Need a new corded angle grinder

[Dick in Wisconsin]

My Sears Craftsman corded angle grinder is shot. Went to use it, working fire up. Took it apart and inside of the motor was all loose parts. I presume it can't be fixed. I had it probably seven or eight years. Hardly ever used it.

So ... What is a decent replacement? Harbor Freight? Another Craftsman? I don't use it very often. I'll start using to grind the edges of the floor of the new shop to prep it for Rust Bullet. Then use it around the house, shop, and race cars. Looking for something reliable, and reasonably priced. I don't want a cheapy, but don't want to pay $500 for one either.

 

[Todd.Brock]

I have been rockin a 17 dollar grinder from HF for 5-6x a year use for about 4 years now. Probably worth trying for your project and if you have to return it b/c it fails within 90 day, you have come out ahead.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

I buy the cheap $35.00 jobs at the box store ,as much as my 4 1/2" grinders get borrowed and never find their way home its not worth buying the expensive ones to me.
The cheap ones do run hotter than the expensive ones though,I can buy a lot of gloves for the price difference though.

 

[Justind97]

I've got a Rigid 4 1/2 I use quite regularly that I like. I abused the hell out of my first one and replaced it after 5 years with another. It was $100 cdn, most likely $75 U.S. Or so

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

I have been rockin a 17 dollar grinder from HF for 5-6x a year use for about 4 years now. Probably worth trying for your project and if you have to return it b/c it fails within 90 day, you have come out ahead.

 

[neophyte]

My Sears Craftsman corded angle grinder is shot. Went to use it, working fire up. Took it apart and inside of the motor was all loose parts. I presume it can't be fixed. I had it probably seven or eight years. Hardly ever used it.

So ... What is a decent replacement? Harbor Freight? Another Craftsman? I don't use it very often. I'll start using to grind the edges of the floor of the new shop to prep it for Rust Bullet. Then use it around the house, shop, and race cars. Looking for something reliable, and reasonably priced. I don't want a cheapy, but don't want to pay $500 for one either.

You can buy a less feature filled German made Fein Angle grinder for a $100 give or take. It won't have variable speed but it will be well made with quality components.

 

[LX-Markham]

I don't know if they are still the same quality, but my little 4 1/2" Makita is still going strong, some 20 years later.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

I don't know if they are still the same quality, but my little 4 1/2" Makita is still going strong, some 20 years later.

I can still remember back when Makita was towards the top of the list for everything they made.

 

[James-W]

I have a Skil angle grinder and it works quite well. It must be at least 15 years old now and I have had no problems at all with it. It is kind of heavy though, and if you have to use it a lot it would tire you out. But in my case I use it so seldom that it doesn't matter.

 

[Lippyp]

I bought a DeWalt after I killed a cheapy one in a couple of days cutting and grinding on my truck. Its been great. I also have an ancient Elu 4" grinder that just won't die.

 

[James-W]

I can still remember back when Makita was towards the top of the list for everything they made.

Have they gone downhill in recent years?

I have a Makita circular saw that must be 20 years old or more and it still works great. I don't use it a lot, but when I do use it the saw works as good as when I first bought it. I also have a Makita corded drill, roughly 12 years old, and that works great too. I really like the Makita drill, but I tend to use my Ridgid cordless drill more often than not because it is so handy not to have to deal with the cord.

 

[Hghgrad]

I use a handful of harbor freight $9 grinders. I just wore the first one out after 9 years of 2-3x a week usage. I've got one for each job. Grind wheel, cutoff, flap disk, straight wire wheel, cupped wire wheel. I don't ever have to change.

 

[volleyball]

I was pleasantly surprised by the 4 1/2" HF grinder.

 

[jlh92]

I've used a newer (5ish y.o.) Dewalt and liked it quite a bit. I have an older, mid 80's Makita that my dad bought new that still works as it should.

If it were me I'd go for an older quality one vs anything new.

 

[strength_and_power]

Metabo or Bosch have served me well

 

[crewchief888]

I was pleasantly surprised by the 4 1/2" HF grinder.

i've had a couple older $9.99 orange grinders for 6 or 7 years, havent killed them yet.

