I recently helped one of my friends shape his first board. He was so stoked and got bit full on by the board building bug. So he orders tons of material and glassed that first shape himself. I told him to get a power pad and grinder to sand. So he bought a power pad and asked me if he could get a grinder from Lowes Home Improvement that would work, and I told him they did not have any decent ones - go to True Value to get an expensive Makita or to harbor freight for a cheapy. He got a grinder from Lowes anyway and he told me he threaded it on, reved it up, the pad just ‘blew up’. The grinder was a 10,000 rpm DeWalt. He THEN read the pad box that said the power pad’s max RPM is like 3,000. poor guy. I can just imagine the look on his face as he pulls the trigger and his new power pad (pieces) flies across the room and hits the walls in chunks. I would have liked to have seen that. haha
Has anyone ever for gotten to tighten down a power pad before turning on the grinder.I have and the pad spun down so tight I had tear it up to remove it.A good lesson for all.
it happened to me…; I had to push off with tools and sitting down on the floor with the legs…
richard, Lowes not have a good grinder for sanding… WTF?? They carry the Hitachi SPV18 its 5 variable speeds and light thing is GREAT, I Have 5 grinders total and they will eventually all be that model, its a soldier, The ones im replacing it with are makitas milwukees etc… http://www.surfboardglassing.com 
oops sorry about that slater pic damn autofill http://www.surfboardglassing.com
Thats cool that your Lowes store has those but the local store here in Charleston SC doesn’t have any variable speed grinders. I think they only had one or two grinders with the thread to fit a stock Power Pad and they were high RPM - as my friend found out. His pad came apart just from the centrifugal force - he wasnt even sanding anything with it yet! Theres a True Value here that sells the Makitas and they are nice.
This might be a good place to point out that it always helps to read the directions before using power tools…I know we’re all probably guilty in this area, but I administered first aid in a factory once to a guy who was using a cutting disk at 15000rpm that was rated for something like 3000-5000 and it broke apart at speed. Most of the guys were concerned with the blood running down his arm, which they correctly had him holding up to utilize gravity to minimize bleeding. It was the big chunk of the disk sticking out of the side of his stomach that concerned me…
Close- had just gotten a little 4 1/2" grinder and I just had to fire it up to see what it sounded like. Except… it had one of those little guards on it and it wasn’t tightened. Well, that slipped and it starts going around at 5000 RPM plus with the grinding wheel , horribly out of balance and I was holding on with a death grip and I couldn’t reach the off switch without changing my grip and probably taking a nice chunk out of a body part. Worst part was waiting for somebody to come and unplug the damned thing.
Interesting thread. Unfortunately, it reminds me of the many, many, mistakes I have made with tools and surfboards: A number of years ago after many cheap sanders I finally purchased a Milwaukee. I remember thinking as I was driving home, " I’ve got my Skil, I’ve got my Milwaukee, I’m now a builder." This state of euphoria lasted for approximately the time it took to unpack the box and set up the sander. As I set the sander down on a custom board for the first time I immediately cut a perfect cresent moon shape through the glass and underlying graphics. It was interesting trying to explain to the buyer why I had added the moon to the graphics. As I recall I mumbled some bullshit about the interconnectedness of life as manifested through the moon and tides. Keep having fun. Patrick
You can buy a little box called a “Router Speed Control” for around 30 bucks that will turn any portable tool into a variable speed machine.You plug it into the wall and then plug your grinder ,router.drill etc. into the box.It has a dial that will give you control over rpms. without affecting torque.I have an old monster 6000 speed grinder that I can dial down to around 500 rpm or less.You can get these from woodworking suppliers,I think that even Harbout Freight has em. R.B
I was bullshitting with a client in the shaping room and took a pass with my planer.Whilst making intelligent design theory statements with the planer in my hand at my side ,it grabbed my baggies and literally ripped them off my body.I caught shit for weeks.The worst part was the fact that Mike Diffenderfer (whom I was trying to impress and sucking up to ) was there.No shape job…back to the pinline…gloss room. R.B.
And don’t leave the trigger lock on, put the sander on the board and THEN plug it in… a loose sander can wreak havoc on a new glass job!
Howzit Mr. Clean, Diff was a personal friend of mine and I bet that carzy Dutchman got a good laugh at your expense. Aloha, Kokua
John Mellor could’nt of said it better.Me and this guy were sanding a teak deck and kept popping the breakers on the dock by running 2 Milwaukee 8" grinders off one outlet.The other guy got stoned at lunch and left the lock on after a breaker pop and when it came back on that thing ran up the side of the house,across the deck and tore shit up till the end of the cord came tight and it un-plugged itself.He wasn’t stoned after that,or employed.Funny but scary.
30 feet up the mast in a bosun’s chair using a heavy drill, one with the side handle, to punch a hole in the wood mast for a new running light. Someone on the dock tripped over the cord while I was drilling and the drill stops. I shouted at the guy to plug it back but he didn’t hear me so I lean way out to shout at him again and I take one hand off the drill(switch lock on)hanging in the mast by the bit. Needless to say the guys spins around and plugs it in before I can grab the drill this both hands. The drill bit locks up in the mast and the drill spins out of my other hand and around like a Tasmanian Devil. In an effort to avoid getting coldcocked I lean too far back, falling backwards and am left dangling by my shins (and a security rope) in the chair. My assistant/pal almost fell overboard he was laughing so hard. I’m still getting crap for that after almost ten years.
Laughing out loud !!! more proof that we americians never read the directions about anything! many years ago, while working as a production shaper in calif. i planed the power cord -----needless to say, all the lights went out and i stood there in shock until i realized that i was still alive—God looks out for drunks and fools—i qualifity on both counts…therefore, STOP and THINK!
I was using a softpad to remove a varnished transom on a grand banks 42’ about 25 yrs ago .Almost done sandingwith the sun setting and the swimstep breaks!!! I threw the large grinder-sander in the air as iam falling! i swim out of the now almost dark marina,unplug the sander(sparking.smoking etc.), fish it out of the water and get in my vw bus soaking wet drive home—another wonderful yachtworking experience.
Funny stuff! I once had the 6000 rpm buffer catch my t-shirt. Never knew what hit me, but the handle of the damn thing cracked me in the chin, knocked me down and made me see stars! When I came around, I found a lovely fist sized dent right in the bottom of this red opaque longboard I was buffing. After it hit me, it nailed the board. Boss was stoked. Wasn’t even stoned. I tuck 'em in these days!
I’ve done the power pad thing too, i had just bought it and was all fired up. Then I read the directions (for once) and saw that the RPM did not match up with the sander grinder. I went ahead anyway figuring it was just a suggestion. Had to stop when that funny burning acrid plastic smell from my dying grinder reached my stuffed up nose. I’m young enough and plenty dumb enough, but i’ve never been attached by my tools as some of these other fella’s. but I have decided to do a little tig welding, not ground my work and be siting on a metal chair wearing no underware. This caused a small arc to transfer from the chair to the hanging pair…not horrible but unsettling.
l did exactly the same thing as cleanlines eccept l had overalls on, it scrunched the canastas and Mr peeper to the point of great pain, the planer stopped dead and was dangling from my groin, l had to go up the front of the shop (infront of customers)to get the screwdriver that the shopgrom had’nt put back in its right place. when l saw the people l grabbed the planer and tried to make it look like l was carrying it around. l dont think l fooled them. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw