Dangerous product- don't buy (wire brush cup)

[ELL]

The product is (sold on Ebay):

6 X 100MM 4" TWIST KNOT WIRE CUP BRUSH FOR M14 ANGLE GRINDER​

Sold by: tooltime-uk-ltd

I'm not sure if they're stil selling this exact number of this product now, could be sold in 4's. Just avoid. The nut spins separately to the body so the whole thing comes loose when using it. Dangerous and faulty. This is first hand information - I used these myself and gave up after the first 2 hadthe same fault. And yes, I have messaged the seller on Ebay to tell them it's dangerous and to stop selling it.

 

[Morrisman]

I bought something similar years ago, to clean up mortar. Put it in my angry grinder, turned it on, and it basically blew apart.

Looking closer it was rated for 8000rpm. My grinder said 12,000rpm.

 

[Agroshield]

It may be useful if you can establish whether the item you have bought is unique to that seller or is just a bad example (perhaps from a faulty batch) of a generic item sold by everyone.

The seller has a contact address and landline telephone number on their eBay page, so you can call them, explain the issue and try to resolve the matter. If they are unaware that their own supplier's quality control is inadequate, there is little they can do. Simply telling them that it is dangerous and should not be sold is not a convincing argument. Sending them back one of the faulty items (at their cost), with a clear description of the problem, will have more chance of success.

 

[Farside]

I bought something similar years ago, to clean up mortar. Put it in my angry grinder, turned it on, and it basically blew apart.

Looking closer it was rated for 8000rpm. My grinder said 12,000rpm.

I found it out the hard way by pin-cushioning my belly.
Thankfully, it works quite well on a rev-controlled angry grinder, keeping the speed down.

 

[Anguz]

did the same with a 9" grinder and a large cup brush... it peeled the rivet open before i read the speed rating

 

[Erie Fred]

The product is (sold on Ebay):

6 X 100MM 4" TWIST KNOT WIRE CUP BRUSH FOR M14 ANGLE GRINDER​

Sold by: tooltime-uk-ltd

I'm not sure if they're stil selling this exact number of this product now, could be sold in 4's. Just avoid. The nut spins separately to the body so the whole thing comes loose when using it. Dangerous and faulty. This is first hand information - I used these myself and gave up after the first 2 hadthe same fault. And yes, I have messaged the seller on Ebay to tell them it's dangerous and to stop selling it.

I see on some of these a simple crimp to hold the nut.
Might try a few well placed tack welds before using.

 

[daleyd]

I found it out the hard way by pin-cushioning my belly.
Thankfully, it works quite well on a rev-controlled angry grinder, keeping the speed down.

Yeah I picked up a cheapy 5” Aldi grinder with variable speed for use with these, much better than a single speed effort!!

 

[bourbon]

Only tool I have been close to severely injuring myself. Cleaning a breastplate of a suit of armour. Couldn't clamp it. Held it in one hand. grinder with cup brush in the other. My overall was a tad loose. I got away with winding myself.

 

[droopsnoot]

A mate of mine did some damage with one of these twisted wire cup things. He was trying to reduce a tree stump in his garden and used it to get rid of some of the wood, stopped for a minute but put it down on the top of his thigh before it had stopped turning. Definitely a situation where you daren't look at the damage, but he was fine with a lot of Savlon. Or he was, last time I saw him. I once did something like @bourbon above, trying to clean an oddly-shaped piece and it shifted, which led to me dragging it down my arm. For a moment I thought "isn't it a good job I had my overalls and heavy gloves on", then remembered that's exactly *why* I had them on. But I'm always picking pieces of wire out of my overalls after using these things. I haven't had one come loose, but I have had to odd one that's obviously out of balance and causes the grinder to vibrate quite badly.

 

[Agroshield]

Cleaning a breastplate of a suit of armour....

A suit of armour is probably the minimum level of PPE required when using a twist knot wheel.

 

[6ply]

I've used maybe 30+ of those eBay cheapies (cup and flat) with no catastrophic failure, but as others have noted getting snagged or caught unawares it's definitely something to be avoided!

 

[m_c]

Am I the only one wondering how the crimped nut starting to spin is dangerous?
Inconvenient and rubbish quality definitely, but I'm failing to see how the knotted wheel slowing/stopping spinning is dangerous...

 

[Morrisman]

Am I the only one wondering how the crimped nut starting to spin is dangerous?
Inconvenient and rubbish quality definitely, but I'm failing to see how the knotted wheel slowing/stopping spinning is dangerous...

I’d imagine the crimp bit wears away and the wheel could fly off. For a guess.

 

[frank horton]

will go check mine out now....lrg n small....
bought a very old Clarke 9" grinder in a house clearence, made in Austria, thats how old it is....
any perfect as it's quite slow, poss half speed of norm....only use it with cup brushes.....I'll be upset when it dies....
bought a couple of Lidil 125 vari speed grinders for sanding on the wood lathe

 

[ELL]

Am I the only one wondering how the crimped nut starting to spin is dangerous?
Inconvenient and rubbish quality definitely, but I'm failing to see how the knotted wheel slowing/stopping spinning is dangerous...

The nut is not attached to the cup so the cup spins out of balance and can fly off. Even if it doesn't a grinder spinning at 10k rpm with an unbalanced wire brush cup is hard to control.

 

[Erie Fred]

I’d imagine the crimp bit wears away and the wheel could fly off. For a guess.

The crimp is not very good to begin with.

 

[Bsmith]

The product is (sold on Ebay):

6 X 100MM 4" TWIST KNOT WIRE CUP BRUSH FOR M14 ANGLE GRINDER​

Sold by: tooltime-uk-ltd

I'm not sure if they're stil selling this exact number of this product now, could be sold in 4's. Just avoid. The nut spins separately to the body so the whole thing comes loose when using it. Dangerous and faulty. This is first hand information - I used these myself and gave up after the first 2 hadthe same fault. And yes, I have messaged the seller on Ebay to tell them it's dangerous and to stop selling it.

You could maybe tack weld the nut on the brush body and use them on an electric drill that has a slower rpm. I bought 6 cheap brushes off eBay some time ago and they are so far off balance that I couldn't use them on the angle grinder, bought a couple of spindles with m14 thread and plain shaft and as said. Not so good as the angle grinder but at least I get some use out of them.

 

[Erie Fred]

You could maybe tack weld the nut on the brush body and use them on an electric drill that has a slower rpm. I bought 6 cheap brushes off eBay some time ago and they are so far off balance that I couldn't use them on the angle grinder, bought a couple of spindles with m14 thread and plain shaft and as said. Not so good as the angle grinder but at least I get some use out of them.

If you tack weld them before they come loose, when you first pick it up to install it, the crimp is holding the nut on concentric, and your welds will be good.

 

[bricol]

The ones I've bought from Aldi when they have them have been okay. The bristles snap the same, but everyone one has worn down rather than come apart.

 

[Erie Fred]

will go check mine out now....lrg n small....
bought a very old Clarke 9" grinder in a house clearence, made in Austria, thats how old it is....
any perfect as it's quite slow, poss half speed of norm....only use it with cup brushes.....I'll be upset when it dies....
bought a couple of Lidil 125 vari speed grinders for sanding on the wood lathe

that might be a sander.
I've seen them before on craigslist (B&D usually) look like a regular grinder, but slower speed.