4.5 cutting discs from H.F.... NO MORE

MSS3020

Well-known Member
I use 4.5 cutting discs alot in my shop.. Usually have used yellow and black name brand discs.. Was at HarFregh couple weeks ago and bought some of theirs to try.. CHEEEEEZZZZZ.. was cutting a 1/4 piece of stock with a brand new one and it literally exploded on me..pieces hitting my hands, chest, head....never did find all the pieces.. Glad I had heavy coat and gloves on.. also glad for the plastic face shield.. NEVER AGAIN..sticking with the name brand.. Have never had that happen before..
 
(quoted from post at 11:07:37 12/12/17) I use 4.5 cutting discs alot in my shop.. Usually have used yellow and black name brand discs.. Was at HarFregh couple weeks ago and bought some of theirs to try.. CHEEEEEZZZZZ.. was cutting a 1/4 piece of stock with a brand new one and it literally exploded on me..pieces hitting my hands, chest, head....never did find all the pieces.. Glad I had heavy coat and gloves on.. also glad for the plastic face shield.. NEVER AGAIN..sticking with the name brand.. Have never had that happen before..

Yes! It happens. I've experienced it myself. I've also had those cheap discs just disappear instead of cutting. I refuse to buy anything from Harbor Freight.
 

Gotta keep in mind that a lot of this stuff is all made in the same Chinese factory regardless of what color is on the label. It isn't like Harbor Freight built their own factor to make these. Just buying a different brand of made in China stuff doesn't necessarily mean you bought a different or better product.

There's a reason why ALL discs warn you to wear protection. I'd bet even the best quality like 3M could blow up if you go it pinched just right.


Grouse
 
Back in the late 70's I bought some cutting disks over the phone from a cheap California tool outfit. A box of 100 was unreasonably cheap so I took the bait. After a half dozen explosions while using them I threw the rest of the unused box out. Now I only buy higher dollar wheels and haven't had any fly apart but I still don't trust those little devil's to stay in one peice.
 
So the big question is do you still have the safety disc guard on the grinder, or like so many others I see on Youtube without it just say "Oh it's a pain in the B--t' and we throw them away !. Guys don't seem to understand what happens if that guards missing and the disc explodes. They think I'm an idiot when I compare grinding /cutting without it, to playing catch with a grenade that has the pin pulled.

It doesn't matter the disc brand as others have said. I've had real expensive 9" disc break just turning the grinder on before even touching the job and during use if something moved unexpectedly and stressed them.
Regards Robert
 
(quoted from post at 14:12:23 12/12/17)
(quoted from post at 11:31:10 12/12/17) ... stuff is all made in the same Chinese factory
False information. Is this how you became famous?

So you know for a fact that Harbor Freight has their own factory pumping out cutting discs just for them and nobody else?

You're saying that there's no chance that the same factory pumping out Harbor Freight discs is making the same disc and putting somebody else's label on them?


Grouse
 
I have used a good many of them form many places and I have found it does not matter where they came from they all can do that if mishandled at some point. All it takes is to have one dropped on the floor and then be used for it to explode
 
That is a product where it pays to look for the Made in USA label. United Abrasives SAIT brand is USA . Norton is high quality but sometimes from Canada. Not everything in H-F is Chinese but abrasives are either Norton { Canada } or imported. Flap style is all that is used for grinding and sanding and they don't explode.
 
They are not forgiving at all,one little bind or twist and they are shot. That has been my experiencing with their cutting wheels. Their grinding wheels seem to wear faster than the brand names, but I have both in the shop.
 
The steel foundry I worked for had what they called a Swing Grinder work station, big frame with about a 10 hp elec motor on one end, 3 v-belt drive to a 1 inch spindle with a 24 inch diameter abrasive disk on it, was about a quarter inch thick used to cut gates and runners off castings. Big handle bars like rototiller or something would have. They were getting busy so put a young guy on that machine on 2nd shift. About his 3rd night the disk broke, lifted the guy about 4 feet off the ground and dropped him. The disk had a guard over the top half of the disk, but flying chunks aimed downward could still bounce with enough force to cause serious injury. The guy did not come back to work, wasn't injured, just scared to run that thing. They had another similar machine that used a vertical spindle and 5 hp motor and ground with a 12 inch diameter cup shaped stone. They ground fractions of an inch off large areas of big flat castings 3-4 feet wide by 8 feet long.

