Re: Questions About Tools
 

Please, get a deburring wheel, also called a sanding wheel. It's basically a non-ferrous grinding wheel. You will thank me later.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#4763a13/=154q2b8

Should last a couple of seasons of reasonably heavy use.

Also as a side note, aluminum on a stone grinding wheel expands at a different rate when heated by friction and will eventually risk compromising the integrity of your wheel if not frequently dressed. Nobody wants 3000 rpm of stone to explode in their face.

Re: Questions About Tools
 

Everyone else has said great advice. If you are interested, here is a list of all the tools we bought over the last season: https://goo.gl/qYTa66.

Also, I see your location is San Francisco. I'd be happy to talk with you and your team in person about shops and tooling, whether we come to you and check out your space or you come down to our shop and see our setup. Feel free to send a PM and I'm happy to arrange something.

Re: Questions About Tools
 

Replace one of the grinding wheels with an appropriately sized flap grinding wheel and you'll be good to go. They work very well on soft metals like aluminum or brass, and I even prefer them for many steels. But honestly, with the amount of aluminum teams use, I think everyone would benefit by replacing one of their grinding wheels with a flap wheel, and a decent one costs around $20.

Re: Questions About Tools
 

Cannot stress what Devin said enough. Grinding aluminum on the standard wheel a bench grinder comes with is a serious safety hazard. It can and will explode if you repeatedly do so.

Everyone saying "you should look into something else" is right, but it is far more urgent than switching to a more efficient method of removing metal. Just don't do it with the standard wheel!

Re: Questions About Tools
 

When I was first shown the basics of using the grinder, I was actually told that grinding aluminum merely shortened the life of the wheel. I didn't learn that it was a serious safety hazard until I was working in a different shop and ground down an aluminum weld on a wheel meant for tungsten.

In your opinion, what's the best replacement? I've never used the type of mesh wheel that Devin Castellucci linked to, but I've always met good results with flap wheels. Anyone have any good recommendations?

Re: Questions About Tools
 

Something I forgot to recommend is a good shear if you plan on working with sheet metal. I'm sure some teams would prefer some sort of saw for doing this, but for us, the shear has been invaluable for cutting down sheet metal all the way from a large plate to small gussets.

Re: Questions About Tools
 

Depends what your desired outcome is. If it's removing metal in a hurry, I would get a disc sander and call it a day. If it's light metal removal a flap wheel is good. If it's deburring, this is a good choice, or this or this (we use these last two the most as they are dirt cheap, work well, and conform to irregular surfaces a bit better than the EXL wheel. The EXL wheel is really long lasting and super nice for deburring edges on parts that don't have areas that need conformity.