Grinding Disc Tests MEGATHREAD

Abrasives
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Hi there all. I am not a big fan of flap disc’s in general as i find them to be slow, expensive, quick to wear, produce excess amount of air contamination due to the glue, and extra paper(though they often have that sweet smell as you are burning them up) as well as have a tendency to round corners that need to be kept crisp or can undercut surfaces with ease as there are challenging to get a good line of site on when using. This said I would ask that you test the flexovit brand (zircotex) they have excellent products in general. My current prefered brands are Norton, pfred, or flexovit though I generally only use fiber discs and the combilock and avos are my preferences, I do use sait for cut off wheels and if i can find the flexcel flexovit these are the superior hard discs though for the most case most of my work is fine metalwork so i am seeking a flat, or intentionally sculpted surface prior to and finer sanding that maybe required.

I am curious as to why flap discs where chosen for this test versus just a standard fiber disc or hard disc?

Thanks

43

I wish we had links to where he is getting those prices. I cannot find the Cubitron for the price he listed and I’ve run into similar issues when searching for other discs that were used in the tests.

44

Hercules beats them all :smiley:
but — still waiting for new 3M Cubitron 3 - crazy performance there (already using it - easily beats Norton Blaze and 3M Cubitron II )

45

do you have a part number for the cubitron 3 flapdisc? I can’t find them on internet

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not sure if u can buy them right now , still in mass production , but u can easly buy belts for belt sander (1184F), fibre discs (1182c) , cutting discs (86647) , 125x7mm grinding disc (98647)
and holly… u cant compare it to anything , try cheapest option there — cutting disc 125x1mm one — jaw drop guaranteed (just make sure to use it properly like in fireball tool cutting tips— only one difference there, is that Cubitron 3 cut as fast “grinding” from top as corundum discs on this test “cutting” straight through (i mean when u push disc through the material not grind it from top like u should do) crazy fast.

Single Cubitron 3 Disc last long enough to cut piece of railway rail trough and still have something left to use what is crazy for me ( i needed like 15 pieces of norton vulcan to do that ,of course bandsaw is better for that - i learned it hard way :sweat_smile: )

There’s also norton blaze cutting disc , really good too , better for specific application and simillar performance to cubitron II (glue is stronger yet more elastic - hard to brake the disc) , Norton Blaze Rapid Strip is superior to every other of its type right now :slight_smile: (but u need to use correct speed with it — mostly 3 to 5 (if max is 6) on the angle grinder or it gets shredded on corners

1 Like
47

This question may have been answered but I don’t see it. What is the power of the new Dewalt brushless angle grinders in Watts used in the testing?

48

It varies on the load. When the disc is new it’s around 8-9 amps, then lowers as time goes on. Some of the thicker discs will pull 11-12 for a minute or 2.

49

Thanks @Fireball_Jason for your reply loved the engineering behind the design and manufacture of the rig then was blown away by the number of cameras and the algorithms to perform the automation for the results. Really great job and looks like you had a lot of fun doing it

I was surprised though when some of your data/findings began to depart from my understanding/knowledge which made me wonder about the rated angle grinder power. By calculation from your reply 120 x 9 =1,080 Watts. If this is the nominal amount of power sustainability available it could be causing some of your higher performing ceramic flap discs to under perform. These abrasives need more power. Somewhat like changing to race tyres on a low powered used car it’s not going to make it go faster.

In my mind at least there is some doubt due to the limiting factor of the grinder power and I would welcome some further testing with grinders rated at least to 1400W (meaning they wouldn’t bog down at the higher loads). Furthermore how the flap disc is breaking down or not ie glazing is a salient point. Many flap discs glaze and are discarded early wasting lots of money.

50

All flap disc threads have been updated with more data. Thank you for your patience.

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Did a 3d plot of your data. Lower right corner is best (longest lasting, most cut, least $). They are Bauer, Blackhawk, Benchmark.

Interesting clustering. To another participants point, those disks that lasted 20 minutes, should be run to destruction to see if there are front runners.

Interesting topic !!

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52

This is an incredible resource for comparing flap and fiber discs! Having all the test data in one place makes it much easier to evaluate performance across different brands. Looking forward to seeing the discussions and insights from others! :fire:

53

Two new test videos dropped just a little while ago, both with pretty good results!

