and point out when safety procedures are not being followed. We hope those reading the site pay attention to the cautions presented.

Personal safety is just that, YOUR personal responsibility to keep YOU safe.

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I admit I dont have the safety guard on my 4.5 inch grinder, but that is the way it needs to be for the cup, or 1/16 cutting disks. For how I use that one the guard prevents me doing the job, so I trust to wearing my full face shield and leather. But the others 6inch and larger do have them in place because they are hogging things and dont need to access tight places that the small grinder does, also more power and bigger cuts is asking for breakage, and I want the protection.

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I'M NOT ADVISING ANYONE TO DO THIS BUT................On my 4.5'' grinders I like using a partial guard.....If you turn the machine belly up in your hand the guard covers the wheel from 3:00 to 9:00, I cut 10 minutes off on either side leaving a 2'' guard that prevents ME from sliding my hand up into the wheel and still lets me use the sides of the wheel.......The reduced coverage is a risk I'M willing to take..................

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I'm not advocating guard removal but I have found them to be more hazardous than protective. I've seen more accidents caused by having to fumble around the guard to get the job done. Table saws are the worst! I like to see the cutter therefore I know if my fingers etc. are getting to close and how the cutter is working... or not. For me, its kinda like watching the steering wheel or the tires of a moving car to know as soon as possible what its going to do and not just watching the car.
As Glenn pointed out- Personal Safety is Personal!

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What I love to remove is the secondary guards on chopsaws, They're super safe but you can forget about seeing the mark for your cut.... :huh:.....Oh, but there's the fancy new laser for that......I took that off too and get far more use out of it teasing cats.... :D

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apart from wire wheels and cup grinders I always keep guards on . and full leather gloves apron and face protection.
I have worked in shops where they were kept off and have had to play chase the guard around the workshop more than a few times.......

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I remove all guards from my grinders and chop saw at home. Most jobs that I get on they are required, and removing them or pinning them up will get you removed from the job.
I find that they get in the way of most work that I am doing, I deal with it on the job site but at home I choose to go with out and I still have all my digits.

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All my grinders have guards except the most dangerous. The 9" maneater B&D. That is only because when I bought it, it did not have one. If anyone out there has a extra, I would gladly buy it from you. In all my years working grinder accidents have been the most and the worst of everthing I have seen. You will get use to them, but I know their are times I have to even take them off for access.

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i keep mine on youll be pleased to hear john :) although they can get right in the way.. i also ALWAYS wear my uv glasses, at the fire, anvil, grinding, cutting, anything, never take em off ... dont even bother to take them off when i walk the dogs at lunch...:) but i do have more trip hazards than i care to tell you about on the floor. we cant all be perfect can we? :)

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Only reason I don't have guards on my 2 grinders (B&D 4.5", and B&D wildcat 9") is because I bought them used, and they didn't come with the guards. I also would love to find some extras for sale. That being said, I am not an idiot. I wear heavy clothes(not baggy), leather gloves, and a full face mask when using them. Haven't had a cutting disk blow up on me yet, I am very sketchy about em. But I have been speared many times by wire brush bristles. I have also wrapped myself up, even with the big wildcat. Not fun. I quickly learned to respect them, and what not to wear.

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I like my guards on my grinders. I have had several cheap, and not cheap disks blow up on me, and neither I or any bystander have been hurt by the fragments. If a disk is damaged think twice about using it, a 1/4 inch piece missing out of the edge will make the disk off balance and may propagate a crack across the whole wheel.

I also learned that over tightening the arbor on a fiber wheel can cause it to break, I usually tighten hand tight, and have never been able to take one off by hand.

Phil

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I also like the guards. I've had to pull a piece of 4.5" cutting disc out of my leg once because of not having a guard, and improper use of the disc. I like learning the hard way I guess. Another good guard is safety glasses.

Ever have to go to the hospital and have a doctor remove a piece of wire wheel from your eye? Not fun at all. Expecially if it rusted, and the doc has to waller out the rust with a drill.

