Of course, Nathan's description of throwing sparks everywhere just made me want to try it myself. Unfortunately, the reality was different. And at Toolbane, catastrophic.
I went to Ace yesterday and bought two cutting blades for the grinder. One was 5/8, the other 7/8 (I think -- the point is, they were different sizes, okay?).
I set everything up, clearing out plenty of space so nothing would get burned by molten sparks. I attached the 5/8 x 4" wheel, measured to be sure it would cut through the aluminum, and started cutting.
No sparks, but a whole lot of loud. Next time I go to Ace, I'm buying ear protection. There was also an awful smell, which I assume was burning metal, and lots of aluminum dust. I tried hard not to breathe.
Before long, the wheel wasn't 4" long any more. It couldn't actually cut through; I had to cut from the bottom. That made a really ragged cut.
And useless, too. I needed a piece with a flat top, about 3 fingers wide (no side at this spot on the mount, so a guess was sufficient), and long enough to put two bolts through. The piece I was looking at was definitely not it.
So I set everything up again. This time I used my "square" to draw a couple of parallel lines to cut on. Then I attached the larger wheel. Neat setup, that. The grinder supports both 5/8 and 7/8 wheels through a clever shaft configuration.
It was very hard keeping the grinder on the line. After I scored it, I started cutting through from the edge, just to make sure it call all the way through.
Loud, loud, LOUD!
Suddenly everything got a lot quieter and easier. Then I noticed no cutting was actually being accomplished.
Toolbane is a magnificent garage; it won't allow anything to work as expected on its premises. The cutting wheel had flown apart. You can see the pieces in the first picture in this entry.
Tomorrow I have a date with my wife, so I'll be getting back to this on Saturday. With ear protection.