Workhorse Tooling 101
Four tools can bolt onto the same machine and do four completely different jobs. Here's how to tell them apart, and how to know which one your slab actually wants.
What are you trying to remove?
Bare concrete, or something sitting on top of it. This picks your pattern.
How hard is the concrete?
This picks your bond, and the answer is the opposite of what most people guess.
How aggressive of a finish?
This picks your grit, and how many passes you're signing up for.
The whole page in one picture
Every tool below fits the same machine. They move left to right from refining concrete to ripping material off the top of it.
Smoother · Concrete grinding
4-Bar
2-Bar Curved
Triple Arrow
PCD
More aggressive · Coating removal
Step 01 of 03
Pattern is about how much diamond touches the floor. Less contact area means more of the machine's weight lands on each segment, and more weight per segment means more bite.
| Tooling | Aggressiveness | Best for | Why choose it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4-Bar | General grinding and surface prep | Smooth, controlled grind, good tooling life, consistent scratch | |
| 2-Bar Curved | Harder concrete, more aggressive grinding | Less contact area puts more pressure on each segment | |
| Triple Arrow | Aggressive prep and lighter coating removal | Leading edges bite into coatings and evacuate material | |
| PCD | Thick coatings, glue, mastic, epoxy | Tears and scrapes coatings off instead of grinding through them |
The everyday workhorse
Four bars put more diamond on the floor. That spreads the machine's weight over more cutting surface, which gives you a smoother, more controlled grind and generally longer tooling life. If you're not sure where to start, start here.
When the 4-Bar is skating instead of cutting
Fewer segments touching the floor means more of the grinder's weight lands on each one. More pressure, more bite, more aggressive grinding. This matters most on dense, hard-troweled concrete that tends to glaze diamonds.
More aggressive than bars, short of a PCD
The leading edges of arrow-style segments bite into material instead of riding over it. This is the bridge between normal grinding diamonds and PCD coating-removal tooling: use it when standard bars aren't enough but you don't need to jump all the way to PCD.
Polycrystalline diamond — when something has to come off
PCDs are not metal-bond diamonds with more attitude. They're a different tool. They tear, scrape and fracture material off the top of the slab rather than refine the concrete underneath it. If you've got a quarter inch of epoxy or gummy carpet adhesive, stop trying to grind it off with normal diamonds.
PCDs are removal tools, not your final prep step. Once the bulk coating is off, switch back to metal-bond diamonds to clean up the residue, even out the scratch pattern and establish your final concrete profile.
Step 02 of 03
Bond is the metal matrix holding the diamonds in. It's the single most confusing thing for new contractors, because the rule runs backwards from what you'd expect.
Watch the color bars: they run hard → soft going down the left, and soft → hard going down the right. That flip is the whole rule. Medium is the only one that matches up.
Hard concrete doesn't wear the metal matrix down very quickly on its own. A softer bond wears away faster, continually exposing fresh diamond so the tool keeps cutting instead of polishing itself smooth.
Your general-purpose choice for average concrete. If you don't know the hardness and the slab looks normal, start here, watch how the tooling cuts and wears, then adjust. It's what the Mule ships with for a reason.
Soft concrete is abrasive and eats tooling. A harder bond holds the diamonds in longer so you're not burning through segments on a floor that's doing the grinding for you.
Tool isn't cutting and looks shiny?Go softer.
Tool is disappearing too fast?Go harder.
Step 03 of 03
Workhorse runs 16, 30 and 80 grit — a three-step lineup that covers opening a floor, prepping it, and refining it.
16
Your aggressive metal. This is what ships standard on the Mule with a Medium 4-Bar, and it's a legitimate general-purpose contractor starting tool.
30
The middle ground, and where a lot of everyday work lives. Use it when 16 would be unnecessarily aggressive for what's in front of you.
80
More about refinement than removal. This is where you clean up what the coarser metals left behind and start moving toward a smoother finish.
Grit alone does not guarantee a CSP. Concrete hardness, machine weight, tooling pattern, bond, grinder speed and how many tools you're running all affect the finished profile. Always verify the profile your coating manufacturer requires.
Print this one
Find your situation on the left. Start with what's on the right.
| What are you dealing with? | Start here |
|---|---|
| Normal bare concrete | 4-Bar / Medium / 16 or 30 |
| Very hard concrete | 2-Bar / Soft / 16 |
| Soft or abrasive concrete | 4-Bar / Hard / 16 or 30 |
| Hard concrete and the diamonds are glazing | Soft bond + fewer segments or fewer tools |
| Thin epoxy, paint or light adhesive | Triple Arrow / 16 or 30 |
| Thick epoxy | PCD → then metal diamonds |
| Glue or mastic | PCD → then metal diamonds |
| High spots, aggressive stock removal | 2-Bar or Triple Arrow / 16 |
| General coating prep | 4-Bar / 16 to 30 |
| Refining heavy scratches | 30 → 80 |
These are starting points, not rules. Every slab is different, and concrete hardness and surface condition ultimately decide which tooling performs best.
Troubleshooting
That's glazing. The diamonds are there, they're just sealed into a matrix that isn't wearing. Work down this list in order.
You're on soft or abrasive concrete and the floor is grinding your diamonds instead of the other way around. Move to a harder bond, more segment contact, and a full tooling configuration.
Configuration
The Mule runs 9 tooling positions. How many you fill changes how the machine cuts, and it's one of the fastest adjustments you can make on a job.
9
6
Keep tooling balanced around the heads. Never pull tools off one side of a grinding head. And remember that tooling run in a reduced configuration wears faster — if you later mix those tools back in with unused ones, your segment heights won't match.
Compatibility
Workhorse machines are built to give you tooling flexibility. Alongside Workhorse direct-fit tooling, the Mule accepts industry-standard 3-hole trapezoid tooling, and the supplied adapter system lets you run dovetail-style tooling too.
Bond, grit and segment principles are universal. Whether you're running Workhorse tooling, 3-hole trapezoids or compatible dovetail tooling, pick your diamonds based on the concrete and the job — not the logo stamped on the tool.
Ready to order
Own a Workhorse machine? You automatically get 25% off all Workhorse-specific diamond tooling on every re-order. Discount applies at checkout.
