Grinder kicked back so hard it bent the guard plate

Tuesday morning on a tank job near Port Arthur, my 7-inch grinder snagged a weld bead and kicked back so hard it bent the guard plate and threw my wrist into the shell. I shut it down, checked my gloves and bone, then swapped to a zip disc and took the weld down in smaller passes instead of one long push. Took about 45 minutes extra but I finished the seam without another scare. Anyone else had a grinder bite back like that, or am I just the lucky one this month?

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1 Comment

clairen8527d ago

Did the guard actually hold up enough to do its job, or did it fold into the disc path? That's the scary part for me, if it bends instead of stopping the kickback, you're basically relying on luck and thick gloves. I've had smaller 4.5s snap back on me but never bent metal like that, usually it just chews my hand up if I'm not braced right. Honestly, the smaller pass trick is the move, but I also started keeping my left hand on the auxiliary handle and my right hand way back on the body, so the torque has less leverage to twist my wrist. You might want to check the guard's mounting screws too, if they were loose at all, that could've made the bend worse than it needed to be.