GRINDING SAFELY
Grinding is also known as de-burring, fettling, polishing, sanding and buffing. The choice of terminology depends on the severity of the application: removal of material with coarse abrasives is usually called grinding, whereas using very fine abrasives is referred to as polishing or buffing. Sanding normally refers to grinding wood.Before you select the correct wheel, you need to know the machine it will be used on.
Hand held machines
The machine is held in the hand and guided by hand. The material being grinded must be stable (held firmly). There are five types of machine: angle grinders, straight grinders, vertical grinders, orbital and random grinders, and belt grinders. These are the most popular commodity DIY grinding machines.
Angle grinders
Diameter up to 230mm (9″)
Straight grinders
Diameter up to 250mm (10″)
Vertical grinders and sanders
Orbital and random grinders and sanders
Belt grinders and sanders
Mobile machines
The machine is guided but not supported by hand, and is moving while it is grinding. There are floor grinders or sanders. These are professional equipment.
Safety information pages for these machines and abrasives are under development.
Floor grinders
Floor sanders
Suspending swing frame machine
For your information, safety aspects in transportation, storage, use and disposal of mobile machines are presented in FEPA’s safety codes.
For the floor grinders, you can read the code for bonded abrasives and the one for superabrasives.
For the floor sander, you can read the code for coated abrasives.
For the suspending swing frame machine, you can read the code for bonded abrasives.
FEPA Safety Code for bonded abrasives and precision superabrasives.
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FEPA Safety Code for coated abrasives.
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FEPA Safety Code for superabrasive products for stone and construction.
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Stationary machines
Manually guided : the machine is fixed in place.
Safety information pages for machines and abrasives are under development.
Mechanically-guided: this is where the work-piece and the wheel are mechanically-guided.There are far too many different types of machines to include them all in this section. However the safety recommendations given later apply to them all.
Bench grinders
Back stand grinders
Floorstand grinders
Pedestral grinders
For your information, safety aspects in transportation, storage, use and disposal of stationary machines are presented in FEPA’s safety codes.
For the stationary off-hand grinders, you can read the code for bonded abrasives, the one for coated abrasives and the one for superabrasives.
For the stationary machines mechanically-guided, you can read the code for bonded abrasives.
This website is intended to give information on safe use of abrasives in compliance with European standards, and not to give advice on product selection. You should read the information given on the product or its packaging to determine suitability. For any specific question, contact the retailor who supplied you the product.