I'll try and catch up a couple of points here (okay. a lot)
I used the de-walt industrial grinders. Started with a 4inch, it died in a day, had to drive for an hour each way to exchange it. that died in a day too. 6 grinders later they upgraded me to a 4 1/2 inch because they were out of my model to hand me. It lasted for 4 days and then gave up the ghost in the same way. 9 (yes 9!) Grinders later in the space of 2 months saw the de-walt dealer hand me back my money and say that perhaps what I meant by "industrial" and what they meant by "industrial" were nnot compatible.
I took the money down the road and bought a hitatchi 4inch for $15 less and it worked perfectly for over 4 years (it was the grinder I took with me to the mines in Western Australia).
In Australia de-walt is distributed (and I think assembled) by black and decker. Enough said.
You do NOT want a speed adjustable angle grinder unless you plan to add the flex-shaft attachment. The circuit that gives you speed control actually uses power so that less power reaches the gearbox and the disks. Unless you have the flex-shaft you will just have it set to max anyway. (as opposed to drills and jigsaws, which NEED speed control).
Stay away from cordless angle grinders. They are verging on being toys. Even the 18volt stuff. If you do not need to "go remote" with power tools, then mains-power tools are always superior. The only exception may be cordless drill/screwdrivers which are just too damned conveniant in the portable applications. I have been known to use mine 2 inches away form a power-point and still not reach for the corded drill.
Wombat. Metabo tools are truly what the gods used to do Universe-Home-Repair jobs. The slow start function and anti-vibration gear is magnificent. The ergonomics are fabulous.
If I could have 4 of their 4 and 4 1/2 inch grinders sitting around the workshop I would be an even happier man.
I also use my grinders without the gaurds in place. I wear a leather apron when I am doing anything "iffy" and actually find that the gaurds have posed more dangers then they have "saved" me from.
This is stricktly me though! do not take this as a GOOD IDEA! I have a lot of years experience, fairly reasonable first aid and trauma training, no good sense, and a total disregard for the value of my own skin.
Even if you have all of these qualifications, I still do not recommend you take the gaurds off your machines.
(actually, after a scare with the Bosch 9inch I have....I would gladly fit the gaurd back on that one....if I could find it).
Have I missed anything?
Sasha
Riverforge
Angle Grinders - opinions sought
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Norman
- Archive Member
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- Location: East Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Contact:
Aaaargh !!! [img]http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/mad.gif[/img]
Too much info -- now you got me waffling on the other brands again [img]http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/mad.gif[/img]
Okay --
<B>This precise deal is what I'm looking at: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/taf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=37126
</B>
Good? Bad?
What??
BTW - on neighborhood stores - wandered into a local store, they had a Makita 4" at almost twice the price that HF is charging and the replacement disks at the price for one what HF charges for a set of 10.
------------------
Norman J. Finkelshteyn
Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505
The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.com/~silkroad
Jewish Warriors - http://www.geocities.com/jewishwarriors
The Red Kaganate - http://www.geocities.com/kaganate
silkroad@spam.nycmail.com (remove "spam" from e-mail to make it work)
Too much info -- now you got me waffling on the other brands again [img]http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/mad.gif[/img]
Okay --
<B>This precise deal is what I'm looking at: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/taf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=37126
</B>
Good? Bad?
What??
BTW - on neighborhood stores - wandered into a local store, they had a Makita 4" at almost twice the price that HF is charging and the replacement disks at the price for one what HF charges for a set of 10.
------------------
Norman J. Finkelshteyn
Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505
The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.com/~silkroad
Jewish Warriors - http://www.geocities.com/jewishwarriors
The Red Kaganate - http://www.geocities.com/kaganate
silkroad@spam.nycmail.com (remove "spam" from e-mail to make it work)
-
Mad Matt
- Archive Member
- Posts: 7697
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Ontario Canada
- Contact:
Norman: Looks good to me although I do have one concern. Many of the power-tool lines have names for the non-industrial line that make the tools sound like they are the industrial line. Pretty much every manufacturer has 2 lines unless it's one of those crappy chinese brands.
