Sample arch design photos

[dalucca2003]

Just this past weekend I purchased a 4 1/2' grinder at Ace Hardware for $14.99 with a $5.00 rebate. It worked just great in grinding the faces of the cinder block across the angle iron. Additionally, I saw they had a hammer drill for $24.99 I am thinking of buying. You are correct Chad when you state you always do not have to go with the most expensive tools unless you will be utilizing them on the job or on a regular basis.

[james]

I've always thought a brick oven was the perfect application for a use for one project, beat up, and toss power tool. I've done it.
James

[maver]

Just this past weekend I purchased a 4 1/2' grinder at Ace Hardware for $14.99 with a $5.00 rebate. It worked just great in grinding the faces of the cinder block across the angle iron. Additionally, I saw they had a hammer drill for $24.99 I am thinking of buying. You are correct Chad when you state you always do not have to go with the most expensive tools unless you will be utilizing them on the job or on a regular basis.

I found an angle grinder at a local auto parts store (Schucks) for $10 - I bought it. They also have rotary hammers for $20. I'm using the grinder for some finish stages of my project - cutting a groove in my chimney for flashing, trimming the metal roof, and perhaps I'll have a go at grinding the surface of concrete countertops. The brand is Buffalo Tools. It definitely qualifies as a use it and discard tool. It has serious overheating issues in just the first day's use and has an irritating grinding quality to the motor sound. But, it works adequately for what I need.

[dalucca2003]

I found an angle grinder at a local auto parts store (Schucks) for $10 - I bought it. They also have rotary hammers for $20. I'm using the grinder for some finish stages of my project - cutting a groove in my chimney for flashing, trimming the metal roof, and perhaps I'll have a go at grinding the surface of concrete countertops. The brand is Buffalo Tools. It definitely qualifies as a use it and discard tool. It has serious overheating issues in just the first day's use and has an irritating grinding quality to the motor sound. But, it works adequately for what I need.

Sounds like my grinder. The overheating was not too bad especially how much work I put the toll through. The grinding motor sound was the real issue and I thought any moment it would give out but it made it through and I even used it the next day. The brand name on my grinder is Power Glide. probably same manufacturer as yours but different name.

[Alf]

We use our power tools most days and for long periods so, from experience I don?t use the cheaper DIY tools, as they tend to give out on me just when I want it to work and I?m miles away from the nearest shop. However, for what you pay for them they are just the thing for a smaller project.

A few tips to get the most out of the tool. From my use of the tools over heating of the motor and gearbox are the two common failure areas. You can extend the life of the tool greatly by only using it for 5 ? 10 minuets at a time and allowing it to cool before using it again.

Use good quality cutting / grinding disks they make a difference. If your firebricks are of the hard variety and difficult to cut use a diamond disk and soak the firebricks in water first, they will cut much easier. If you have a lot of cutting to do buy two grinders and use one while the other is cooling

Alf

[maver]

Alf, I think you are overestimating the quality of my $10 grinder by giving 5-10 minutes before overheating. Try 1-2 minutes. However, I have a store that carries these 5 minutes from my house and I'm only trying to get maybe 4-5 more days of very light use out of the tool. If it fails I have all the needed blades for my skil saw which is my real workhorse for this project. For others, I would definitely not rely on a cheap grinder for the bulk of the project.

[dalucca2003]

I feel pretty good about mine then. I first blew it and did not purchase a diamond disk which made my job a nightmare. What probably would have taken 1/2 hour turned into hours. Saying that, my grinder made it all the way through even though it got very hot. As a matter of fact I used it last night to cut some rebar. So far it has turned out to be a good purchase that I can use whenever the occassion arises.

[carioca]

Arch-angelic

Hello James,

just discovered these beautiful Proven?al arches of yours - they bring back memories of my misspent youth (I slept beneath many arches in the south of France, as well as in Paris)...

Some of the flatter designs look precarious, though, e.g. No. 5 seems to be held up by its Ferrurerie sign :-); 12 is stunning with its use of just three blocks; 13 looks more like a hewn lintel to me; 15 seems doomed, not domed :-) but 18 is a superb Roman arch and No. 20 is so lovely and decorative that I'll try to emulated it as an oven door arch.

Thanks for showing us your collection.

Ciao,
Carioca

NB:Have you tried the free Google Picasa for managing, uploading to a web album and in particular, exporting pictures in a thumb-nail suited form (320 x 340 pixels, from memory) for e-mailing - or indeed posting at the Forno Bravo forum. I did this twice and it worked a charm...

[james]

Isn't it a long way from Paris to Australia?
James

Good lead on the Google tool. As a self-taught web developer, I have a reasonable collection of graphics tools and toys -- plus I am a big Macintosh fan.