Pro tip: a dull grinder wheel cost me a day of work

I used to run my grinding wheels until they were totally smooth. Thought I was saving money. Then I had to prep a 40-foot carbon steel tank last month in Baton Rouge. First wheel took me 45 minutes to clean a 3-foot section. Swapped to a fresh wheel and did the same section in 12 minutes. That's a 33-minute difference per section across the whole tank. Wound up burning a full day just because I was too cheap to swap wheels. Any of you guys track how much time you lose on dull wheels?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_williams17d ago

Man I still do that with drill bits and regret it every time.

the_sarah17d ago

...and that's the thing, I used to think the same way about my flap discs on stainless jobs until a buddy pointed out the math isn't even close. He was like, "you're saving pennies on the wheel and losing dollars in labor time" and I couldn't argue with him after that. I still catch myself running them too long sometimes, just hate tossing something that still has life left in it.