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The new adventures of brownnova! A lot of broken vehicles


brownnova

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Also.. modern 1mm cutting (sometimes "slitting") discs are superb.  You're removing less material than a "traditional" 2.5mm/3mm cutting disc, so you can go through steel like a hot knife through warm butter.  I'd avoid anything thinner though.  I had a pack of 0.8mm discs once and they were very prone to snatching and shattering.

You'll be cutting out grot and welding in repair sections before you know it.

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14 minutes ago, gm said:

I've been merrily chopping things up with my angle grinder for a good few years but recently watched this vido and learned I'd been making several, not very safe, mistakes :( 

 

warning : contains some horrific images of grinder accidents at the end

 

I think that’s what had made me shy away from getting one... but using it safely is key. 

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1 hour ago, Talbot said:

I had a pack of 0.8mm discs once and they were very prone to snatching and shattering.

I've had a lot of success with the 0.8mm flexovit brand ones from Toolstation, although only for cutting 1mm sheet. They cut so quickly with little pressure that you can be more accurate when cutting shapes out of a big sheet. 

The downside is they wear down quickly, which can also be a benefit as it means you have lots of small discs lying around for those impossible to reach cuts on a car!

For general chopping up of track rod ends, droplinks etc, I agree that 1mm discs are hard to beat. Even going up to 1.2mm you feel you're grinding rather than cutting.

As for grinders, I've had my cheap £20 Aldi one for 7 years now, it just keeps going.

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4 hours ago, gm said:

I've been merrily chopping things up with my angle grinder for a good few years but recently watched this vido and learned I'd been making several, not very safe, mistakes :(

That video, although very good, is somewhat focussed on the US market.  Those "type 1" guards he was using don't really exist here.  We also don't really have those thicker backing rings to move the disc away from the guard.  6" grinders aren't really a thing in the UK either.

Given that the vast majority of grinder accidents happen when people are using absolutely no protection whatsoever (no guard, no glasses, short sleeves, etc.etc.) then simply ensuring you have sleeves, gloves, glasses and don't ram the grinding disc into steelwork at the speed of light should keep you away from 99.9999% of incidents.  Also being very aware of where the shower of sparks goes can avoid some interesting* fires.

I don't particularly like using a grinder.  On sheet steel a clubhammer and a sharp brick bolster is safer, quieter and (when used carefully) almost as accurate.  Unfortunately the distortion it creates is rather excessive, so grinders are a necessary evil.  When it comes to a rotten nut-and-bolt on an exhaust though.. there's very little to beat it short of Oxy/Acetylene equipment.  Which comes with it's own rather obvious dangers.

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6 hours ago, gm said:

I wasn't meaning to put you off, it's still a very handy bit of kit to have - just, like you say, use it safely :) 

 

No I agree, I’ve just always shied away, but as Talbot said, to do any bodywork (which is the ambition) I’ll need one, so best to start somewhere! 

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They're a really useful tool but certainly need treating with respect.  Oh, and don't make the same daft mistake I did and wear a pair of polycotton gloves instead of my usual work gloves - sparks landed on my gloves and within seconds they started to melt onto my hands.

Something worth mentioning that I wasn't aware of before I did an abrasive wheels course is that many discs have use by dates after which the manufacturer won't guarantee their integrity - beware being sold short-dated stock.

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Grinder purchased, big boy pants on. Many precautions.... 

1FBEB331-B4CA-4F40-9360-EE53483A0F3F.jpeg

But cut them off. No bother. No nuns or kittens were harmed. 
E5DB53E8-139C-4D23-B5F2-3F23D1F00CF9.jpeg

Felt like a champ... 

CF2A3736-52AD-4512-8F02-27B2E099FE71.jpeg

Old one was fucked.


 

 

 

But..... (and there’s always a but) 

Can I get the new one to fit? Can I bollocks.

