Cut off wheel thickness

M

metro1

Senior Member
I recently purchased 3 boxes of cut off wheels. None of them are even close to being the thickness they advertise. 3" ones by 3M are stamped .035... they are actually .046. Another (brand X) are stamped .040 are actually .060. One box of 4.5" ones by DeWalt are stamped .045 and are actually .067.Whats the deal with these things? Am I missing something? I plan on contacting the manufacture to find out.
 
The thinner wheels take out less metal and because of that they are quicker. The thicker ones do last longer. It depends on what you're doing. You should get what you ordered and paid for thought. I've been cutting out a lot of metal on my old car and some cuts I want to cut out a finer line.
 
The ones I use are fractional. I get the 1/32" types but they are thicker than .031". The 1/16" are too thick for thin sheet metal. I make do OK.
 
I used to get packs of 1/16", 3" diameter cutoff discs for cutting off rusted panels, but I found it easier and faster to just use the disc as a starter slot, then i would insert a metal cutting blade in a jigsaw and cut most of the panel with the jigsaw. In places where there wasn't enough clearance behind the cut for the blade (such as car frame when cutting out floor panels, or cutting out rear quarter where the wheel-well is right behind it), I would switch back to the cutoff disc as far as I needed to then go back to the jigsaw.
I have noticed they don't sell the thinner discs in hardware stores like they used to.
 
Good idea. Right now I'm working on rocker panel replacement so I need the cut off wheels. I just don't see how they can be so far off on the thickness they advertise.
 
Make them too thin and they can explode. I've had some disks explode but have been wearing a pull down face shield and haven't been injured yet.
 
May well be a safety thing, local handy man carpenter here had one explode, hit him in the face. Horrible just horrible, I've been afraid of them since. As I age, I tend to take the safety crap more serious. Use the thicker possibly safer wheels and cut more off to the bad side?
 
i use the harbor freight wheels they arent thick and last for a while both for 4 1/2 inch rt angle also the 3 in you could also use an air saw or plasma to remove the larger sections i use a 110 self contained unit i think its made for ductwork has onboard compressor doesnt warp metal to bad will cut 16/18 gauge makes quick work on floorboards
 
5851a said:
Use the thicker possibly safer wheels and cut more off to the bad side?
Click to expand...
Good point and if you notice all the metal cutting jigsaw blades you can get, the teeth aim out to one side and the other at every other tooth, which means your actual cut slot is larger than just the straight blade.
It is tough to poke a jigsaw blade in a 1/16" slot. 3/32" is more like it.
But what if you have a 1/16" gap between your old panel and replacement panel? you still have the flange of the new panel behind the old panel, so your weld is likely to be that much stronger by having a little gap at the surface.
(I'm talking about using one of those pneumatic offset flanging tools along the edge of the replacement panel. When you cut the new panel, make sure you leave enough extra material that will be used up by the offset flange. That flange gets hidden behind the old panel and allows temporary fastening with sheet-metal screws in preparation for welding. After the panel surfaces are welded together, remove the screws and weld the screw-holes shut, then grind smooth).
If removing an entire old rocker panel, I always drilled out the round factory resistance welds made at the bottom between outer and inner rocker panels. Once you have made your upper cuts, the old rocker falls off.
 
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