I have a need to grind the inside of some 3/16 x 8 flat steel that I had a buddy plasma cut letters out of.  Sadly his cutting left a less than straight profile on the letters and I find myself needing to grind the sides flat.  The letters are about 3 inches tall over all so I cannot really get an angle grinder into them. I tried a carbide burr tool in a drill but it cannot spin it fast enough. I have a smaller burr tool that I can fit in a dremel that I can spin much faster but the size limits my optimism about it being able to remove enough metal. Any suggestions other things to try?

air tool !

a good file

You get "thread on stones for a "baby" grinder

Good Morning,

 

A Die Grinder has the capability of a number of carbide burrs that are available. If they are too big get a Dremmel Tool grinder and start with the smaller bits, Diamond burrs are available for the Dremmel. There are a number of electric/air tool Zip Cutters with an enormous amount of choices for grinder discs. When all else fails, there is an enormous amount of choices for files or deburring bits.

 

There is no SIMPLE. Even water jet leaves a tiny burr. Elbow Grease works the best!! :) :)

 

Neil

Greetings PC,

 

Just a thought....  Go to Home Depot and check out a needle file set by General...  Cost about 12.00 and is well worth it for this project and others..

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

 

Jim

I think I am gonna pick up a straight die grinder tomorrow and give it a try. I have some 1/4" Tungsten Carbide burr tools that I can use. I did not realize they spun as fast as they did till I was looking at the specs. Even my dremel will only do 3500rpm. the Husky die grinder spins 20,000!

Angled die grinders a good also your can get 2" & 3" sanding pads for a die grinder and the angle die grinders can get in around things better then a straight 1. Just a thought for what to buy. I have both types & use them for different applications.

any good suggestions what brand to go with? I have looked at some ingersol rand, campbell hausfeld and some craftsman. They all seem to have about the same specs and they all have similar reviews.

If just for one time/proof of concept use, even a cheap HF import will do, for a little while. And all you are going to find at big box stores are imports, no matter what the name is.

 

If you can stand the price shock, go to a real contractor/industrial supply house, and get a good one, at 4x to 10x the price. It will last you a lifetime if you take care of it.

An air driven die grinder is a good way to go but at the speeds they generate, it may thrash a carbide burr in short order.  The first time it bounces or jumps you'll start losing "teeth" and it's all down hill from there.

 

I've done quite a bit of detail work over the years to include re-furbishing old safes and re-creating antique jail keys.  Sometimes the best route is the slowest, and that may mean a good set of files. ;)

I do a lot of plasma cutting and I like to use a wire wheel for slag clean up and rolloc type 2'"  flap disks and small cutoff wheels in a dye grinder, If the cutout are large, I'll even use a grinding stone that has been wore down to almost unusable in an angle grinder. I prefer to use flat surfaces instead of round ones (burs) in most cases.

I ended up getting a mid grade craftsman die grinder and using a 1/4" carbide burr. It took it off nice and didnt really mar the metal. I also have a carbide tool for the dremel to get in on the corners so I did not have to radius everything to get in to it with the bigger tool. Thanks for the input fellas, if I remember I will take a pic of the finished product. I usually forget