The Walter XTRACUT Fiber Disc and the New York Skilcraft Type 27 flap disc both showed themselves to do quite well with high pressure grinding.

I searched for the NY, as I’d never heard of this brand. I found “Skilcraft” at Grainger, but for $112.42 for 10 discs! WOW! No thanks! Then I found some at G-Wendt with no pricing, but found this brand sold at AB1 Supply for $10.50 each. Again, no thanks.

@Fireball_Jason where how do you select these various discs for testing? You mentioned in the video for the NY Skilcraft that you were able to find NO reviews online for this brand. I’m not surprised, given my quick search, they don’t seem to be widely distributed or hyped, and the ones I found (albeit in an admittedly short search) were more than double what you quoted in the video for pricing - and didn’t look the same, either, as far as the label goes.

Do you have more upcoming? I’m glad to see this test continuing, and I feel it is VERY valuable information for us, the consumer! Thank you, thank you so much for what you’re doing!

I will add - since I know you don’t do this COMPLETELY out of the goodness of your heart, we all understand you’re running a business here - that this flap disc test you’ve created and the subsequent results are the things that led me to this forum AND also renewed my interest in Fireball tools. Obviously, you know Fireball isn’t the cheapest on the market, but I decided to put my money behind you and your company, in part out of respect for your commitment to the community and to support a genuine American entrepreneur and your vision. Thus, I made my first (of likely many) Fireball purchase last week, now have my tools in hand, and am looking forward to using them and beating them up! lol So, your efforts have paid off in several ways, again Thank You!

I will say, I have also made a purchase for my next few months’ worth of grinding materials, in part due to your results, spending several hundred dollars on Benchmark Abrasives products. This is a good part of my annual budget for abrasives, so I was super glad to be at least partially guided by your results and efforts!

Thanks also to the community here, as well, for further breaking down and analyzing these results, putting them into different formats so we can peruse them more fully and in-depth.

55

We have a few more disc tests being posted this week, and if you’d like a sneak peek, we’ve posted our “conclusion” video exclusively on our videos page.

I was tasked with searching for flap discs, both popular and obscure, and that’s why the New York disc popped up. Some of the other discs are ones that commenters like yourself have recommended. Though there a handful of discs that are not available to purchase or ship to the United States.

Thank you for supporting us & this project!

56

Wow! I’m in!

I just purchased the Combo Disc Discovery pack, with the shirt and the book!

Thanks for letting me know!

Am I the first??? Lol It looked like I was only the 2nd viewer of the video… I think you should post on the forum about this, people seem to want to have the full on comprehensive results and analysis.

I’m stoked!

Danny

I’m getting used to this whole Discourse discussion/forum format - I thought I was replying to an email and instead was replying to this topic. That’s ok, I went back and I AM the first person to click the ‘Like’ button, and I may be the first to purchase the Combo kit 301 with the shirt and the booklet.

@Fireball_Filmmaker (Conrad) I’d actually like to add in a second order with a 20-pack of the 40-grit T27 Savage ceramic discs - any way to do that and combine it with the previous order and save the $8.00 in shipping from a second order/package?

Thanks!

57

The video is up on the forum now. As for questions about your order, you’ll have to ask customer service.

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58

Any plans of reviewing SIA abrasives?

Thanks

59

We can add it to the next round of testing

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60

I see you’ve done some Amazon brands like SALI and NEIKO and EXARC - I’d suggest the SHALL brand. I used a box of those and they lasted ok. They weren’t as good as the Benchmark ones I’d used previously, but at less than $1 apiece, I was pretty happy with them, overall.

Just a suggestion, and a cheap one - lots of us are on tight budgets. While your most recent posted videos show some good performance, some of them are CRAZY expensive, like the newest one just a few minutes ago - the Flex Sight Max. Really interesting look, but not fabulous performance for $11 per disc. Or the Kimball Midwest - sure that one performed pretty well, but at $20 apiece? No way!

Thanks again for all the work you and your team have put into these tests! This kind of information is invaluable to us out here in ‘real world land’!

I can’t wait for my booklet to come in with hard copies of all the graphs and data! W00T!

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61

We just posted the tests today of the Lehigh Valley Abrasives, thanks to your suggestion!

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Thanks Conrad. Looks like they performed well!
John