Process

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While I had the grinder apart, I took the opportunity to try to improve a minor foible. This is what one part of the left-hand wheel cover (shield) looks like:

That's the part that mounts to the grinder; the outer shield mounts to the four mounting points highlighted in the image. The two points nearest the opening have rivnuts inserted into the holes, so the (button head Phillips) screws can simply be tightened into the integral thread. The points nearest the rear are just plain holes, so the screws need nuts.

I can see why the manufacturer decided to do it that way: the rivnuts are visible from the opening so it's easy to line up the screws to go into the hole. The ones at the back can't really be seen, so it's a bit easier to line up with an oversize opening when you can look through that opening from the outside face.

However, using a nut means I need two tools to take the cover off rather than just one (and this grinder has no exhaust vent, so I have to take the cover off every now and again to clean out the metal dust). To make it easy to possible to remove/refit the cover with a single tool, I decided to drill the holes out slightly wider and fit some rivnuts in the back as well:

To make it easier to line the screw up with the threaded hole, I 3D-printed some little surrounds. These taper in to the centre of the hole so, when inserting a screw "blind", it'll naturally want to go into the right place.

As a result of fitting the rivnuts, the rear screws didn't need to be as long any more (they didn't need to protrude through the inner cover in order to allow room for a nut). Those two (per side) therefore needed replacing. While I was doing that, I thought I'd also replace the front ones. They're now all M5×65 mm cap screws so I can use an Allen key instead of a Phillips screwdriver.

I am a hobbyist metalworker and woodworker. I work as an electronic design engineer and spend most of my working days in front of a computer so I enjoy having the opportunity to use my hands and make things in my spare time. I particularly enjoy making tools as I can then use them on other projects. This website showcases some of the things I've made.

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