5-6 year old dewalt (~$50) from home depot

4-5 year old hitachi ($29.99) from lowes (blow molded case & 5 spare wheels)

if i was to buy another, i'd probably get another hitachi.

 

[garfunkle24]

Metabo or Fein are really nice but for value for money, the classic "rat tail" Makita
(9005B) is still a great grinder for the price.

 

[reader2580]

I bought my Makita grinder seven or eight years ago and still going strong.

 

[filtered]

I had a HF got maybe 10 light uses out of it. It was a POS. Bought a Dewalt 5 or 6 years ago and have used and abused it. It's still going. I also bought 2 Bosch slims that i've used pretty hard.

If I had to buy another one i'd spend the $50 or $60 for a Dewalt as much as i'd like to have a Metabo.

 

[Chaznsc]

I have a cheapo and a Bosch, and the Bosch will out grind the cheapo all day long. I still use both, but the Bosch gets the tough jobs.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Have they gone downhill in recent years?

I have a Makita circular saw that must be 20 years old or more and it still works great. I don't use it a lot, but when I do use it the saw works as good as when I first bought it. I also have a Makita corded drill, roughly 12 years old, and that works great too. I really like the Makita drill, but I tend to use my Ridgid cordless drill more often than not because it is so handy not to have to deal with the cord.

Back in the day they didn't really have any completion till the dewalt/relabled black and decker stuff started flooding the market.
I hardly ever see Makita stuff around job sites any more.

 

[firebox40dash5]

I have a cheapo and a Bosch, and the Bosch will out grind the cheapo all day long. I still use both, but the Bosch gets the tough jobs.

I have a cheapo Bosch It works.

I'm of the quantity over quality group on corded grinders. I'd rather have half a dozen $30 ones than 1 $180 one. Never noticed a huge difference in performance aside from avoiding the bottom of the barrel, and I can keep an attachment on each.

 

[littlefan]

home depot has a 2for deal on rigid 4 1/2 while they last 79.99

 

[NUTTSGT]

I buy the cheap $35.00 jobs at the box store ,as much as my 4 1/2" grinders get borrowed and never find their way home its not worth buying the expensive ones to me.
The cheap ones do run hotter than the expensive ones though,I can buy a lot of gloves for the price difference though.

I'd buy a decent one and a cheapo $15 unit from HF. Let them borrow the cheap one and if it doesn't come back, direct the next person that wants to borrow to go get it from jimmie john, bubba or whoever borrowed it.


I have a Cman Professional that has been decent for me. If I had to replace it, I'd probably look ta a Dewalt first.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I think DeWalt has better marketing......... Makita makes a very good product. I like my grinder alot. It can make the worst of welds look good

 

[NUTTSGT]

So I start lookign at 4 1/2" grinder because of this thread. I see that TSC has a 10amp Dewalt (D28402) clearanced for $69.99 and HD will price match plus 10%. (Lowes also has it for $74) So that would be $62.99 before tax, I think I might need to make a short trip to HD tomorrow.

EDIT;
Also moved it to the General Tool section for more responses without getting buried in FP.

 

[BK13]

I have a 4" Makita, a 4-1/2" Bosch Slim, a 4-1/2" Dewalt, and a 5" Fein. I like them all, even the DeWalt LOL, but the Fein is far and away the smoothest. The DeWalt is one of the cheaper ones I picked up for $40 or so on sale, and I can stall it out if I get too rambunctious. The Makita is smaller, lighter, and more handy.

I will have a Metabo some day...

 

[bartels_metal_works]

I have 3 Bosch Slims, and love them.

 

[Kirbot]

Since it was mentioned, just how good is the cheapest Fein?
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200635676_200635676

I wouldn't mind trying one, but at more money than a two pack of supposedly lifetime warranty Ridgids, I'm a little hesitant.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

I think DeWalt has better marketing......... Makita makes a very good product. I like my grinder alot. It can make the worst of welds look good

I was always taught that the best way to make a bad weld look good was practice.

