Grinders

[BentWheel]

i Have smoked 3 grinders in the past bunch of months. All new out of the box, dewalt, Bosch, and a new-ish Milwaukie- they all choked doing nothing but sanding! And suffered premature deaths. I have two old Milwaukees that have no business still going but they r the best.
anyone have any better luck with any particular brand/model? (On new perchase)
thank you in advance

 

[Blueff62]

i Have smoked 3 grinders in the past bunch of months. All new out of the box, dewalt, Bosch, and a new-ish Milwaukie- they all choked doing nothing but sanding! And suffered premature deaths. I have two old Milwaukees that have no business still going but they r the best.
anyone have any better luck with any particular brand/model? (On new perchase)
thank you in advance

View attachment 150722

Been a welder for a long time. Been though a lot of grinders . Best so far are Metabo.

 

[Gurryman]

My choice for small grinders has always been Bosch. I regularly blow the brush housing and armature off with compressed air. The metal dust can bridge the gaps in the armature causing a short and premature failure.

 

[winterking]

Makita 9005b has been a favorite for me. A little bigger than a paddle switch grinder but for what I do works extremely well, and has held up well. Local welding supply in Kodiak only sells Metabo and the makita 900

 

[Provincial]

We run Atlas Copco air grinders.

Pneumatic Angle Grinder LSV39 - Grinders | Atlas Copco

 

[xbskt]

I have been using an old Porter Cable for years. Long enough that the same unit might be made a lot cheaper in some sad factory offshore now so your results may vary.

 

[Diesel Jerry]

I have to ask the dumb question. Are you blowing and vacuuming them out after every use? I have never worked with aluminum to the extent you do but with glass work my dad taught me to vacuum the grinder first, then blow with compressed air, then vac again. Then wipe down.

 

[BentWheel]

Ha, I’m obviously not blowing them out enough, lol.

 

[Fishinengineer]

Have had good luck with Dewalt DWE402. Used exclusively for welding and cutting. Bought this because of the power, it's 11 amps. If you're using a 6 or 7 amp model you might be heating them up too much if you're leaning into them. Most of the welders I run into are using either Dewalt or Metabo. Some of the metabos have a slip clutch for the disc that's a good safety feature if you jam the wheel.

 

[Quik Fix 16]

Harbor Freight. Buy 5 at a time. They're disposable.

 

[kehoff]

before it lets the smoke out , shut it down when it starts slowing down , and cool it off or check the brushes , My favorite for heavy work is a huge old black and decker

 

[TAftw]

Grinding fiberglass will ruin them also, I take a piece of foam and zip tie it over the intake, I rip it off every week and blow everything out with air. I use Dewalt grinders, it definitely seems to help make them last.

 

[Bill]

I just buy craftsman or the cheapest one at lowes. When it goes I buy another one , put the smoked one in the box and return it ..

 

[goin4broke]

Fact is, the CEO’s of all the companies mentioned above can’t maintain their multiple million dollar salaries by selling you just one tool.

I remember in the late 80’s watching the movie Wall Street. The most memorable part was Micheal Douglas playing Gordon Gekko with the infamous Teldar Paper speech. Where he said “greed, for lack of a better word, is good”. There was a time I believed that. Taking something that was mediocre or failing and making a better product.

Ask me now and I’ll tell you the only thing greed is doing now is helping fill land fills.

As an example, when I graduated tech school, my uncle gave me a Milwaukee right angle drill. Used by the way. It weighs about 10 pounds and is most likely older than I am. Aside from replacing brushes, only once. It will chew through anything.

I just realized I sound like my father.

 

[steveinak]

harbor freight and buy the insurance plan.

 

[c1steve]

The Harbor Freight grinders I have used were terribly out of balance. The vibration was exceedingly uncomfortable.

 

[Aloop]

What ever you buy from Harbor Freight get the lifetime warranty version.

 

[SeacoastNH]

We run Hilti grinders in our fabrication shop. They get cleaned periodically. I like the idea of the foam ziptied that was mentioned above.

 

[Benny]

I get a lot longer session out of grinder (before it overheats) when I use a big one with an adjustable speed. A descent 7” with variable speed is great. You don’t need to be spinning a million RPM’s, I run it half speed with a big aggressive disc and it eats everything in its path.

I prefer a variable speed for wire wheels too, I’m sure we’ve all seen one of those get away from you and look like a loose fire hose. I run them all as low speed as will get the job done efficiently.

 

[leaky]

The issue I see with a lot of tools is just simply overheating. Why this wasn't a problem w/ 20+ year old Milwaukee grinders and is now - obviously some quality has been lost. Brushless motors do help reduce heat & I see they now make them in corded models - that likely is a good feature to seek.

With drills, if there's a lot to do, I setup 2 for what I'm doing and I switch back & forth. Same w/ geared 110v sanders. This way I'm not smoking them. I've never noted such problems w/ a grinder but I'd do the same if they seemed to be getting hot.