I've had little one inch diameter cut-off disks for Dremels break on me, but never 4-1/2 inch, or 7 & 9 inch disks.
 
Sounds like you did not have a firm hold on your grinder and the blade got twisted, or you dropped the grinder and broke the blade and tried to use it after. I have worn out hundreds of HF blades and never had one break up.
Loren
 
You do know that there is an RPM rating on all those discs, doesn't make any difference who makes them. If you put a DeWalt blade on a Metabo grinder it will come apart because the RPMs of the Metabo is so much greater than the other brands. Really now, did you read the warning about the RPMs, it's pretty obvious you didn't read the warning about using the guard or probably both handles on the grinder. As a retired Safety Manager, I can tell you, you aren't alone, a heck of a lot of guys in the crafts don't think about it either till they get hurt pretty bad. I'm not knocking you and I hope you don't take it that way, but PLEASE read and head the warnings on the discs before you get hurt bad no matter what ones you buy. I have a friend that spent a long time in the hospital because he didn't and had a 7" blade break and cut him across the belly cutting into his intestines. Just my thoughts, Keith
 
Glad you learned your lesson without getting hurt. When it comes to grinding disks or wheels I don't mind spending the money on good stuff. The way I figure it I'm worth it whether anyone else agrees with me or not.
 
I also found that to be true with HF cutting disks. They wear down 2 or 3 times faster than anything else made. I now buy them from the local welding supply shop. Heck even the ones I got from Menard's out last HF's
 
thanks for the comment... WOW HUM... grinder says 5500-11000... both discs h.f. and dewalt are 13300..
As far as a safety guy.. you'd be so lucky as to have me work for you.. Im the guy that wears ear protection, full face shields, never walk over the pto shaft.. etc. etc..I do not have the guard on my grinder as i have learned in the past that in all that I do the guard was more of a hazard being on than off.. In the 20 plus years in cutting, grinding, etc. never had a disc blow. .but never used h.f. wont again... And again that is why I use gloves and full face shield because you never know what can happen..
Just stated a fact that FOR ME.. wont ever use the H.F. discs again.. Not a prob with most things from h.f. but figure Id state my experience in hopes it might save someone else that may not be as safety minded in the gloves and head shield from causing them selves injury..
 
mss3020; In my experience, abrasive blades have come apart explosively when they would bind in the item being cut. At the community college welding shop where I used to work, it was the 14" chop saw blades that did this. I know SAIT was one brand used there, and there were other brands over time. It's hard to say a product isn't made in China nowadays, regardless of the label on it, but I know that the college didn't use any Harbor Freight products. A chop saw blade was unlikely to fly apart if the work was clamped securely in place because there was no lateral movement of the blade. A cutting disk in an angle grinder is a much riskier proposition because it's entirely up to the operator to prevent lateral movement. I can't tell you that H.F. disks are as good as any others, but my inclination is to view what happened to you as an event that could have happened with any brand, and it was a coincidence that it happened with the first H.F. disk you used. Still, we all go with the evidence of our own experience, not with what others tell us.

Stan
 
HF is about all I use. I have broken several over the years but none flew apart like that. I bough name brand once and it was not as good a cutting blade as the HF. And I have had new blades never used break when laying grinder down. I have cutting disk on one, grinding disks on 2, flap disk on one and usually wire wheel on 2. So no changeing tools on a grinder. And I have had as many as 50 of those disks on hand at a time as I go thru a lot of them when I am working on something.
 
Mss, I probably don't use as many as you but I use a few 10 inch cut off discs and put them on my angle grinder to cut with when they wear down. I use decent ones for that tho. gm
 
Don't get chop saw wheels from HF either, its not that they explode but they don't last. After the abrasive wears off from the outside of the wheel they don't cut anymore.
 
What are you using and what are you paying. I am in the abrasive business. I can send you a dozen for trial and guarantee they will outlast and outcut any Norton wheel
What do you need? PM, mail is open
 
Would you be swearing off any of the name brand disks if one exploded on you, or are you just saying this because it's Harbor Freight?

Now, I agree that the old green-labeled disks are garbage, but I've never had one explode on me. They just don't last. It takes four of them to make a cut where one name brand disk does it and more.

Their new "Hercules" brand of disks are pretty good, though.
 

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