Pirate 4x4 banner

Angle Grinders

3K views 54 replies 42 participants last post by  budget76 
#1 ·
My DeWalt 10amp 4.5" grinder just craped in the bed after about 5 months of use:mad3: I am all sorts of bent about this partially because this is not even a tool I use everyday and also because I thought that by buying a reputable brand I could stop buying these things every 6-7 months. Yeah, not so much.

What brands have you guys been having good luck with?

Upside is DeWalt is sending me a new one but I do not have a ton of faith in it and I need one so I can finish a project with a deadline before the 2 weeks or more it will take my replacement to show. If I am going to have to spend bucks on one anyway to have as a back up I would rather cough up the cash now and have a good unit for when the new DeWalt gives up.
 
#2 ·
funny thing is that my harbor freight one is still going strong. it was starting to get loud and i pulled the gear box cover off and i found lard or something in there, i packed it full of bearing grease and it sounds better than my makita's.
 
#3 · (Edited)
second vote for HF. i picked up three of them when they were on sale for 10 bucks each, all of them have lasted longer then my makita. on my HF one i use the most i put a zirk fitting on the back, when it gets loud i just put some grease in it and its good to go.
 
#9 ·
Check out Metabo. You could literally buy two Makitas or DeWalts for the price of one Metabo, but they last forever and are one of the best grinders you can buy.

Note on Makitas: You have to diassemble & regrease the gears in the heads if they start running hot. The factory doesn't use a lot of grease and it gets slung off after a while. Other from that, they're probably the best inexpensive small grinder out there.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Makita 9557PB - one of the only grinders I've ever used that doesn't try to fry my hands, used them since 2002 and they usually last me 1.5-2 years. They are also very easy to neuter the little safety paddle switch, I like having a loaded gun around.:laughing: I grind a ton, and I hate using cheapo's because they aren't comfortable and get hot as hell, I don't like Bosch's in particular because of this. Milwaukee would be my second choice, noisier but they last.

Note on Makitas: You have to diassemble & regrease the gears in the heads if they start running hot.
X2

Usually what happens is the armature gets enough spatter on it that its done for.
 
#10 ·
I own both HF and Makita grinders. The Makita has served me well over the last 5 years and is still running great. I've only owned the HF units for a month or two and they work good so far, but vibrate lots worse than the Makita unit does. If I were a professional fabricator that used a grinder day in and day out I'd definitely think about something other than the HF units, but for the home shop you can't beat them.
 
#13 ·
I think the problem is how fast the dewalt spins. When it catches on your project all that rotational force goes right back through to the weakest link. I tore a dewalt apart after the same thing happened. If you count the internals it rotates 9 times for every 1 rotation of the head. If the head spins at 10k rpms then you do the math for the internals. :eek:

I bought a firestorm at half the cost of the dewalt and it has lasted 2x as long. Go figure. It doesn't spin near as fast but still cuts just as well. I'm done with the dewalt angle grinders for sure.
 
#14 ·
I've had the Dewalt 8 amp (I think) for years and beat the dog piss out of it. Still works. My friend who always buys cheap shit and get screwed finally bought a Dewalt 10 amp. Thing is brand new only used once and the motor went out. Guess he's going back to the shitty HF.:shaking:
 
#16 ·
i had a dewalt grinder for years and truly abused it and had no problems until i was cutting 70 year old tile and backing plaster in the house and it finally crapped out after 8 years. i bought another and it's going strong 3 years later. dewalt has my vote.
 
#19 ·
I burnt up a Makita and a Dewalt before I bought a Milwaukee. At the time I bought the Milwaukee, I looked for the machine that had the most hp and Milwaukee came out on top. It has been running strong for about 4 years now with no complaints (except that I lost the wrench for it :) ). Look at the hp on the machine you buy. It does make a difference.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I tried the HF ones, I broke one in half, and the other caught fire in the first 1 hr of use. Oddly, some people have great luck with them, but I think this is just a testament to their piss poor quality control.

I own a Metabo 6" round style grinder, it isn't all it's cracked up to be either, especially for a retail price of over $300. I had it in for warranty repair 2x, and since then have rebuilt it myself nearly every year. It serves mostly back up duty now, so it has made it a few years on the last rebuild.

I have a Bosch 4.5" I bought on sale at my local airgas. It was on sale for just under $100. It is a different model than the home stores sell. It is an excellent grinder, and is now my primary grinder. It has nearly as much power as the 6" metabo.

I bought one of the better dewalt 4.5" grinders at Lowes for $70 or so, it sees intermittent use, mostly light duty w/ a grinding disc. For the money, it is holding up well. I got one of the cheaper dewalt 4" grinders free on a rebate deal, I threw a 120g flap wheel on it, and used it very spareingly, and it was doing fine. I threw a 40g flap wheel on it the other day because it was the only grinder close to me, and within 10 minutes of hard grinding, it started to smoke it's windings. I laid off it, and it still works, but it probably doesn't have a lot of life left.

