Why - and How - I Use My Bench Grinder Everyday - Kevin Caron

#MetalFabricationTips #MetalFabTips #KevinCaronArt

One tool that Kevin Caron uses most often is a bench grinder. Some days he uses it as much as 3 hours a day off and on. If Kevin Caron is creating a spike sculpture, he might use it 2 - 3 hours a day just cleaning railroad spikes.

The first machine he shows is a fairly new Dewalt 8" bench grinder. The cool thing is that it has all the guards on it. He shows the guards and the tool rests. He shows the stone, the wire wheel, and its nice, big, heavy motor, which is great if you are want to grind something really hard.

Next Kevin Caron points out the small receptacle beneath the grinder. What is it for? You fill it up with water and use it to cool off whatever you're grinding. Kevin doesn't use it because he never grinds anything that small, but it's a nice feature if you're sharpening a drill bit or something similar.

This grinder still needs a good place in Kevin Caron's studio, but he has an old grinder he uses pretty much everyday. It's an old Bluepoint, which means it came off a Snap-on truck. You can see where there used to be guards so you're not getting sparks thrown all over the place.

There's a stone on one side and a wire wheel on the other. You can also see the change Kevin Caron made on the side with the wire wheel. There was enough of the shaft sticking out for him to add an adapter for a 3-1/2" flap disk from a handheld grinder. Now he can grind things with a much softer grit. The flap disk is about an 80 grit, whereas the stone is probably, oh, a 2 grit!

What does Kevin Caron use a bench grinder for? The stone is for really moving metal if he wants to grind something off and get clean metal to weld, rather than burning up a flap disk. The wire wheel is for cleaning threads on a bolt or maybe getting a little paint off - pretty much for removing everything but the metal. The flap disk gives you a finer look and without the big grrr marks that you have to take out again later.

Next Kevin Caron shows a different kind of a bench grinder. It's an 8" slow speed bench grinder. His brother was using it for sharpening his woodworking tools. There's a diamond stone on one side that Kevin Caron uses to sharpen his tungsten for his TIG welders and a regular grinding wheel on the other side for finish grinding carbide woodworking tools that Kevin Caron doesn't use.

Well, you might want to stick around for another moment to see him fumble his figgerin' ....

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[CharlesStruble]

Cool idea with the flap wheel! Thanks! Also, I use the wire wheel for removing flesh from my knuckles...;-(

[fredchevalier]

Great video! I did the same with my 8 inch bench grinder and flap wheel on the side

[malaina]

Just getting into shop stuff and this was a super helpful video!

[WBToolNews]

First time watching your videos. Really like what you're uploading!

[tladoux]

I love the floppy sander add to your old grinder.

[paintnamer]

I like the flapper disc idea and you can get larger diameter ones for a 7" hand held grinder.

[JohnDavis-yznq]

I have a Bader belt grinder in my shop with a variable speed motor and I use it everyday. It is the one machine that I would not be without. I have a 10” Baldor grinder that I haven’t used in years.

[PorkBarrel.]

Flap disc on a bench grinder? Brilliant!

[vnmmadison]

Your voice reminds me of Kermit and I love it

[moonolyth]

I went to school for casting bronze and Oil painting, you really make me want to have at it again.
I just discovered flap disks lat year as the price each was prohibited per my spending habits. Finally used a 40grit for smoothing out welded beads and the thing held up very well. It polished the mountains to fields in minutes with a very controllable flat plain. very satisfying. Much better than stone or a cut off wheel.
So I too have a nice fat-bellied grinder. I find my self only using one side of the thing, the rough. With that, Id likes to add an Emory belt design to the unused side and your flap dis would be fantastic addition too!
For fine blades, I just use MDF disks I turn and apply wax grit to them, very very sharp and shiny.. and so cheap verses the breakaway wheels I have a pink one and hardly use.

[jawbaw]

Mr. Caron, I have 8" bench grinders running at the standard 3450 rpm. I also have 8" slow speed grinders running at 1725 rpm. (Slow speed) is not slow! you can still burn the temper out of a tool.

[RalphDratman]

How do you clean up the metal dust? That became a huge problem in my garage and I actually got bronchitis from inhaling some of that dust! So now I've sworn off grinding, but I could do more (which I actually enjoy) if I had a good way to get rid of the dust.

[precisionarc]

Flap disc on the bench grinder FTW. The variable 8" is what I'd like, and I'm betting that it's a CBN (cubic boron nitride) wheel, not diamond

[cr-ewod]

Sounds like we need to meet your brother. 😀

[petergrassel]

I have a blue point grinder just like yours

[thefirewooddoctor]

Hey Kevin. What's your favorite tool to use?

[kathrynmarshall]

I have one I don't need, can I convert it to be corn grinder .

[PlayerSalt]

Kevin love your stuff but do you put any tags on your videos? i made a new account and it took a while to find you, the sort of keywords i would associate your great content with did not return you as a result. If you have a list of tags you can just paste them on every video; Dont mean to sound rude love all your content thanks for making every video i just want more people to see them!

[robertmccracken]

The bench grinder is kind of the unsung hero of the shop... They get used and abused all the time, and we don't even think about them.

[robbie]

I would guess no one else in the comments section has ever used a bench grinder to sharpen railroad spikes lol.