FWIW that oz tool is fantastic

[Con LanAdo]

referring to the Arbortech mini grinder. Unleash the creativity as well as chore work were it would be handy. Had been trying for the life of me to figure the posts that were claiming it to be a dangerous mother - not so. Use resonable safty standards like anything else - doesn't get cought, doesn't gouge. So if ya never used one you should refrain from the poo poo reviews.
IT IS a Great Tool, used mine to reduce a 9/4 leeboard to a 4/4 centerboard - now i might do that totem pole etc.

[Puka]

Just what I need for that difficult to access incision. Better keep in hidden though or Health and Safety will be eyeing it up! (Or keep a safety harness in plain view closeby to divert their gaze)

Give a pig a gun....and he WILL shoot himself.

[Bruce Hooke]

Those things have a reputation for being very effective at removing wood, but you might want to take a look at the warnings about them in this thread:

http://www.woodenboat-ubb.com/ubb/ul...c;f=4;t=002900

Their potential for removing parts of your body that you would just as soon not have removed is reportedly on the high side.

[Nicholas Carey]

I don't know about the Arbortech too, but the Lancelot carving disk (circular chainsaw) on a 4-1/2 inch minigrinder:



does a great job of roughing out stem and keel rebates.

Might want to keep the guard on the tool, though

[Billy Bones]

That's the number one item in my home amputation kit!

[paul oman]

Will it cut fishing line too?

paul oman
progressive epoxy

[J P]

Oh, they can get ya. I know two who have injured themselves with similar tools within the last year. One was unwisely making a deep plunge type cut and it bound in the sides of the kerf and climbed out. Made a nasty 1/4" dado down thru his first fingernail, thru the bone and out the other side. Not sure exactly what the other guy was doing but the tool kicked up and ran up his neck and chin and into his bottom lip. Sure, operator error, but things happen and fast. These are not tools to get lackadaisical with. That said, we use them, but more often than not we'll just reach for a little electric chainsaw for many roughing out jobs. Those burr type mini-grinder attachments work well too. Be safe.

[Nicholas Carey]

I suspect that safety is much enhanced if you use the side handle with the tool. You get a lot more control (and leverage):

[J P]

Yes, side handle is good.

[pipefitter]

Too bad it didn't have a brake like the mitre saws do.I am surprised they haven't tried the little carbide circular saw blades that are on the cordless saws. The blade being lighter wouldn't spin as long after the switch was let off.

[ 04-20-2005, 11:09 PM: Message edited by: pipefitter ]

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by pipefitter:
Too bad it didn't have a brake like the mitre saws do.I am surprised they haven't tried the little carbide circular saw blades that are on the cordless saws. The blade being lighter wouldn't spin as long after the switch was let off.

A brake would be nice but would only really help with injuries that occur when you are putting the tool down after using it. At least on my angle grinder you have to actively turn it off, so in a kickback situation it would likely still be on.

As far as using a small circular saw blade, I think the issue would be that most of the work in an angle grinder is done with the face of the cutting disc/blade and a circular saw blade would not be much good at that.

[Stiletto]

When replacing plywood decking on my tri I looked for a small sawblade to fit the angle grinder. I couldnt get one easily and ended up using a diamond disc to cut through the glass on top and a coarse grinding stone for removing larger amounts in awkward places . Although they smoked when going into the timber,and took out less than a blade they were more controllable and seemed a lot safer in that there was less digging in effect than a sawblade would offer.

Those proprietary cutters look like they should come with a free bucket to put the leftover fingers in.

[Ken Hutchins]

Those proprietary cutters look like they should come with a free bucket to put the leftover fingers in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yup can't put the finger pieces in the chili anymore.

[PeterSibley]

For God's sake don't tell anyone but an angle grinder with a metal cutting disc makes a fine ( ) tool for cutting most anything ,including wood ,if you can stand the smoke...especially if there might be a few nails inside..My Arbortec is rusting away very nicely thank you.

[Stiletto]

Yes indeed!

[pipefitter]

I think if anyone was going to use this tool it should be on the grinder with the paddle switch and the side handle. Also,when using any hand held grinder it is supposed to be used on an angle.If you use the stones on their faces it wears too thin and pieces fly out of it's edge.The stone is supposed to be used more on it's circumference more than it's face.This is one of my most used power tools in welding.Just for the hell of it, I took the cordless saw and held the blade guard back and it will cut on it's side.The carbide teeth are agressively pointed in opposide directions to the outside.I cant even imagine what'd do with 13000 rpm's.Y'all are gonna make me adapt one and try it out.One advantage would be less weight, which would have less centrifugal twist. It would help if the manufacturers of the chainsaw wheel would make a moveable guard that went all the way around only exposing it's useable circumference.

[Tom Hoffman]

I had not heard of the arbortech that you guys are talking about, and needed a way to hog down the bevels on my bow. I went to an auto body supply shop and bought a 7" disc and 7" 36 grit hard backed sandpaper discs like the body shop guys use to smooth steel with. I put it on my angle grinder.

It worked great to remove huge amounts of wood very quickly and was fairly easy to control. At least with it all I will have is some schreeded beef for tacos if the dice comes in contact with my flesh, instead of buckets of finger chili.

Have a good one.

Tom....

[paul oman]

Can anyone make comments about 'cut off tool' vs angle grinder? very similar but seem to have different uses. Perhaps due to RPMs etc.??

paul oman
progressive epoxy

[Stiletto]

I always think a cutoff tool is like a big chopsaw made for cutting metals. In the angle grinder context I think it comes down to the disc fitted.
There are also air driven cutoff tools which are smaller diameter and used for exhausts etc.

[pipefitter]

I use an air powered cut off wheel daily and the thing has super high rpms like 20k but it doesn't have alot of torque. You can stop it easily.I use it for maily cutting on aluminum and it does ok with that. Also sharpened my hole saws with it.An electric one would probably have more power.