Angle grinder guards

[Mr Roo]

Results of my grinder slip t’other week...

that was with guard on, so dread to think how it would have been with guard off...

Doc told me I was “very very lucky” - ach, it’s just a scratch tbh...

“No... the one on your stomach is directly in line with one of your main arteries. You wouldn’t have made it through to 999 if you’d gone another 10-15mm..!”

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Added to the colour, at least.

Black AND Blue.

I was actually thinking, more......red!

 

[badabec]

All guards now re-fitted.
And I also have a Bosch guard for 110mm grinder if anyone wants it

 

[Stueeee]

Have numerous 4.5" the only ones without guards are the cup brush and radial wire brush tools. I always wear a browguard using any of these. The only really scary incident I've had is when a 9" metal cutting disc pulled away from the hub and became a frisbee, thankfully it took off away from me.

 

[AdeV]

For years, I've run all my grinders without guards. Admittedly, I don't do an awful lot of grinding.... but even so. Over the last few months, I've been gradually re-fitting them - don't ask me why, just feeling a bit less immortal, perhaps? I even bought a full face shield this week, although that's because I'll be working on a very VERY rusty car, so I can be 100% sure the wire brush will be slinging chunks of rusty metal around, and getting repeatedly hit in the face with those gets old, quickly.

Curious - what gloves to people recommend when using grinders? If I'm doing anything that feels remotely iffy, I'll use my welding gauntlets, but they're a bit impractical for regular use. The PU work gloves I have are fabric backed and definitely won't stand up to a graze with a cutting disk (you may not ask me how I know this! ), so interested in recommendations.

 

[bigegg]

For years, I've run all my grinders without guards. Admittedly, I don't do an awful lot of grinding.... but even so. Over the last few months, I've been gradually re-fitting them - don't ask me why, just feeling a bit less immortal, perhaps? I even bought a full face shield this week, although that's because I'll be working on a very VERY rusty car, so I can be 100% sure the wire brush will be slinging chunks of rusty metal around, and getting repeatedly hit in the face with those gets old, quickly.

Curious - what gloves to people recommend when using grinders? If I'm doing anything that feels remotely iffy, I'll use my welding gauntlets, but they're a bit impractical for regular use. The PU work gloves I have are fabric backed and definitely won't stand up to a graze with a cutting disk (you may not ask me how I know this! ), so interested in recommendations.

I use the nitrile palmed work gloves from screwfix - and try to keep my hands off the spinning disk


Kf520 is the stock code.

 

[droopsnoot]

I use leather work gloves when I've got a grinder going, or sometimes the welding gauntlets if I'm switching between welding and grinding. They're annoying, but not as annoying as the damage that can be done. I hate it when people preach about safety, but once you have a few injuries you tend to think it's perhaps not all rubbish.

 

[James1979]

I don’t wear any. Unless I’m welding then I pick the grinder up but if it’s just ‘doing’ and using the grinder I don’t tend to put any on especially.

I suppose if you work all day with your hands you see it a bit differently but doesn’t make it right.

anything rubber is bad. When they get hot it’s like napalm against your skin!! Best gloves I was made to wear at a place I worked were like yatching gloves. Spendy but I wasn’t buying

 

[gaz1]

i refuse to wear any gloves with grinders

its really the same with lathes or even drills just dont wear them would be the real rule when near a spinning device

this is graphic to a degree but as was battery less power to it imagine what would be like if it was a plug in type

 

[James1979]

Don't know what the 'official' rules are but when I was taught years ago it was no gloves with anything spinning. Except grinders, I suppose that's because you're supposed to have 2 hands on it all the time its running?

Lathes is a big no no but I usually wear latex gloves as it saves being soaked in suds all day which is bad for you. If they catch they just rip off

 

[gaz1]

offically its this always wear gloves

honest opinion you cant feel properly with gloves on same with you cant hold that grinder properly with gloves it

 

[James1979]

Agreed you can't feel properly with a lot of gloves on. When I worked on a vessel and we were hired to BP we came under their rules. The big thing was if the PPE is obstructing the task, its the wrong PPE. Ie, get better gloves not wear none. Thats where the yachty gloves came from. We had to wear the KONG ones when doing anything mechanical. Real pain in the hoop until you get used to them then they are mega. You used them? Like motocross gloves. May have a stash which fell in my kit bag I'm still working through

 

[m_c]

I'll use grinders with or without gloves depending on what I'm doing, as your hands should never be anywhere near the disc. If you catch your fingers/glove with the disc, then you're doing something you really shouldn't be doing.

