Angle Grinder

Overview

An angle grinder is a handheld power tool that spins an abrasive or cutting wheel at high speed for grinding, cutting, deburring and surface finishing of metal, stone and masonry. The wheel sits at a right angle to the motor axis, so the tool can be worked flat against a surface or edge-on into a cut. This model is a corded 1200 W unit with a brushless drive, electronic soft start and a no-volt release that prevents the tool restarting on its own after a power interruption.

Mains current enters through the Power Cord Assembly and is switched by the On/Off Slide Switch, a slide actuator with a lock-on detent. The Control Electronics board commutates the Brushless Motor, a high-speed brushless unit whose three-phase inverter is driven from rotor position fed back by a Hall sensor. The motor pinion enters the Gear Head Assembly, where a spiral-bevel pair turns the drive 90° and steps the speed down to the working spindle.

Construction

The tool is built around a barrel housing that carries the motor and bolts to a cast-aluminium head. The Housing Assembly is glass-filled nylon with an overmoulded rear grip and louvred intake and exhaust ports; a rotor-mounted fan pulls cooling air across the windings. The right-angle drive in the Gear Head Assembly runs on ball bearings packed with high-temperature grease, and a spring-loaded spindle lock pins the shaft for wheel changes.

At the output, the Spindle Output Interface clamps the wheel between an inner backing flange and a threaded outer nut. The Grinding Wheel is a depressed-centre bonded-abrasive disc, and the Wheel Guard shrouds it on the operator's side, locking to any angle with a lever-cam collar. A threaded Side Handle mounts on either side of the head so the operator can brace the tool against the considerable reaction torque the disc generates in a cut.