Mr. Angry

Is the diamond blade in the picture any good at cutting metal?

I'm looking for thin cutting discs to do a delicate job turning a gas bottle into a wood burner. Always thought the composite ones were all you could use on steel???

I wouldn't have said so. The few times I've inadvertently cut steel with a diamond disc it seemed painfully slow and the disc seems to want to kick back.

If you want a tidy job the 0.8mm metal cutting discs are excellent, if a bit fragile. Just let the disc determine the feed rate and they do a superb job.

Doesn't look the right sort of thing for your job at all.

I would think it would catch on metal and kick up the grinder.

In fact suggesting that's for metal when it's the exact profile of proper brick/masonary cutting discs I've bought strikes me as a big mistake!

Looks bloody lethal to me!

I'm not sure if they're any good but spotted in Wickes at the weeked 0.8mm metal cutting discs for about £8 for 5.

HTH,
James

diamonds are no use for metal unless they are cooled. I use to design and test offshore drills that used them for cutting through metal and without the mud flow they got nowhere. Once their glowing, the diamonds evaporate very quickly

I would have said no until my builder mate was using a 'demolition disc' in his Stihl saw!
http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Fasteners-Production-Equipment/Power-Tools/Angle-Grinders-Discs/UPP-Demolition-diamond-cutting-discs/76421/kw/

No, the diamond discs are for bricks, masonry, ceramic tiles, roof tiles and concrete. You'll need conventional (black)cutting discs. When I've bought them from Aldi they came in packs of both thick and thin discs. The thin ones are best for cutting and the thick for grinding.

They show a pack of metal discs for £3.99 id pick some of those up at the same time personnally.

Mind you Im lucky my brother in law works for an abrasive sales company so the odd sample disc tends to walk into my garage from time to time

Only use em for metal if youve got a death wish.
If memory serves I dont think the last lot of cutting and grinding discs I bought from Aldi were much cop, but it could have been Lidl.
Cheers,
Bob

[Edited on 9/3/09 by splitrivet]

To be fair it doesn't state the diamond disks are for metal use:

"Metalwork, bricks, paving slabs, ceramic tiles, rusty rivets – slice through them all with ease."

This is about the angle grinder and it entirely true when suitable disks are used. It just so happens that the grinder come with a couple of diamond disks (which is a bonus if you need to do any masonry work).

diamond blades should not be used for cutting metal. The make up of the matrix (the segment that contains the diamonds) is designed to wear and therefore expose new diamonds. this is done by the abrasivness of the material being cut. Cutting just metal will wear the matrix too quickly and destroy the diamond or they just fly out. If they actually use diamond which is unlickley (they use an artificial diamond made of diamond dust and chippings and artificial man made diamond substitute) then these should be water cooled and not just for cutting metal. Use a slim line narrow profile abrasive disc and as said let the blade determine cutting speed and all should be ok.

If you want to cut metal, get on machine mart or screwfix and get a proper cutting disc, I think they're about £30-40, don't do it with a diamond disc - bad idea.

Before we knew much about angle grinders, me and my brother chopped up the donor escort with the diamond wheel. Did the job but grabbed quite a bit.

You want to use the 0.8mm cutting disks for the gas bottle as they work a treat. See below





We started this at the weekend in my workshop/garage/cellar/hideaway.

Diamonds actually 'dissolve' when cutting steel (they get hot enough for the carbon to diffuse into the surface of the steel). Why do you think diamonds arent used for hard turning steel?

If you realllly want to remove some metal CBN is the way to go, aint cheap though

Stick with the std abrasive discs....

David