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View Full Version : good source for cutoff wheels, flap discs, etc



BigDaveZJ
01-01-2010, 11:57 PM
http://www.bulletindustries.com/

Just ordered up a bunch of stuff. The guys on the local board have great luck with Bullet, so I ordered up a bunch of stuff. Got 3 sawzall blades, 20 cut off wheels, 15 flap discs, and 5 griding wheels shipped for $46. Quality is said to be on par to slightly better than the stuff you can pick up at Home Depot and Lowes.

I'll report back after I use some of this stuff.

rstrucks
01-02-2010, 12:18 AM
That's really cheap, I'll check 'em out. Thanks.

blackzj52
01-02-2010, 12:44 AM
good find. 4.5" cutting wheels for $.56 FTW

dp96zj
01-02-2010, 01:28 AM
Damn that's a good deal. Last time I bought a flap disc it was $7 for ONE!

ATL ZJ
01-02-2010, 02:56 AM
I have been using them for the better part of a year and love their stuff. Probably have been through 75 flap discs and 100 cutoff wheels. Quality is good, definitely better than Harbor Freight's stuff, but not as nice as most of the high end zirconia abrasives like dewalt and klingspor. But for the price, their stuff is probably the best bang for the buck for home use.

They officially switched their name to Heleta, starting 1/1/10 I believe so the bullet name will be phased out over the next several months.

Ted_Z
01-02-2010, 12:11 PM
Its hard to resist HF since I live only a few blocks away, but it is nice to know there is a good alternative out there. The real trick is ordering the supplies you need before you run out.

ATL ZJ
01-02-2010, 12:54 PM
Another company I've been wanting to try is http://www.lehighvalleyabrasives.com. Prices are slightly higher but I have a suspicion that their stuff may be a little closer to professional quality. Anyone used them?

zjeepin
01-03-2010, 02:48 PM
Another company I've been wanting to try is http://www.lehighvalleyabrasives.com. Prices are slightly higher but I have a suspicion that their stuff may be a little closer to professional quality. Anyone used them?


The SAIT brand they carry on that website are generally pretty good stuff, its what most national welders and welding supply places carry, ive used that brand alot in the shops i've worked in and its comparable to the dewalt stuff..

zj95maxx
01-04-2010, 10:29 PM
I havent tried these ones but I have tried off brands of flap and cut off discs... I have yet to be impressed. I am loyal to dewalts which i know work wonders.

MUDDTRACKS
01-05-2010, 12:22 AM
I havent tried these ones but I have tried off brands of flap and cut off discs... I have yet to be impressed. I am loyal to dewalts which i know work wonders.

same here

those cheap cut off's can be DEADLY when they explode.:smt106

rccolacc
01-05-2010, 07:51 PM
Another company I've been wanting to try is http://www.lehighvalleyabrasives.com. Prices are slightly higher but I have a suspicion that their stuff may be a little closer to professional quality. Anyone used them?

I bought a bunch of flap disks from them for my 7" grinder. I was very pleased-- they even use norton sandpaper on the disks. They were way cheaper than the Dewalts, and in my opinion worked just as well.
-RC

Brad S
01-08-2010, 02:52 PM
I havent tried these ones but I have tried off brands of flap and cut off discs... I have yet to be impressed. I am loyal to dewalts which i know work wonders.


Agreed. I have yet to find a cut off disc that compares to the dewalts.

Saw these - no personal experience with the site, but it appears to have good reviews:

$1.73
http://www.improvementdirect.com/dewalt-dw8851-4-1-2-x-045-x-7-8-xp-cutoff-wheel/p546654?source=gba_546654&CAWELAID=289503341

Compare that to Lowes ($2.98)
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=292621-70-DW8851&lpage=none&cm_mmc=search_gps-_-gps-_-gps-_-DEWALT%204-1/2%22%20x%20.045%22%20x%207/8%22%20XP%20Cut-Off%20Wheel

ATL ZJ
01-08-2010, 02:56 PM
Agreed. I have yet to find a cut off disc that compares to the dewalts.