I would recommend the bosch grinders, over even metabo based on my experience. I won't touch another HF electrical tool...

Later,
Jason
 
#21 ·
I have a 4.5" Crapsman Professional and it still works great after about 8 years of abuse.
The orange 4.5" HF works good but is noisey.
And i just bought a Makita 7" and that thing works great and is a handfull to use. If you catch a edge with it you better have a good hold on it!
 
#50 ·
Milwaukee grinders have worked great for me.
Milwaukee makes a couple higher end grinders... 10 amp I think... Totally badass
My Milwaukee one has survived a year and a half of daily abuse. No complaints at all.

I bought it to replace a DeWalt one I had that also worked well, but the brush holder cracked and it was going to be a pain to get it working again. I went to Lowes to buy another one and noticed that the newer DeWalt ones had eliminated the top screw hole for the handle - you could only put it on the left or right. I use the top hole more than any for cutting sheetmetal, so that nixed the DeWalt.

The Milwaukee had that hole, which was the primary reason I got it. After using it for over a year I think it's a much better product than the DeWalt. I've now got a Milwaukee Sawzall and a corded drill and both of those are excellent as well.
Milwaukee, hands down! Those HF cheapies are not going to hold up and they do not have the power that the Milwaukee has. A new 4.5" model is somewhere around $75. If that is too much you'd still be better served by buying a well-used one on fleabay than an HF junker. I have had enough of the cheap shit, all my new purchases are always Milwaukee now.

Andy
 
#27 · (Edited)
What are you guys doing to kill grinders? I've had a TrueValue Master Mechanic (rebadged Skil) that I have abused for 15 years (weekend warrior fab, not every day use). The only think I've done is change the plug when I accidentally cut the cord. Last year I finally retired it to flap disc duty when I got a Dewalt. The Dewalt seems to run pretty hot, so I regreased the ring gear and that seemed to help.

I had one the blue $10 grinders (I think it was from the Homier travelling tool show) it lasted 10 minutes. I took it apart and it didn't even have bearings in the head, just a bushing. It went in the trash, no more $10 grinders for me.

There was another thread on here awhile ago that recommended the Home Depot Ridgid brand (rebranded Matabo) but since then, I think the Ridgid was redesigned and made by some one else now?
 
#30 · (Edited)
What are you guys doing to kill grinders?
I'm sure we're all plenty hard on equipment, but once you work in an actual fab shop you learn to hussle the equipment.

My buddies say I'm psycho with one, and unless I'm doing something they want me to grind so its done right, quick and they don't like the out of position stuff cause they are afraid of getting hurt. Plus they get sick of me razzing them if I notice a few minutes of grinding taking 10-15. :laughing:

Oh here's a pic of the straight 1.5 hours of abuse mine will see routinely. :D
The bumpers look die formed when they're done, actually picking all this stuff up from powdercoat tomorrow.


EDIT
Every brand has their cheapo models, so just because you had a Makita or Dewalt or Milwaukee that cooked doesn't necessarily mean anything. I have specific Milwaukee and Makita models I prefer due to comfort and reliability.
 
#28 ·
I recently bought a Bosch 5" variable speed grinder. They're pricey but the variable speed is really handy. I can slow it down when using wire wheels and flap disks so they don't fly apart, and slow it down doing delicate work so it doesn't remove material as fast. I've also had good luck running 3/4 speed and using the super cheap sanding pads that attach to the special backing plates.
And I'm sure my wife and neighbours appreciate the greatly reduced noise at lower speeds.


Paul
 
#29 ·
Orange HF 4 1/2" is the Timex of cheap grinders, as they take a likkin' and keep on tickin'. I've got four that have been going the last couple of years for an average price of ~$15/ea. The ability to go from flap wheel to grinder to cut-off wheel to wire brush is a real time saver.

The grease trick is a worthwhile mod and reading this thread, I've got to try the Zerk fitting upgrade. :smokin:
 
#32 ·
I have a Black & Decker grinder that someone gave me about 8 years ago, and it was probably a couple of years old already by then. Between myself, my father and my brother we've really beat the snot out of the thing. The gaurd and the handle are both long gone and it's starting to vibrate and eat the brushes, so I got a pair of the Dewalt 10 amp grinders on sale last weekend for $82 at (cringe) Home Depot. I haven't used them yet but I have a lot of friends who own these grinders and none have had a problem with them.
 
#33 ·
IThe gaurd and the handle are both long gone..........
So are mine, I think they got thrown out in the box it came in! :flipoff2:

I dunno, those things are more prohibitive at least to me than any good they do if you know how to handle a grinder. Thin leather gloves and good eye protection are all you really need.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top