Cut hard patio bricks with hand angle grinder?

[lemonstar]

Is it possible with the right type of disc to cut hard bricks - the simple sprung loaded hammer tap thing I bought is useless - brick cracks at any old angle if I can get it to crack. Standard dics don't make mark on them - I really don't have the money to hire a big cutting wheel on a flatbed - they are about £130 for the week or £65 for a day - I'm not going to get all the bricks cut for a 3 car front parking area and a largish patio cut in a day.

Cheers

 

[StephenW]

I cut loads of block paving bricks with a 9" angle grinder and a diamond stone-cutting disk when I built my patio. Went through very easily.

 

[lemonstar]

Do these discs always have radial slots in them?
My grinder is only a small one - 4.5" so still worth a go with discs like these perhaps?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Spot-P..._1_9?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1336144361&sr=1-9[url]

Just buying some dics would save me a fair bit of money - I have a decent workmate to work on.

Thanks.[/url]

 

[merlin50]

buy a 9" angle grinder that small thing will take weeks

 

[lemonstar]

OK - finally accepted I needed to buy something to get the job done - a lot for me as I don't earn anything atm. Ordered the Silverline Silverstorm 124445 230mm Angle Grinder from Amazon for £46.50.

 

[roberta1000]

Do you have many bricks to cut? If so buy the cheapest diamond blade you can find as it will outlast umpteen fibre stonecutting ones (and cut quicker too). I use a joiner's pencil to mark the brick accurately. Be careful to get the cuts square - it's easy to get them at all angles with a grinder.

 

[lemonstar]

I don't know what you would call a lot - less than 100 cuts I think - that's why I didn't fancy spending the money but I've realised there is another job it will help me with. I've ordered a pair of diamond discs
"Blue Spot 2 Piece 9 inch Diamond Cutting Disc Set" £15.38 from Amazon.

I'm not short of bricks either so I can afford to ruin a few while I get the hang of it.

 

[lemonstar]

I don't know if these bricks are unusually hard but I can barely cut through more than about 5-8mm before the rim of the disc is glowing white hot and I'm certainly reluctant to apply much pressure - not having used a tool like this before I don't want a slotted disc shattering. How much pressure can you safely apply? Do you think that with a bit more pressure the disc should start to cut through more easily? these bricks are just regular cuboid shaped patio bricks. Getting a straight cut looks hard - I've only tried 1 brick and had to cut round all 4 sides then use a bolster chisel to break the end off - it didn't do a great job. Is this going to work or have I got the wrong too for the job? What I'm doing is replacing all the yellow bricks with the red bricks as the past 2 -10C winters have caused nearly all of the yellow ones to start breaking up - none of the red one have ever cracked so the yellow ones are much softer I imagine, if I had to cut them but I don't want to use the yellow ones because they are a maintenance headache. Are these discs supposed to glow white? I'm thinking I really need a cutting table and some lubricant and probably a bigger disc cutter - can you get a cheap jig or sorts for a 9" cutter?

 

[merlin50]

if a cheap blade it will not cut. simples

 

[lemonstar]

I don't know what is cheap or expensive, good or bad - I bought these:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Spot-Piece-Diamond-Cutting/dp/B000LPDN62/ref=pd_sim_diy_5

What is a good disc - what sort of price and make?

cheers
Neil

 

[merlin50]

i bought this
http://www.onlinepowertools.co.uk/prod/132/hitachi-angle-grinder-230mm

i use it for cutting fire bricks, a good blade will cost about the same price

 

[lemonstar]

Really - I need to pay £99 for a good blade?

 

[joe-90]

I've had cheap blades that were brilliant and just one or two that were rubbish (Blackspur). You can usually rely on the reviews that things get on Amazon. I reckon you'll be ok.