When grinding or polishing concrete, good diamond tooling is an essential part of the process. With bad tooling you can have different types of problems arise:

• Not cut the floor properly
• Get short life out of the tool (wastes time and money)
• Fail to take the scratches of the previous step out of the floor

These are just some issues that you can run into when you don’t really evaluate the type and quality of metal bonds you are buying.

So the next question becomes, what should you look for? Here are 3 simple things you must pay attention to.

1) Segment Size

Most common metal bonds will have 2 rectangle segments. One way that manufacturers ‘cheap’ out on the quality is by shrinking the size of the segment. Most quality tools should have a segment height of 10mm.

Don’t take the sellers word for it though. Actually measure it yourself. We have seen it time and time again. A 10mm segment is really only a 7mm.

That’s a 30% reduction. This will affect the life of your tooling and make them wear out faster than you thought.

2) The Amount of Diamond in the Bond structure

Basically, metal bonds contain small pieces of diamond that are exposed and cut the floor. A good manufacturer will deliver consistent diamond impregnation in their tools. You should not see a drastic change in the life of your tools. (Obviously depending on your job types, the life could change)

So how can you tell if they are inconsistent with this? It can be hard to visibly see with your eyes, but if your metal bonds seem inconsistent in terms of life and ability, this could be the cause.

3) Segment Welds

You may not be a welder but you can spot a bad weld from a mile away. This is a very important one to pay attention to because it is a big potential safety issue. Segment loss is not common, but I can happen. You are more likely to have this happen if the welds at the bottom of the segment are not strong.

The easiest way to see if this is a potential issue is to make sure the weld looks clean. Does it look like it was made in a professional facility or someone’s backyard.

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So there you have it. Next time you're looking to buy metal bonds, pay attention to these 3 points and you will be well on your way to having great tooling.

To be fair, cheap tooling also has its place. What suits you best will be dependent on what your application and expected life is. But if you are serious about increasing your ROI by minimizing material and time waste, you want high quality tooling.