 The problem is two fold. 
a) I can’t get the right angle to feed it through the bit where it needs to go.

 This would be solvable but for: 

b) there’s a joint in the straight section which it removed would make fitting easy. However, it has clearly been twisted round as the holes do not align with the holes on the front pipe. It was held on with a clamp. Now I’ve removed the clamp, but will the pipe budge even a millimetre? No.

I wish I’d just taken it to a garage now.

Any suggestions on how to free them before I just set the car on fire? 

FF2E8D72-C300-4DED-9CB5-39C51EDEB018.jpeg

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There will be more knowledgeable folk than me that will comment and have much better ideas however I would try clamping the long section carefully in your vice just below the joint and use the silencer as leverage and see if the silencer section  will move/start to spin. Obviously you have to be careful that you don’t crush the pipe too much but a nip up in the vice might just be enough to grip it and release the joint.

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36 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Grinder purchased, big boy pants on. Many precautions.... 

1FBEB331-B4CA-4F40-9360-EE53483A0F3F.jpeg

But cut them off. No bother. No nuns or kittens were harmed. 
E5DB53E8-139C-4D23-B5F2-3F23D1F00CF9.jpeg

Felt like a champ... 

CF2A3736-52AD-4512-8F02-27B2E099FE71.jpeg

Old one was fucked.


 

 

 

But..... (and there’s always a but) 

Can I get the new one to fit? Can I bollocks.

 The problem is two fold. 
a) I can’t get the right angle to feed it through the bit where it needs to go.

 This would be solvable but for: 

b) there’s a joint in the straight section which it removed would make fitting easy. However, it has clearly been twisted round as the holes do not align with the holes on the front pipe. It was held on with a clamp. Now I’ve removed the clamp, but will the pipe budge even a millimetre? No.

I wish I’d just taken it to a garage now.

Any suggestions on how to free them before I just set the car on fire? 

FF2E8D72-C300-4DED-9CB5-39C51EDEB018.jpeg

Heat is always the answer,

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In the end the answer was bigger hammer. I wish I’d read @Steviemillar’S suggestion though as that might have been a better plan.

Basically twatted the hell out of the end until it turned enough to join (but it wouldn’t come out), and then turned the car around, supported it in various means which it’s best not to ask me about and eventually managed to get the angle just enough to thread it through its gap.

The holes on the join of the middle pipe were close, but not quite close enough.... so I could either take it all off again and weild the hammer or do some jiggery pokery with the holes to get it to fit. The latter was chosen and all was hooked up, safe and secure. The back box went on in about 2 minutes. I only wish the middle section had been that easy.

Suffice to say my plans of leaving teaching to go into exhaust fitting are on hold for now! 

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The issue you had with the paint and the car wash is the extremely aggressive spray detergent they use.  It's completely unsuitable for paint which doesn't have clearcoat, or just strips all the surface finish off - then you need to polish the whole car.

Specifically ask them not to touch the car with it and you should be okay...but my experience has been that they listen about 20% of the time.

IMG_20170901_162844.thumb.jpg.387c76fb2392d4a19e43d52c1bb0dbf0.jpg

That car was shiny and just a bit dirty...left me needing a full polish!

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27 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

The issue you had with the paint and the car wash is the extremely aggressive spray detergent they use.  It's completely unsuitable for paint which doesn't have clearcoat, or just strips all the surface finish off - then you need to polish the whole car.

Specifically ask them not to touch the car with it and you should be okay...but my experience has been that they listen about 20% of the time.

IMG_20170901_162844.thumb.jpg.387c76fb2392d4a19e43d52c1bb0dbf0.jpg

That car was shiny and just a bit dirty...left me needing a full polish!

I’ll stick to doing it myself in future I think! Part of me was curious as to how water tight the hard top is when confronted with a jet washer! (Answer... pretty good!)

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  • brownnova changed the title to The new adventures of brownnova! - Exhausted!
  • 2 weeks later...

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