My local welding shop had flap discs on heavy discount about a year ago- nice zirconia discs for $1 each. Thinking back they might have actually been the SAIT brand. Those were some of the nicest I've ever used.

Also, if you ever have the joy of using a klingspor, you'll be amazed.

downtowncb
06-15-2010, 12:57 AM
Dave, how did you like their stuff? I'm going to start building my front and rear bumper/tire carrier soon and will be placing a large order. Home Depot is getting pretty expensive.

BigDaveZJ
06-15-2010, 01:05 AM
I've been fairly satisfied with their stuff. Used quite a bit of consumables on my roof project. The quality may not be as high as some of the brands you find at Home Depot, but if you compare price to how long they last, I certainly prefer the Bullet/Heleta stuff.

For shits and giggles I ordered up one of the Turbo Fiber discs on my last order. Did a really good job of pulling off paint and other associated junk without impacting the metal, other than cleaning it.

jborushko
06-15-2010, 04:11 AM
this was a dewalt blade
http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww141/once_with_words/Photo072.jpg?t=1276589384
i was able to finish the cut, that took another 5 minutes

dewalt blades rule!

but i havent tried the OP's brand

Pearce
06-15-2010, 08:30 AM
As long as this is back up.... I'll never use Bullet again. Terrible customer service. Thought they were doing great when I got the e-mail that some of the product I ordered was not available and I was asked if I wanted something different. I was give an option and I responded within minutes of what I wanted to get instead. Several days go by nothing in the mail but what do I get a second notice requesting me to tell them what do I want to do since my original order could not be fulfilled. So I call them and say I already told you what I wanted in the first e-mail. They go look for the e-mail and say OK we'll take care of it. A few more days go by still no product. I send another e-mail asking where is my order for the missing goods and they say my original order already shipped. I e-mail them back again and say NO, not the original order the missing product. They e-mail back and say we are not shipping you anything because we didn't have what you ordered in stock. So I sent a note back asking then why did you ask me if I wanted an alternate product and I agreed? No response to that, so I say just refund my credit card for what you didn't send. Finally get my credit card statement and they only refund me a little over a $1, and they owe me over $20. I call them up but now no one is answering the phones anymore. So I e-mail them and they respond with I don't know what happened but we'll refund the rest.... Still waiting on the credit card statement to come in and see if they really did.

In the mean time these guys sell DeWalt stuff at a great price.
http://www.powertoolsinc.com/cart/index.php?p=catalog&parent=2&pg=1

ATL ZJ
06-15-2010, 08:58 AM
In the mean time these guys sell DeWalt stuff at a great price.
http://www.powertoolsinc.com/cart/index.php?p=catalog&parent=2&pg=1

I've been having more and more problems with Heleta (they are not Bullet anymore). But I will never use the powertoolsinc guys either because they don't even sell flap discs.

Anyone tried Lehigh Valley Abrasives? I have not had a chance to order from them yet...

ATL ZJ
06-15-2010, 09:01 AM
this was a dewalt blade
http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww141/once_with_words/Photo072.jpg?t=1276589384
i was able to finish the cut, that took another 5 minutes

dewalt blades rule!

but i havent tried the OP's brand

looks like operator error to me ;)

You should really discard a broken wheel like that. they are not safe to use after they chunk...

downtowncb
06-15-2010, 11:46 AM
As long as this is back up.... I'll never use Bullet again. Terrible customer service. Thought they were doing great when I got the e-mail that some of the product I ordered was not available and I was asked if I wanted something different. I was give an option and I responded within minutes of what I wanted to get instead. Several days go by nothing ...

Damn, thanks for the heads up on them. Looks like I'll be placing an order with Lehigh.

zj95maxx
06-15-2010, 11:48 AM
dewalt discs are beast

jborushko
06-15-2010, 12:33 PM
looks like operator error to me ;)

You should really discard a broken wheel like that. they are not safe to use after they chunk...

total operator error! sometime things go wrong, but the point is the thing finished the job! out here a dewalt disk is like $3-4, so when i use them i finish them!

before i had my plasma cutter, all i could cut with was cutting disks, on thick metal that lead to a lot of broken blades!

