Welding Tips and Tricks

I came across this mini grinder at Harbor Freight http://www.harborfreight.com/3-inch-min ... 94071.html . I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about how suitable it would be for sharpening tungstens.

I currently use an angle grinder + cordless drill. I thought that for 20 bucks this might work and no take up too much room.

David

I almost bought the same one. Looks like it will work good for you. Also found the replacement wheels were about 10$. The one it comes with looked kind of soft when I pulled it out of the box.

I have bought something very similar to sharpen tungstens.
At my level it is the most used piece of equipment when I tig.
It does the job.
Down side is the wheels are soft and groove out quite easily, buy a wheel dressing tool to touch them up occasionally.
Have a spare wheel on hand.
The other good thing about this size grinder is it is too weak and small to be tempted to use it on anything else apart from tungstens.
Go git it you know you want to

[quote]I have bought something very similar to sharpen tungstens.
At my level it is the most used piece of equipment when I tig.[/quote]

Sounds like we are in the same position. I sharpen a lot of tungstens:)

David

I have a virtually identical grinder - the wheels supplied are as stated way too soft but on Ebay it's easy to find diamond wheels that fit which is what I use - the reason I bought it is being small & light weight I could mount it on a small swing out arm fixed to my welding cart so wherever the Tig goes the grinder is with it - works quite well - nice to have a grinder close to hand - I don't dip very often but it saves the temptation of using the nearest thing & it does'nt get used for anything else so the wheels stay clean - as per anything else though they are twice the price in the UK.

Been lurking for a while and I'm a total noob when it comes to TIG welding, but I got this grinder and it works pretty awesome. I bough the package of diamond grinders (made for a die grinder or something, also at HF) and they fit perfect and work great. There is a small diamond wheel in the pack and another one that you can use the side of. I'll try to get a picture if I remember.

The only thing I noticed is that with the small diameter of the wheel, you get a little bit of a concave to the tungsten point but it didn't seem to affect the arc stability. Then again, I would barely know the difference haha.

Mike

Here are the wheels that I'm referring to above.

http://m.harborfreight.com/large-diamon ... 69658.html

I assume they are 2" or less & designed for use on a die grinder hence the exaggerated concave ? - also appear a bit coarse grit but maybe not - if it works for you then great - good price as well - the sort I have are very fine & are finish grinding wheels for a tool / cutter sharpener they have a flat face & are used on the end rather than circumference .

I got the mini grinder this afternoon. The grinder itself seems like it will do the job. I clamped it to the back of the workbench so that it is out of the way... but still handy enough that I can do a quick clean up each time I dip.

As Poland308 mentioned, the wheel is so soft that it is nearly worthless. I touched up 10 tungstens and it was already showing signs of wear. Need to look for a replacement.

David

Yeah, they define soft.
Like I said get a wheel dressing tool, and use the wheels till they're junk, then get something better, after all you've paid for them.
The dressing tool can also be used on bigger grinding wheels ie 6, 8 or 12 inches, handy tool to have, especially if some clown clogs your wheel with alloy.

Cheers

How do these compare to using the belt sander ?
I always liked the belt sander and cordless drill method....

Adam



707 / 579-9290
Sent from my iPhone

Adam Mc Laughlin wrote:How do these compare to using the belt sander ?
I always liked the belt sander and cordless drill method....

Adam



707 / 579-9290
Sent from my iPhone

I never used a belt sander to preserve the belts for other sanding. I have the version of that grinder that comes with the flexshaft and 3-3/4" wheels. It's a fine grit so grinding large tungstens from zero takes a bit of time, but touching them up works great with the wheel spinning at 10,000 RPMs.

I don't mean to be telling tales out of school but at school in the TIG program that's all we did - every tungsten was ground on the belt sander

I used a $75 bench grinder to grind up my tungstens, and it worked pretty well until I left it outside in the rain one day

Yes, California did have rain at one time......

Adam



707 / 579-9290
Sent from my iPhone

Belt sander for me, too.

Was only ever meant to be a temporary solution but it works so well that I think I'll stick with it for the foreseeable future. And I very seldom use it for any other purpose, so why not?



Kym

I was using a grinding wheel in a 5" grinder and the cordless drill but found a better option the other day. Tried talking my father out of buying a Drill Doctor a few years ago but couldn't change his mind and somehow it ended up at my place. Anyway they are next to useless imo for sharpening drill bits however it seems excellent at grinding tungsten.

The wheel inside is diamond and replaceable, it even has an edge on it you can use to score and snap the tungsten and a dust box to collect grinding dust if you're using thoriated tungstens. Being diamond you just have to roll the tungsten a few revolutions for a point from scratch. Think its something under $100 here for one. May not be worth going out to buy but if you find one dumped or got one lying around it works really well.

Rupes wrote:I was using a grinding wheel in a 5" grinder and the cordless drill but found a better option the other day. Tried talking my father out of buying a Drill Doctor a few years ago but couldn't change his mind and somehow it ended up at my place. Anyway they are next to useless imo for sharpening drill bits however it seems excellent at grinding tungsten.

The wheel inside is diamond and replaceable, it even has an edge on it you can use to score and snap the tungsten and a dust box to collect grinding dust if you're using thoriated tungstens. Being diamond you just have to roll the tungsten a few revolutions for a point from scratch. Think its something under $100 here for one. May not be worth going out to buy but if you find one dumped or got one lying around it works really well.

does it grind the tungsten lengthwise the way it is supposed to be?

Yes it does. I'll take a photo of it later today.

Just realized this morning this isn't "Drill Doctor" I think this is actually a cheapo imitation of a cheapo tool. But I've seen them everywhere so must be pretty common. Saw one on ebay for $80AU brand new. Guess the main thing is if you can probably get hold of one of these or something close pretty cheap. Think they all have replaceable wheels and no dressing stones or dedicated bench grinders etc

Note the hole the arrow is pointing at. Just drilled that there as a bit of a guide
'
Scoring it to snap off however it does cut right through pretty easy I did this batch this morning in less than 2 minutes, though I was flying through them and not being too carefull with them. Some I might redo.

I think I'm going to dig out my drill doctor...

I used it a lot with 3/8" 2' long bits a few years ago, but I've gotten out of the residential low voltage game, so I don't abuse bits like that any more.