Questions to Consider When Choosing a Diamond Grinding Cup Wheel
If you are investing in concrete grinding equipment, you need to choose the right diamond grinding cup wheel. There are multiple options on the market, and it can be hard to know which one to select. Here are some questions to consider along the way.
Are You Cutting Through Concrete or Just Through Coatings?
If you are going to be grinding deep into concrete, you need a diamond grinding cup wheel with large diamond segments. For example, you should choose this type of cup if you are cutting a hole in a concrete driveway for a flagpole or the like. However, if you just need a grinding cup wheel that can get through the top coating of cement, you can opt for smaller diamond segments. This applies to epoxy or similar coatings.
Are You Doing Coarse Grinding?
Coarse grinding refers to the early stages of grinding, and in some cases, you may be doing coarse work on its own while in other cases, you may be doing coarse grinding as the first step of a project. In either case, you need a grinding cup wheel that features high levels of diamond hardness and a soft diamond bond. You also need a high concentration of diamonds with large grit.
Are You Doing Polishing Work?
For polishing work—whether it's on its own or as the second stage of a project that involves coarse grinding—you need to look for the opposite features in your wheel cup. In particular, you need a soft diamond bond, and you can also use relatively soft diamonds. That's because polishing isn't as hard on the diamonds as coarse grinding. As a result, the diamonds can be softer because they don't wear down as quickly.
What Type of Airflow Do You Want?
In addition to thinking about the diamonds on each of the grinding cup wheels you are looking at, you should think about air flow. Concrete grinding and polishing is hard and hot work. In particular, a lot of heat gets generated around the diamonds; this effect is especially pronounced when you're doing particularly coarse grinding work.
Water is one way that you can keep the blades cool, but you should also consider airflow. This refers to holes in the plate or cup of the grinding wheel. The more holes, the more airflow you get.
Alternatively, rather than buying your own grinding cup wheels, you may want to hire a professional to do your concrete grinding.