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When using stone cup wheels or cup wire brushes they are outside the guard anyway so if you're gonna use those you will take that risk.........Also many zip cut wheels for small angle or strait shaft die grinders (which generally don't come with guards)have a larger dia. than the guard so it must go if they are to be used......I always position myself so that if the wheel get pinched an blows I won't get it in the face, it's the same manuver as avoiding the sparks....crude but effective.

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2 little true stories about grinder wheels on grinders without guards.
1. I was sitting in my office, having just arrived at work when a friend walked in, holding his crotch and there was blood flowing between his fingers. I asked him how bad and he said he was afraid to look. I got him in the truck and to the ER in about 5 minutes. He had been using an unguarded whizz wheel to cut a bent bar out of a screw machine reel. The whizz wheel broke in 2 and half hit him. NOT in his Daddy parts but close. The hunk had to be removed surgically, since it was ragged and sitting on the artery. He bruised the artery but did not cut it. Totally unguarded wheel on a die grinder.

2. At the another shop a guy had just put on a new 9" wheel. He squeezed the trigger, the wheel spun up and broke into shards before he had touched the work. One rather large hunk missed him, but nearly severed the neck of the fellow next station over. DRT. Why did the wheel fail? 9" wheel on a 7" grinder. No gurads meant the 9" fit fine. The rpm on a 7" was way higher than on the 9" and the wheel failed due to centrifacal force.

Guards help contain shards, help keep your digits yours, and lastly help to prevent boneheaded things like too big a wheel. How many of you check the rpm on the label against the rpm on the tool BEFORE you mount it?

Want to know what DRT means? Dead Right There.

When you want to shortcut and do stuff you have gotten away with but know is not safe, consider that some poor sod like me will eventually have to clean up another really bad disgusting mess, and when its a friend you are cleaning off the machine or floor it tends to give you PTSD.
Ptree who has spent 3+ hours cleaning a friend off and out of a forklift, and was not right for 6 months after.

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Lots of folks run lots of machinery w/o guards here.....A risk me and many other choose to do in this profession....For example I've seen many a power hammer W/O belt guards or sometimes self contained hammers w/o gear covers, here and in shops all over the country. Who among us would advise anyone to run a PH without a belt or gear cover which could easily maim or kill....Not me,but those who do run a risk and they generally know it.

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When using grinders or wire wheels, ALWAYS be sure the grinder or wire wheel RUNS OFF the work, not onto the work. Running on to the work, the grinder or wire wheel must approach, hit, and then ride over the edge of the work. Running off the work, there is little for the grinder or wire brush to grab onto.

How the tool is used is another entire discussion of safe and unsafe..

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  • 1 month later...

While on the subject of angle grinders and the like, when changing the blades, wheels, bits or any part that moves when power is applied; UNPLUG the tool. Nothing like having the part your hand is wrapped around or the wrench that is used take off the attachment take off on you. I know a few people that this happened to. This goes for the chuck tool on drill presses also. They will spin and when they reach the correct speed centrifugal force takes over and "Houston, we have a launch!"

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Ive had a couple of near miss incidents with angle grinders, and the guards have saved me! I had a 9" bosch grab, and due to the poistion I was working in (squated down cutting bolts under a machine) I would have lost the meat, and both veg....

Ive got into a slightly bad habit over the years of resting my thumb on the back of the guard of the grinder. A few years ago somone thoughtfully took the guard off, it was only a quick job so I was carefull, right up to the point I pushed my thumb into a fresh 60 grit flap disk :( it just cut a slot that took months to heal fully! )

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I'm in the welding/safety industry. In the last 15 years the worse injuries I've ever seen were caused by grinders (falling and one air hammer explosion excluded). One guy had a disc blow apart while grinding on the floor. The wheel went through his ankle, boot and all. One had a wheel explode and smash into his faceshield shattering it. His Uvex safety glasses saved his eyes although he did end up with two black eye's and a broke nose. Another recently had a bench wheel break apart and struck him on the collar bone cutting him to the bone. He wasn't wearing a face shield, needless to say two inches higher and that could have cut an autery and he would be dead. Put the guards on folks, a little inconvenience isn't worth loosing an eye or your life.

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