Increasingly, most people are trying to supplement their home tool kit with such a useful tool as a grinder, or it would be more correct to say an angle grinder (angle grinder). We will not talk about the choice of a specific model or size of the grinder in this article, since we will talk about the variety of circles for the grinder or disks - as they say, consumables for this tool, so that you can use it to saw or cut various materials.
If you go to a hardware store and look at a stand with discs for a grinder, they literally begin to scatter from all the variety. Not only are they of different colors, different shapes, from different materials, and even manufacturers. Discs can differ in price dozens of times, how can you not get confused, especially when you just acquired this tool and you have no experience and knowledge in the field of discs for an angle grinder.
To fill this knowledge gap, we decided to write this article. And separately for each main parameter, tell about the features of circles for grinders.
1. The size of the disk or circle.
Before buying circles for an angle grinder, first of all, look at the instrument's passport and clarify which disc size is suitable for this model. In this case, it is necessary to know two dimensions: the outer diameter and the landing diameter of the disc. Then you will be completely sure that this disc will fit your instrument.
The most common sizes of grinders for discs are 115 mm, 125 mm and 230 mm. Other sizes are less in demand and quite rare.
2. The thickness of the circle or disc.
The thickness of the discs for the grinder can vary greatly. That is, for cutting wheels for metal, it can be from 1 mm to 3 mm. Moreover, the larger the diameter, the greater the thickness of the circle. Well, for grinding wheels, the thickness is more than 5 mm, since they grind the metal with them on the side surface.
The thinner the disc, the lower the load on the angle grinder motor when cutting metal or stone and, accordingly, it is easier to cut.
3. Type of disks and circles for grinders.
In stores you can find 3 main types of circles for grinders.
A) metal discs . These discs or circles have blue stickers and are intended for processing metal products and materials. Regardless of whether the disc is intended for cutting or grinding, the color of the sticker is the same.
These disks are produced by many manufacturers, but they are most common due to the low price of the Lugovsky plant product. They are not very durable, and therefore quickly grind off, but the price is very low, and therefore they are so popular.
Similar circles of foreign firms or Russian firms in a more expensive price category may differ in price by several times from the cheapest ones.
By the way, when choosing expensive discs, you need to remember one important rule - more expensive does not mean better.
Very strong abrasive cutting wheels can give you a nasty surprise. For example, Centaur discs are 1.5 - 2 times more expensive than Lugovsky and are much stronger. But if you start cutting thick metal (5 - 10 mm) with a grinder, it turns out that the discs do not cut, but lick the metal. You have to put a lot of effort on the disk, but the cutting still goes somehow. The fact is that these discs are designed for end saws, where the circle is clearly fixed in the plane and does not walk, and the force on the cut point is transmitted strictly vertically with the help of a handle.
You should also not buy a disc that is too thin for thick metal.
With a sufficiently large force on the point of cut, a thin circle begins to bend (walk), which can lead to a rupture of the disc. Discs for metal are made from abrasive and fiberglass.
B) stone discs .
These discs have a green label and are slightly thicker than the metal discs. The principle of choosing these discs, in principle, is practically the same as those used for cutting metal. But we do not recommend that you ever test the possibility of cutting metal with these discs in practice. The circle may simply collapse and injure you. In order to make it more clear that in this category we are talking about abrasive discs for stone.
C) diamond discs . These blades are designed for sawing stone materials, including high-strength ones. They are suitable for sawing slate, concrete, porcelain stoneware and paving stones. Outwardly, they may differ, but they have one feature - they are all-metal. They are made of steel, and an abrasive material is applied to the cutting edge.
However, they may be either solid or segmented in appearance.
In the second case, the circle is, as it were, cut into several segments at some distance from the outer edge. It is necessary to use these disks carefully, since during operation they get very hot and you can work with them without interruption for a fairly short period - about 2 minutes. Typically, these discs are used specifically for concrete and hard porcelain stoneware.
At the end of the article, it is worth noting that in no case should discs from a circular saw on wood be inserted into the grinder. If there is a skew during the cut, you will most likely cut off your fingers, and maybe even your hand.
And of course, you can’t remove the protection from the grinder in order to put a circle of a larger diameter or crawl to a difficult cut point. It is also fraught with injury.