 

[HMCFab9]

Metabo is supposed to be great. I like Milwaukee grinders personally.
I also have a Makita that has been good. I have 2 "tool shop" cheapies from Menards that have held up well too.
How much do you want to spend & how often you use it will be deciding factors.

I like to have 1 for each use (cutoff wheel, wire brush, hard grinder wheel, flap wheel, etc)

 

[sberry]

This should be a sticky, get a BD from Walmart and don't look back. Its a DeWalt in a red jacket and better.

 

[Copper head]

I picked up a Porter Cable, 4-1/2" @ Lowes a couple of weeks ago. At the time it was on sale for $34.97

http://www.lowes.com/pd_36866-79992-PC750AG___?productId=1208961&pl=1&Ntt=porter+cable+grinder

Much better grinder than my DeWalt 4-1/2" (paddle switch) grinder.


IMO,.....
The P/C grinder is a great peice,.......especially for the $$

 

[Zeke]

I don't know if they are still the same quality, but my little 4 1/2" Makita is still going strong, some 20 years later.

I can still remember back when Makita was towards the top of the list for everything they made.

Makita has been good to me but I don't buy many new tools anymore.

I'd get the HF as I have 2 plus 2 more Maktias. They all see use and last. The mounting of the disc is different. The HF uses a 5/8th thread and it's hard to get a wheel on a large flat surface such as a concrete floor. You have to buy a recessed wheel. the Makita is better for that especially sanding discs as they don't sell recessed sanding discs.

But for grinding concrete definitely HF because it's gonna eat a lot of abrasive dust more so than metal, paint or wood dust. If it lives you win. If not, you don't really lose.

 

[sberry]

I havnt used the PC but see decent reviews about them. A lot of the cheaper models, (not the cheapest) use same parts as the rest of them, simply different case and marketing.
I should try one. The BD we use we have tested in the fab shop, the reason I can recommend it so highly is because we put it in an environment that would well exceed the typical home/hobby or maintenance shop, we worked them hard for a long time.

 

[strutaeng]

I had an older Hitachi from Lowes that I gave to my B-I-L and still uses it. It was okay.

I bought a Metabo recently and it feels and sounds much smoother than my old Hitachi. Of course, at a premium price.

I've been wanting to buy another one to avoid wasted time changing wheels, and it seems like on these either buy an expensice Bosch/Metabo or a $30 chicom special.

The B&D that sberry recommends is listed at $40 at WallyWorld, not any cheaper than the rest, especially on the two pack deals.

There's this job that we have right now where a subcontractor is routing cracks in pavement, and boy is that a beating on these poor things! The guys rout and grind concrete for hours. They are using Ridgid and Bosch, for better or worse.

Bottom line: Anything out there should last for years for the occasional use of a homeowner/dyi.

 

[sk farmer]

somebody mentioned the c-man pro. if i am correct the older c-man pro, the older black and decker professional and the older dewalt and some of the older snap-on are the same grinder. a basic 4.5 inch grinder with a paddle switch. i have b and d and dewalt versions of them and if you can find them pick them up. they are rock solid.

 

[G_P]

I picked up a Makita for $25 at HD. It was originally a package deal that came with a diamond blade. Someone had stolen the diamond blade out of the package and it ended up marked down on a clearance table.
It seems pretty well built and has more power than my Craftsman. It also has a standard sized shaft on it versus the Craftsman which has a tiny metric treaded shaft requiring an adapter if you want to thread on any cup brushes or wire wheels.
I've used it a lot, especially with a knotted wire wheel and its still going strong years later.
I blow it out with compressed air after doing any heavy grinding or wire wheeling to keep the metal dust out of it. I also regreased the gearbox which made it quieter and with the new grease, the gearbox does not get nearly as hot.

 

[Monte]

This is an awesome deal: a FEIN angle grinder for only 65$ !!!!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FEIN-WSG-8-...184?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cf0b4df10

 

[Sanny81]

I bought the Black & Decker one from Kmart for $25 and it does its job.