Any other kind of spinning machinery, where you hands can be near whatever's spinning (saws, sanders, lathes etc), then at most some thin disposable gloves. The risk with anything spinning, is gloves/loose clothing gets dragged in, along with you. Disposable gloves will give you some protection from chips/fluids while still letting you feel what you're doing, but should you get too close, they'll tear and not drag you in.

 

[Nauticus]

My grinder guards are ALWAYS on. Even years ago in the motor trade we never even dreamed of removing the guards. If the grinder won't fit - its the wrong tool for the job!!

In my 'Garage days' we also did accident recovery. Being called to the scenes of numerous RTA's, you soon learn that ONE second of inattention can cause life changing . . . or life terminating circumstances.

Accidents are caused by a combination of insignificant incidents that combine uniquely to create the accident - and very often one of the significant contributors was 'Distraction' or 'Inattention'.

A 4.5" grinding wheel spinning at around 12,000 rpm will have a peripheral speed of of over 150 miles per hour!!! Chunks of grinding disk flying through the air at 150 mph will take some stopping. These flying chunks will then have their velocity terminated in less than a second if they hit something substantial. Flesh is not very substantial - so they will take longer to stop - meaning penetration into the body.

I retired a year ago, but my workshop PPE is now the most important equipment I own.
Safety glasses are almost always worn continuously in the workshop.
When grinding I add a full face visor.
I use leather welding gauntlets a leather welding jacket and a large leather apron as well.
I also wear full overalls and rigger boots.
Sometimes it can be tiresome, particularly in hot weather but I persevere because I don't want my missus to have to take me to hospital. . . or worse, - find me in a bloody heap on the floor!

I've read through all the posts here on this topic and I'm sure that in some cases, the recounted disc failure was contributed to by a millisecond of inattention.
It happens! We are all human. A phone rings, a dog barks, Jet flies over. You suddenly remember a promise to make a phone call. . . . .
All these will cause a moment's distraction and if this distraction happens at just the wrong time - we have our accident.

We all know that grinding wheels fail! So why do some people believe that a broken piece of disk will bounce off their body like confetti??

I happened to see a very good video on Grinder Safety posted by Weld.com I found it was very comprehensive and detailed without being pedantic.

There are also photos of real accidents at the end of the video. I confess to seeing just one before I stopped the video.

Malc.

 

[My Old Landy]

On the gloves issue, I go against the grain. I wear gloves for everything. Lathe, mill, grinder it's all the same to me. I suffer from contact dermatitis so no gloves no work!

 

[MetalMonkey]

I've found the nice thing with the Metabo grinders is the guards are so easy to use and adjust that there is never any excuse to take them off.
The only time I ever used a grinder without a guard is with a flap disc or a wire cup brush.

 

[BROWNDOG]

Short answer never take them off' been in welding/fab on off site for over 45 year now retired, seen many grinder accidents one of the worst after telling a worker to put the shield back on the 9'' he was using about 10mins after a huge scream went up 9'' cutting disc exploded cutting off 3 fingers of the left hand , personaly bagged the bits up with ice he went off to hospital , dont know how the company faired on damages , young guys think they got big balls not using a guard till you point out they might not have them one day .......

 

[Nauticus]

, young guys think they got big balls not using a guard till you point out they might not have them one day .......

That just about sums up the attitude I've seen towards PPE over the years.

Because they are often cheap and widely used - the familiarity breeds contempt. - this leads to accidents!!!

Malc.

 

[AndersK]

With flap disc or surface conditioning no
Cutting disc, always on.

Anyone read Stephen King's "The Mangler"? I think of that everytime one of my tools take a bite of me the first time

 

[bigegg]

Anyone read Stephen King's "The Mangler"? I think of that everytime one of my tools take a bite of me the first time

On a side note to this thread, has anyone else had tools which seem to develop a taste for blood?
That one tool, which although is apparently no different to others, is *always* the one which bites?

Like @Arc Tourist 's 32oz estwing thumbnail hammer?

I had a teflon coated Tyzak jack saw that, every time i went near it, managed to take a chunk out of me.