Anything welding

Oh for sure. Only time I actually break out a grinding disc is if there's an especially boogered up weld. Those are becoming less and less common as I get less and less terrible.

That splatter spray stuff works wonders.

 

Random, but a game changer for me was a second angle grinder. One with a cutting disc and one with a flap disc. Has saved me a lot of time since I make all my cuts with an angle grinder right now, and I can clean them up right away. Well worth it.

 

Yeah going to two was huge for me, I’d like a third 4.5” for my wire wheel. That and a bench belt sander.

 

Yeah, that's a huge time sink for me too.

I have a dewalt (corded) right now, but I'm betting if I got a 2nd it'd be cordless. There is definitely a time and place for both, so might as well have both.

 

That's another one I want (bench sander).

It's amazing how quickly my brand new shop (that my wife thought was gigantic) has already pretty much filled up...

 

and then you get the third and fourth lol. I have three corded and 1 cordless. The three corded are nice to have cutting and flap and then the other swaps between wire wheel and whatever. The cordless i honestly dont use all that often but its nice to have around.

 

My next one will be a dewalt 60v cordless. I’ve used it plenty at the shop and it’s killer. Plus I can use the battery on my other tools

 

Grinders I lost count ( 10 +) pretty much all 4 1/2" and 4" some air all electric then a 7" and 9" floating around that I have not really used since The Divorce !!

I gotta laugh I ended up with a few Harbor Fright $10.00 grinders other then one getting dropped from 20' in the Air They still work .

If they don`t fit my hand they never get used

Like Clamps you can never have enough of either !

 

Cordless are good for quick little jobs. I have both at the shop. My 7 amp corded desalt grinders have a lot more power than the fancy brushless battery powered grinders I have. Problem with the battery operated is if you use it hard, especially the brushless models, they destroy batteries.

Where are you guys doing your grinding?

Now that I’m putting together my own shop at home, I’m trying to avoid grinding as much as possible, as the dust coats the whole shop and it’s a bitch to keep clean. The last few years I’ve averaged about 40-60 flap wheels a year. One of the first things I added to the shop was a blast cabinet to clean spindles (that’s where the majority of my flap wheels are used) that cut down on a lot of dust. Now most of my grinding is prepping plasma cut edges for welding and removing mounts from truck frames. I’m gonna try to build a portable fume extractor which I can setup right next to where I’m grinding. I’m also in the process of setting up one of the workshops in my garage strictly for the plasma table and grinding. I’d definitely like to hear what you guys do to keep the dust down.

 

Are you cutting beyond your quality cut range ??

That you need to clean up slag ?

 

Damn, that's a lot of flap discs!!!

Almost all my fab is outside. I usually spend 1/2 hr cleaning up the side yard (concrete pad) with a broom and magnet after I've been throwing sparks for a day.

There's a youtube series, The Fabricator Series (TFS), and he built a pretty cool down draft grinding table with a couple box fans and hvac filters for a simple yet effective filtration system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6lKa_P1X2Q

 

Cut quality is pretty good. Dross is pretty minimal, I can usually knock it off with a hammer if it’s present. I just find it welds more consistently if I clean the edges up. I find it necessary if I’m tig welding the parts together. I also break all the edges so paint or powder coat will be less likely the chip. The majority of grinding is frame rails. Cut the mounts off with a plasma clean the rest up with flap wheels. That’s where I’m hoping the fume extractor will help. I may also setup a down draft table for grinding in the side room. We’ll see.

 

Yeah it’s a little excessive. But those flap wheels are on the cheaper end, not HF cheap, but not Norton either. I usually would go thru a flap disc every two pairs of spindles I prepped for gusseting. The newer zirc flap wheels I’ve been using I can get about 4-5 sets of spindles prepped per flap wheel. It takes me 25-30 minutes of grinding to prep a set of spindles for welding. Switching to the sandblast cabinet was one of the best decisions I’ve made since starting to set up the shop. I can prep a pair of spindles with it in 8 minutes.


That might be the same guy I got the idea from. I saw a guy named the fabricator who made one on Instagram.

 

Funny, as I was reading I was like "dude should get a sand blaster.." lol

I just happen to like his name: Jusitn

 

Does anyone know what those add on vices are called? I want to add one (or two) to my work bench.

Edit:
Nevermind, I found them. "woodworking bench vise"

 

I’m not sure if they are big enough, but the people I bought my house from left a wood work bench in one of the workshops. I’m gonna cut the table up and trash it. It has two of that style vices on it. They’re yours if you want them Serg.

 

I'll take them, Jason! Just let me know when I can swing by. If anything, I might be interested in the whole table if it's workable enough. Two birds: I'll get rid of that "trash" for ya...

Text incoming...

 

Dunno much, my price range was a bit higher when i was shopping but i got an everlast tig/stick/plasma and i was into quite a few of their machines. Most big companies should have a few options around that 500-700 range. And the the tig machines below the big-money pro range ones are usually very simple and analog controls so they're easy to get used to setting up. Either way research pays

 

Yea thats kinda what i was getting at. Not very efficient but sounded like you were in a more time than money situation. Anyway congrats on the new welder you found a sweet deal!!

 

Haha no definitely not on the time part, part of the reason I want to get away from the stick machine, so time consuming. And thank you!