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  1. #1
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    Default Angle Grinder recommendation?

    I'm needing to buy a new angle grinder.


    My old Makita was playing up on a job today. It is 30, so it's been very well used! A champion.


    I use it for metal cutting disks and predominately Arbortech cutter... The big one with three carbide teeth.


    The old one used two spanners, a major PITA - I'd like one with a press button lock, like the Domino.


    Does anyone have any recommendations for a good quality, quiet and featureful angle grinder?

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  3. #2
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    Cant help with any recommendations as my 20 plus year old makita is still going so have not looked at any others in a long time. Good luck hunting down a quiet one.
    Regards
    John

  4. #3
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    Thes all have the button lock these days.
    I have 4 of them, (all 125mm) Green and Blue Bosch, Makita and an old Ozito still going strong after ~15 years.
    There's not a lot between them, except the Ozito was always a bit more vibratory than the others.
    I was going to buy a cordless Makita but after using one at work I was not impressed with the battery life.

    BTW if you are doing a lot of metal cutting consider getting a diamond cutting wheel while you are at it.

  5. #4
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    Four hey. Never know when you need a spare...

    I've the 18v Makita cordless drill and impact driver, which are totally excellent, but I simply cannot see how a battery pack would perform at the levels of intensity that I use my existing grinder... Unless it chews batteries like machine gun bullets.

    Why some things are cordless is beyond me... Other than the bloody ridiculous cord tagging scheme.

    I started looking around and was surprised at how expensive they are.

  6. #5
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    For metal work my most used grinder is a 5/6" Dewalt. Its' lower spindle speed of 9k makes abrasive cutting wheels and flap disc's last longer than the smaller 4"/4.5" 13k Dewalts I have. Another plus is the extended handle, allows for more control than the designs that are gripped around the stator housing. For metal shaping with a flap disc I prefer the Bosch variable speed 5".
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  7. #6
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    I've gone from a corded to a cordless makita.
    Why the hell I didn't do it early I don't know.
    It's just fantastic to pick up the grinder stuff a battery in it do what I need.
    Not bothered about another extension lead.
    Saying that I only generally use it for 1 too 2 min at a time.
    Im grinding for half an hour or so.
    It also is a spindle lock and I just make sure the battery is out twist the disk on
    And a way I go

    Cheers Matt

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by woodPixel View Post
    Four hey. Never know when you need a spare...
    I use all four as they are set up with Cutting wheel, flap sander, wire wheel and grinding wheel, so it saves me swapping wheels.

    Why some things are cordless is beyond me...
    I believe the grinders are popular with burglars.

    Quote Originally Posted by rob streeper View Post
    For metal work my most used grinder is a 5/6" Dewalt. Its' lower spindle speed of 9k makes abrasive cutting wheels and flap disc's last longer than the smaller 4"/4.5" 13k Dewalts I have. .
    Cutting wheel wear is determined by linear speed of the wheel edge which is determined by RPMs and wheel diameter.
    A 6" (150 mm) diameter wheel @ 9k has about the same linear speed as 4" @ 13k rpm.

    Slower linear wheel speed actually increases wear because the cutting / grinding action is reduced so users push harder to maintain cutting speed which further increases wear. I have done tests with my variable speed mini-table saw and it confirmed this.

  9. #8
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    I've got a 5" 18v Makita brushless angle grinder which is handy being cordless but I only do a few cuts here and there. And yes it does chew through batteries so not great if you've got a lot of grinding to do.
    Next job I have where a lot of grinding is needed I'll buy a 5"corded one.

  10. #9
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    Talking about burglars, the next door neighbour locked the padlock keys to his shed inside his shed.
    He leaned over the fence to ask me if I had some bolt cutters and I said no, but I have an angle grinder and an extension cord.
    We're both on long narrow blocks and as our sheds are almost back to back the nearest power point to his shed was in my shed so I just passed the angle grinder attached to an extension cord over the fence .
    A cordless would have been a bit easier.

  11. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by woodPixel View Post
    Why some things are cordless is beyond me...
    Easy. Location work and quick jobs, as Simplicity alluded to.

    I only have a cordless grinder, which is more or less enough for my purposes. I guess there must be a fair few people out there with my limited needs, so the market is there.

    It was part of a 6 tool Makita kit that I purchased in 2010. Yes it stalls a little too easily, and yes I have to change the batteries fairly often on a longer job, but I have a good supply of 6aH batteries and it's just not a big deal. I had to cut quite a few roofing steel sheets with it and I reckon having a cord on the end of it for that job would have been a big hassle, and quite possibly dangerous. It was also to buggery down the back yard, and getting power to that site is not particularly easy.

    However, it would not be what I would choose for power carving - mainly because of the lack of torque.

    Having said all that, you may just find that there are 36v grinders out there these days that do have a fair bit more grunt, but they will be heavier.

    EDIT: if you want to stem the flow of responses to "cordless" then you should edit that line out of your post. They're useful. There's a market. Get over it.
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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  12. #11
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    I have a Dewalt 54v Flex Volt. It's pricey, but it's a great tool. It has the power of a corded grinder.

    Battery charging is quite fast as well.

  13. #12
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    The cordless versions usually only operate at 70% of the RPM of the corded which means more wheel wear for the corded versions.
    It won't stop me buying one, one day

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    I forget what it was, but I recently saw a new mitre saw that is battery or mains operated. Best of both worlds, and as battery tech gets better (and it will) and smaller I can see this dual power as the future for a great many tools, like angle grinders....
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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  15. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post



    Slower linear wheel speed actually increases wear because the cutting / grinding action is reduced so users push harder to maintain cutting speed which further increases wear. I have done tests with my variable speed mini-table saw and it confirmed this.
    True, the rim speed on the 4" is slower than the 6" which would suggest that the 4 inchers would be less durable.

    I've been using Dewalt branded 0.045" cutting wheels in both sizes. My impression is that the binder isn't holding up as well with the 4" and 4.5" wheels at higher rpm as it does with the 6" wheels, may be a manufacturing issue.

    Another factor to consider is that I am often working with thin wall steel tubings which seem to be harder on the wheels than solids are.

    In addition there's also less total abrasive available per disc in the small wheels. Here the 4" and 6" wheels are, at this point, comparable in price making the bigger discs the better buy.
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  16. #15
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    I’ve had a Hitachi 115mm corded grinder for about 19 years and can’t kill it.

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