Almost lost a finger on a Pennsylvania job last spring

I was at a refinery job outside Philly and used a worn out grinder wheel cause I was in a rush. The wheel blew apart at 12k RPM and a chunk hit my glove hard enough to bruise bone. I started checking every wheel for cracks and expiry dates before mounting now. How often do you guys actually swap out your grinding wheels on site?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam_baker8d ago

That's a rough lesson to learn. A grinder wheel exploding at that speed is no joke. On a related note, do you find the warnings for wheel speed on the side of the wheel are actually readable after a day in a toolbox? I've seen guys just toss them in a bin and grab whatever, which worries me more than the expiry dates.

the_holly8d ago

Those warnings are tiny print to begin with (and faded half the time). My old man ran a body shop for 25 years and I don't recall him ever checking a wheel speed sticker, he just grabbed whatever was in the bin. The real risk is more about using the wrong wheel for the material, like using a cut-off wheel for grinding, which is where I've seen most of the failures happen in person. Plus half those wheels are made in 10 different factories with different quality standards anyway, so the sticker might not even tell the whole story. I'd rather trust a guy who's been doing it for years over a sticker that's been rubbed off by tool oil and dust.

leewood8d ago

Funny you mention that, I actually read something a while back from a safety inspector who said most of the wheel failures he saw weren't from speed issues but from guys using the wrong type of wheel for the job. That matches what you're saying about cut-off wheels being used for grinding. I've heard those cheap wheels from overseas can have hidden flaws too, so even a perfect sticker doesn't always help. You ever see a wheel come apart in person or just hear stories about it?