The present invention relates to a cutting-off wheel, with a diameter above 500 mm, which can be clamped between clamping flanges, with a mixture of abrasive grain, binder and optionally fillers, which extends from the outer edge of the cutting-off wheel up to the central bore, the cutting-off wheel being provided laterally with steel sheets or steel grids.
Cutting-off wheels with large diameters are used in the metal-producing industry, where, for example in steel works or foundries, slabs are cut. In this connection it is favourable to keep the wheel thickness of the cutting-off wheel as low as possible in order to keep the cutting losses of the high-quality and expensive metal materials low. In addition, a low wheel thickness means that the power requirement of the cutting-off machine falls as a result of which less load is placed on all mechanical and electrical components of the cutting-off machine with the same cutting-off results.
By reducing the wheel thickness the problem then arises that wheels which are very thin relative to their diameter have a tendency to wobble. In order to avoid this wobbling, attempts were made on the one hand to increase the diameter of the clamping flanges in order to stabilize the cutting-off wheels radially further out. The enlargement of the clamping flanges leads however to a reduction of the possible depth of cut as well as to greater moving masses.
In a second approach attempts were made for example with the abrasive wheels shown in JP 57 089 564 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,398 to fit an annular abrasive area externally onto an exclusively metallic internal area of the cutting-off wheel. The problem of a stable and lasting combination of metallic internal area and external abrasive area could not however be satisfactorily solved to date.
The abrasive wheel shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,600,064 has lateral supports equal in area to the clamping flanges. These supports are thus not capable of distributing the clamping forces over a large area beyond the clamping flanges. A radial enlargement of the supports shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,600,064 would result in a reduction of the possible depth of cut.