MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite Technical - workshop wire wheel

One for the engineers - I need a new wire wheel (150 x 20mm) to fit to my bench grinder. I'm seeing brass-coated steel and stainless steel offered. The stainless are 3 or 4 times the price of the brass-coated ones; what are the essential differences in use and which should I go for? I clean a lot of parts; wash in paraffin, rinse with brake cleaner and finish on the wire wheel so it needs to be able to remove rust and corrosion, and be long-lasting.
David Smith

David

Non-engineer here. What do you currently have and replace like with like as suits your use?

For parts cleaning I would want something softer than stainless steel so less risk of gouging the surface and possible grabbing. You using it for cleaning rusty steel bits and tarnished/painted castings? Shorter wheel life but perhaps better finish and lower risk to them (unless you are super accurate, experienced and therefore can be quick and good with stainless wheel).

I expect someone more work hardened than me will have a better perspective and discount my over cautious non-informed amateur tosh.

Whatever you chose use a machine guard where possible and eye protection as well as ear defenders and gloves.

Cheers
Mike

PS now I know why and how the bits I have bought from you look nice!
M Wood

Thanks Mike; 'if only...' but the old one has no name on it, just a logo that looks like Darth Vader. Can't remember where it came from, probably China via ebay, main problem has been the amount of bristles it fires at my chest and chin! Every time I replace a tool I aim to improve the quality but equally won't spend 40 quid on an unknown, preferring recommendations from those that have trodden the path before me. Good logic on stainless, I do need it to be soft-ish to get in the nooks and crannies.
David Smith

If you don't mind a note of caution, select your wheels carefully. The higher certified spindle speed the better.
All wire wheels will shed wires but cheap (dare I say Chinese) ones can be positively dangerous and some can actually burst.
Outside of that the wire composition is a matter of selection. Soft wire (brass) for some jobs and heavy hard wire for others.
Stainless in my experience is best reserved for prepping aluminium, stainless and bronze (or anything non-ferrous) for welding to avoid ferrous contamination. There's no good reason to use St/St wire brushes on ferrous metal, it's expensive and a bit wasteful.
(See above for safety cautions)
Just my 2cents, HTH.
Greybeard

The wire wheel on my bench grinder is a German made Lessmann 150 x 25 with 0.3mm steel wire and to my knowledge hasn't shed any wires yet in the few years of use.
David Billington

David

I wonder if the following Canadian made Felton wire wheels are good quality and available in the UK: https://www.feltonbrushes.com/product/?product=/major-wire-wheels/

Some EU made ones here: https://www.thepolishingshop.co.uk/brusheswire-wheels/rotary-brushes

Grey - what brand in use in the workshop at work? How you doing?

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

When working with stainless, ferrous contamination is a major issue and companies I've worked with keep a seperate area and seperate tooling.
I can see the need for use of Stainless wheels in such cases but would have expected suitable grades of steel to be better suited to the constant bending of each wire and likely work hardening and strand failure.

I agree some of the cheap ones shed wires as fast as our old cat used to !

Probably best to ask one of the specialist suppliers such as Mike has noted - let us know result as I could do with a quality wheel as well.

R.
richard b

A word of caution with goggles and wire wheels
Have a good look at your goggles and make sure the vent holes are covered or louvered backwards so that wire strands can't find their way in.Stay right away from them goggles with the tiny vent holes along under the bottom of their screen that supposedly stop fogging up
Don't wear ordinary glasses or cheapy slip on supposedly eye protectors,you need real goggles and don't rely on a face shield alone, always wear goggles behind one
And as a suggestion from the safety side of things
If you can use a steel wire as against a brass or st/st i'd be going steel every time now, your eye surgeon will be well impressed that his magnetic recovery tool works properly instead of having to go in there digging around in your eye with his treezers ----no fun in that

willy
William Revit

This thread was discussed between 16/09/2020 and 17/09/2020

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS now