Need a new angle grinder

[ez-duzit]

My favorites are my old 4-1/2" and 7" US-made Milwaukee's with decades of excellent service. Also have the 4-1/2" Bosch (crappy ergonomics) and Chinese Metabo.

 

[sberry]

I agree about variable for wire wheel. I use air for just that reason and if I was using electric much would get one with it.
I have only had one cheaper Bosch, didn't care for it much and it walked off anyway. It kind of spoiled me on cheaper grinders for a while.

 

[Ign]

Real men don't wear clothes when operating a wire wheel.

My instructor taught us when you're gonna take a heavy cut on the lathe real men loosen their belt and pull their wasteband forward - let the chips fly into your pants!!!

 

[redwrench60]

Don't forget to check pawn shops for quality lightly used angle grinders. Between work and home I probably have 8 angle grinders all set up with different abrasives and I've never bought one new. Most pawn shops around here sell them for $20-$30 no matter what brand or condition and are overflowing with them so if you select carefully you can get a near new quality unit for $25 or so. I have Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee and Metabo. There's lots of **** to pick through but you will find good ones too for great money.

 

[sberry]

The pawn is a decent idea.

 

[kngelv]

I have a Dewalt cordless that is just ok. I recently picked up a corded Makita 4 1/2” because I could not fit a dust vacuum shield on my main grinder. I had to grind some concrete on a slab in my family room while installing new flooring and did not want dust everywhere. The Makita was great. I have two main ones which are 5” quick release coded Feins. I got them for less than $50.00 each from CPO about four years ago. It was some crazy close out pricing. They are heavy duty rugged grinders that I like better than the Metabo’s we use at work.

James

 

[redwrench60]

I like my cordless Milwaukee Fuel grinder for a quickie job away from AC power like cutting the rusty padlock off that gate you never use or a quick cut of steel stock or flap disk weld prep. But when there's real work to do I grab a handful of grinding wheels and a grinder with a cord.

 

[tarbellb]

German made Metabos have been going cheap on Amazon lately, maybe do to the Hitachi/Metabo changeover?

Features def worth looking for that absolutely make a difference:

_ variable speed (dressing welds, wire wheels)
_ anti-kick back
_ safe start (never know)

Fein, Metabo, and my new favorite the corded Brushless Hitachi G12VE all have these features.

My M18 Fuel grinder is nice for those quick jobs, but like others have mentioned, when its a big job the corded stuff gets pulled out.

And dont be fooled, Milwaukee corded grinders are junk, steer clear, better off with Makita or the German made Bosch at HD.

 

[sberry]

It has been some time since I actually burned a full wheel off or even more 2 in a row. I use a grinder a LOT,,, or often more accurately but a wheel can last me a week or a month. When I started in this biz they were not even real common, rarely used them in Ironwork. Pipe fitters way more so. But there was a point where building more from real used structural steel was a thing, torch cutting lighter materials and most cutting has been replaced by plasma, a little easier for good finish that real weld grinding isn't used so much anymore plus,,, we got so much better over the years about leaving ourselves with the need to grind so much.

 

[tarbellb]

Funny, some days I go through half dozen .040" wheels.

 

[strength_and_power]

Funny, some days I go through half dozen .040" wheels.

Try the Walter Zip Discs. They cut fast and last a long time.


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[tarbellb]

Im also a believer in quality disc, ive used Walter, Weiler, Pferd, United, etc... all good disc and last much longer then cheapos.

I was more commenting on just often I use my cutting wheels [and fiber disc, and flaps, and grinders for that matter:]

 

[sberry]

I have used a fair amount of cut wheels but the plasma has really displaced a lot of it. I use a sawzall a fair amount where I used to do disks.

 

[erty67]

I have a Skil, Porter Cable, Dewalt, two HF grinders one orange and one black, and just grabbed a Makita cordless. I'm excited to test out the Makita but of the others I beat on the orange HF the most. Paid $10 for it like 7-8 years ago. The dewalt is definitely nicer but was 7x the price so it should be.

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