Look for other bosh products and try to determine what the industrial grade tools are called.
------------------
The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory
Look for other bosh products and try to determine what the industrial grade tools are called.
------------------
The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory
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Destichado
- Archive Member
- Posts: 5623
- Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2000 1:01 am
Richard:
The grinder you got is just fine as far as quality goes. If you've read, you know I'm a BIG Milwaukee fan, but really I'm surprised DeWalt hasn't gotten more and better reviews. (I use DeWalt disks exclusivly, if that makes any difference) The only problem I had with thier grinders was that it felt funny in my hand. So I didn't like it for the egronomics -but as we all know, one size does NOT fit all. So if you got one that felt comfotable, you should have a quite fine piece of equipment.
The grinder you got is just fine as far as quality goes. If you've read, you know I'm a BIG Milwaukee fan, but really I'm surprised DeWalt hasn't gotten more and better reviews. (I use DeWalt disks exclusivly, if that makes any difference) The only problem I had with thier grinders was that it felt funny in my hand. So I didn't like it for the egronomics -but as we all know, one size does NOT fit all. So if you got one that felt comfotable, you should have a quite fine piece of equipment.
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Sasha
- Archive Member
- Posts: 9362
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2000 1:01 am
- Location: State of permanent bemusement
Two principals for survival.
The terrain is not the map
The disk is not the power tool.
I think there are about 12 companies int he world that produce grinding and cutting disks in various qualities...then they just attach the sticker of whoever has commissioned that batch.
Cover the labels and I defy you to spot a performance difference between the de-walt disks and the Carborundum brand....
OKay...the epic tale of Sasha Buys A De-Walt Angle Grinder.
All this took place while living in Cygnet, tasmania. About 1 hour out of Hobart...where the De-walt shop was located.
Unit 1 : I took it out of the box. Un-tie-wired the cord and plugged it in. Fired it up without a disk fitted just to check it was all happy. About 4 seconds of operation later the noise it makes changes dramatically. I have just enough time to look down to see why it might be doing that. Bad vibration sets in for half a sec just as I am reaching for the switch. THE SHANK AND MOST OF THE TOP-GEAR OF THE GEARBOX EATS ITS WAY OUT THROUGH THE ALUMINIUM CASING AND HITS THE FLOOR AT HI REVS!!!!!! I get to do the "yikes!" dance as this spinning-top of Satan careens around my workshop....then I get to look into the slightly smoking hole left in my grinder. It gets put back in the box and returned the next morning.
Item 2: Get home with the second grinder and put on steel-capped boots before testing it.
Seems to be okay. I fit a grinding disk and start work on taking down some welds. Five minutes and my hands are going numb from the vibration. Check that the disk is on right. Everything seems fine. More vibration. Change disks on the off chance that the disk is what is faulty. Nope, brand new disk and the unit is feeling just the same.
Use on and off as needed for a couple of hours. On last use the unit casing glows for a second and the unit goes dead and will not be revived.
A bit of cautious poking indicates an internal wire has gone.
Return to Hobart.
unit 3 : Having been told that a wire going to the armeture had died due to vibration (for which no cause was explained) they gave me yet another grinder. Still no explanation as to why the first unit behaved as it did.
This unit seems to be fine. Works faithfully for four days. In quiet moments in the workshop, I imagine that the De-walt office in Hobart is having a party at not seeing me for a few days.
Day 5 the unit starts to overheat in my hand. Past the stage of being amused, and with a deadline looming, I keep working.
Unit now gets too hot to hold in a bare hand. I put on a glove and keep going.
Units starts to shoot sparks out of the air-vents.
THAT SMELL starts to be apparent.
10 minutes before finishing the grinding, the unit more or less seizes up internally. The plastic casing has become so hot that the labels have peeled off.
The next morning I set out for Hobart.
Unit 4 : The people at De-Walt take the time to take the unit apart while they keep me waiting. The conclusion is that the motor windings come wrapped in aluminium foil which is supposed to be removed as the grinders are being assembled. There are remnents of foil still clinging to the brushes of my unit.
De-Walt appologise a lot and say that they have run out of my model of grinder....I will have to wait approximately two weeks for a new one to come in.
I point out that that is just not goign to be the way things go.
Eventually they give me a 4 1/2 inch grinder which is a model or two up from the one I paid for. They appologise again and hope that I have better luck with this one.
After 2 days of use, the little brass threads that are bonded into the plastic and which the bolts attaching the head of the angle grinder are bolted into....pull out of the plastic casing.
I go mildly un-amused.
Back to Hobart.
Unit 5: The people at De-Walt are amazed. They tell me how few complaints they have ever received about their industrial products. I am strangely un-impressed.
They issue me another one of the same model as the last. I ask how many of them they have in stock and leave.
The reason that I did not select this unit in the first place when I was shopping for a grinder was that despite the slightly more powerfull motor, the switch is not comfortable and the casing is far too thick for comfortable one-hand use. The other reason I decided against them was that they have air intake grids half way up the casing.
Sure enough....
One week of use later, the unit has sucked up enough metal dust, welding slag and general abrasive crud to totally wreck the motor.
Hobart.
Anyway...the upshot of the whole long story was that De-Walt refunded me my money and politely asked me to please NOT consider their products for future purchases, stating that my idea of "industrial" may vary to theirs.
I pointed out that none of the grinders had actuallly lasted long enough to have their "industrial" capacity tested.
I buy a Hitatchi. It lasts for years and years without even the whisper of a hassle.
Now you all know WHY I have reservations about De-Walt tools.
Sasha
Oh Yeah....I used one of there impact drills on a job-site once....that is another ugly story.
The terrain is not the map
The disk is not the power tool.
I think there are about 12 companies int he world that produce grinding and cutting disks in various qualities...then they just attach the sticker of whoever has commissioned that batch.
Cover the labels and I defy you to spot a performance difference between the de-walt disks and the Carborundum brand....
OKay...the epic tale of Sasha Buys A De-Walt Angle Grinder.
All this took place while living in Cygnet, tasmania. About 1 hour out of Hobart...where the De-walt shop was located.
Unit 1 : I took it out of the box. Un-tie-wired the cord and plugged it in. Fired it up without a disk fitted just to check it was all happy. About 4 seconds of operation later the noise it makes changes dramatically. I have just enough time to look down to see why it might be doing that. Bad vibration sets in for half a sec just as I am reaching for the switch. THE SHANK AND MOST OF THE TOP-GEAR OF THE GEARBOX EATS ITS WAY OUT THROUGH THE ALUMINIUM CASING AND HITS THE FLOOR AT HI REVS!!!!!! I get to do the "yikes!" dance as this spinning-top of Satan careens around my workshop....then I get to look into the slightly smoking hole left in my grinder. It gets put back in the box and returned the next morning.
Item 2: Get home with the second grinder and put on steel-capped boots before testing it.
Seems to be okay. I fit a grinding disk and start work on taking down some welds. Five minutes and my hands are going numb from the vibration. Check that the disk is on right. Everything seems fine. More vibration. Change disks on the off chance that the disk is what is faulty. Nope, brand new disk and the unit is feeling just the same.
Use on and off as needed for a couple of hours. On last use the unit casing glows for a second and the unit goes dead and will not be revived.
A bit of cautious poking indicates an internal wire has gone.
Return to Hobart.
unit 3 : Having been told that a wire going to the armeture had died due to vibration (for which no cause was explained) they gave me yet another grinder. Still no explanation as to why the first unit behaved as it did.
This unit seems to be fine. Works faithfully for four days. In quiet moments in the workshop, I imagine that the De-walt office in Hobart is having a party at not seeing me for a few days.
Day 5 the unit starts to overheat in my hand. Past the stage of being amused, and with a deadline looming, I keep working.
Unit now gets too hot to hold in a bare hand. I put on a glove and keep going.
Units starts to shoot sparks out of the air-vents.
THAT SMELL starts to be apparent.
10 minutes before finishing the grinding, the unit more or less seizes up internally. The plastic casing has become so hot that the labels have peeled off.
The next morning I set out for Hobart.
Unit 4 : The people at De-Walt take the time to take the unit apart while they keep me waiting. The conclusion is that the motor windings come wrapped in aluminium foil which is supposed to be removed as the grinders are being assembled. There are remnents of foil still clinging to the brushes of my unit.
De-Walt appologise a lot and say that they have run out of my model of grinder....I will have to wait approximately two weeks for a new one to come in.
I point out that that is just not goign to be the way things go.
Eventually they give me a 4 1/2 inch grinder which is a model or two up from the one I paid for. They appologise again and hope that I have better luck with this one.
After 2 days of use, the little brass threads that are bonded into the plastic and which the bolts attaching the head of the angle grinder are bolted into....pull out of the plastic casing.
I go mildly un-amused.
Back to Hobart.
Unit 5: The people at De-Walt are amazed. They tell me how few complaints they have ever received about their industrial products. I am strangely un-impressed.
They issue me another one of the same model as the last. I ask how many of them they have in stock and leave.
The reason that I did not select this unit in the first place when I was shopping for a grinder was that despite the slightly more powerfull motor, the switch is not comfortable and the casing is far too thick for comfortable one-hand use. The other reason I decided against them was that they have air intake grids half way up the casing.
Sure enough....
One week of use later, the unit has sucked up enough metal dust, welding slag and general abrasive crud to totally wreck the motor.
Hobart.
Anyway...the upshot of the whole long story was that De-Walt refunded me my money and politely asked me to please NOT consider their products for future purchases, stating that my idea of "industrial" may vary to theirs.
I pointed out that none of the grinders had actuallly lasted long enough to have their "industrial" capacity tested.
I buy a Hitatchi. It lasts for years and years without even the whisper of a hassle.
Now you all know WHY I have reservations about De-Walt tools.
Sasha
Oh Yeah....I used one of there impact drills on a job-site once....that is another ugly story.
-
Euan de Morey
- Archive Member
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- Location: Scotland
- Contact:
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Tom Justus
- Archive Member
- Posts: 178
- Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Burlington, North Carolina
Fellows,
One thing Sasha and I are in complete agreement on is the Hatachi 4 ½" grinder. I have two of them in my shop. I bought the second while the first was being rebuilt (after 5-6 years of hard use). Milwaukee grinders are as reliable, but I don't care for the paddle switch on the 4 ½" model. I do have a Milwaukee 7" grinder that I use for heavy work (Milwaukee drills are superb). I have worn out in short order industrial grinders made by Craftsman, Skill, Makita, and Bosch in short order.
Any grinder will give some service. If you only use it occasionally on evenings and weekends, there is probably no need to pay the premium for top grade industrial equipment (yes, you do usually get what you pay for). If you rely on your tools for daily hard use, buy only the very best, it will save money in replacement and production time in the long run.
Best Wishes, Tom Justus
One thing Sasha and I are in complete agreement on is the Hatachi 4 ½" grinder. I have two of them in my shop. I bought the second while the first was being rebuilt (after 5-6 years of hard use). Milwaukee grinders are as reliable, but I don't care for the paddle switch on the 4 ½" model. I do have a Milwaukee 7" grinder that I use for heavy work (Milwaukee drills are superb). I have worn out in short order industrial grinders made by Craftsman, Skill, Makita, and Bosch in short order.
Any grinder will give some service. If you only use it occasionally on evenings and weekends, there is probably no need to pay the premium for top grade industrial equipment (yes, you do usually get what you pay for). If you rely on your tools for daily hard use, buy only the very best, it will save money in replacement and production time in the long run.
Best Wishes, Tom Justus