AgitatedPancake
06-15-2010, 12:52 PM
total operator error! sometime things go wrong, but the point is the thing finished the job! out here a dewalt disk is like $3-4, so when i use them i finish them!

before i had my plasma cutter, all i could cut with was cutting disks, on thick metal that lead to a lot of broken blades!

How are you using them that that breaks discs often?

I built my rear bumper and front bumper - twice :smt119:smt119 using the angle grinder for 95% and almost the only time I break one is if I drop the grinder

I know using an angle grinder comfortably/safetly is ALL about the technique, and it took me a long while to get comfortable to where I am now. I'll watch my friend who's newer to fab work with the angle grinder, and he scares the sh*t out of me sometimes with the way he's holding it, or how he's doing what he's doing. I warn him, but I know it's easy to put an angle grinder in a position where it can hurt you in a jiffy, and those positions seem to relate to broken discs because of it kicking back, or snapping at ya.

ATL ZJ
06-15-2010, 12:56 PM
How are you using them that that breaks discs often?

I built my rear bumper and front bumper - twice :smt119:smt119 using the angle grinder for 95% and almost the only time I break one is if I drop the grinder

I know using an angle grinder comfortably/safetly is ALL about the technique, and it took me a while to get comfortable to where I am now. I'll watch my friend who's newer to fab work with the angle grinder, and he scares the sh*t out of me sometimes with the way he's holding it, or how he's doing what he's doing. I warn him, but I know it's easy to put an angle grinder in a position where it can hurt you in a jiffy.

my guesses would be too much pressure while cutting, side loading the disc too much, cutting with the wrong part of the wheel, or cutting in a way that lets the metal pinch the disc toward the end of the cut...

Like AP, it took me years to get where I am now with an angle grinder.

jborushko
06-15-2010, 04:56 PM
^ pretty much... that and :smt030

i press way to hard pretty much all the time

i did find a place on line that had .045 dewalts 4.5 blades for about $1.30 plus shipping. like $8 shipping though, that makes 20 blades shipped for ~$33 thats almost worth it to me to wait! (www.ereplacementparts.com (http://www.ereplacementparts.com)) <- (not an advertisement i've never done business with this company)

EDIT: ahup! just found a replacement part for my jig saw on that site... now its worth it!

rstrucks
06-16-2010, 09:56 AM
I have not personally used the Bullet stuff but Kevin has. He said the flap wheels suck in comparison to what we use here at the shop and that after just a little bit of use they became ineffective and started to come apart. He did say the cut-off wheels were ok though.



^i press way to hard pretty much all the time



You end up using more wheels that way. I've found that lighter pressure makes the wheels last a lot longer.



Also, when I crack a cut-off wheel I go ahead and break it so I'm not tempted to use it. I have read way too many stories of nasty carnage that happens when a blade comes apart and finds a fleshy part of your body. The 3 bucks I'd save on a new cut-off wheel isn't jack compared to a dozen stiches.

ATL ZJ
06-16-2010, 10:55 AM
The Heleta flap discs do die quicker. But since the Dewalt flap discs at Lowes cost 5-6 times more, I have been wanting to do a test to see if the Dewalt ones really do last 5-6 times longer. I'll agree though, Dewalt is better overall, I just don't want to pay for them!



Also, when I crack a cut-off wheel I go ahead and break it so I'm not tempted to use it. I have read way to many stories of nasty carnage that happen when a blade comes apart and finds a fleshy part of your body. The 3 bucks I'd save on a new cut-off wheel isn't jack compared to a dozen stiches.

That's a good practice Ryan... Back when I got my first grinder and had no experience using it, I had a wheel come apart and stick into a piece of plywood 30 feet away :eek: