4 1/2" Angle Grinders - How Many??

[crash325]

My "Porter Cable" grinder is on the way out. A little over 3 years of use & abuse. But I don't think 1 grinder is enough anymore. Spend way too much time changing wheels. I was thinking 4 would be about right. Maybe 5 would be a lot better? Thinking of grinders in the $30.00 price range.

Was looking the other day, thinking maybe get a high quality 1. Looked at 1 with multi. speed, anyone ever try one?? But for the same price I can get 3 or 4 cheap ones.

Your thoughts??

 

[grsthegreat]

I never tried a variable speed hand grinder, but i made the mistake of buying a 6" Makita hand/angle grinder....dont mean to say its a bad piece of equipment...cause its a great tool. But its so dang heavy that my arms get to ache after 30 minutes of grinding away. I kinda miss my old, light 4" tool.. This thing is like 5-6 pounds, and after awhile of holding it at head height grinding away, it gets to me. I hate getting old.

 

[Haywire]

I have 2, only use 1. I just swap back and forth. I'm limited by number of outlets anyway. If I wasn't switching between grinding wheel and wire wheel, I would be untangling cords and unplugging/plugging in all the time.

Ian

 

[k0ua]

I have 4 grinders, A 4 inch Makita, 4 1/2 inch Harbor Freight, 4 1/2 Ryobi, and a 7 inch old all metal Skill that must weigh 20 lbs. When you grinding with it, you just set in down at an angle, no pressure necessary. On my last project, (pin on bucket conversion) I wanted another one. 4 of the 4 1/2 size is about right: cutter wheel, grinding wheel. wire brush, and flap sander wheel for blending. need em all.

James K0UA

 

[grsthegreat]

I have 2, only use 1. I just swap back and forth. I'm limited by number of outlets anyway. If I wasn't switching between grinding wheel and wire wheel, I would be untangling cords and unplugging/plugging in all the time.

Ian

I see some wiring jobs in your future.. hehe. I added two separate sets of outlets to my work/welding bench...i still get the dang cords all tangled up. And then mix the mig welder hose into the mess....

 

[shiftyguy]

I also have 2 grinders and I am thinking about getting a third. This way I can have a grinder, a sanding disc, and a wire wheel on each. Some projects require the use of all three. It will be a lot faster to swap out whole tool than looking for wrenches to swap out the attachments.

 

[Haywire]

6" Makita hand/angle grinder

I considered one of those till I picked it up off the shelf at Lowes. I put it back down and got a handful of 4.5" cutoff wheels. They were much lighter.

Ian

 

[grsthegreat]

I also have 2 grinders and I am thinking about getting a third. This way I can have a grinder, a sanding disc, and a wire wheel on each. Some projects require the use of all three. It will be a lot faster to swap out whole tool than looking for wrenches to swap out the attachments.

Or simply have a 3rd arm attached.......think of the fun you can have then :laughing:.

Women would love that..they could apply makeup, drink their lotte, talk on the cell phone all at the same time while driving...no wait. they would need 4 arms then.

 

[Bird]

Now if you really want to go first class, get a Sioux 1285.:laughing: I couldn't afford them myself, but when I was working on air tools, I repaired several for one of my customers (a freight company's trailer rebuild shop) who had several old ones that got a lot of use.

 

[crash325]

Now if you really want to go first class, get a Sioux 1285.:laughing: I couldn't afford them myself, but when I was working on air tools, I repaired several for one of my customers (a freight company's trailer rebuild shop) who had several old ones that got a lot of use.

Now is the time to buy Look at the savings. :laughing:

MSRP: $851.84
Price: $683.26
You Save: $168.58 (20 %) :thumbsup:

 

[crash325]

I have 4 grinders, A 4 inch Makita, 4 1/2 inch Harbor Freight, 4 1/2 Ryobi, and a 7 inch old all metal Skill that must weigh 20 lbs. When you grinding with it, you just set in down at an angle, no pressure necessary. On my last project, (pin on bucket conversion) I wanted another one. 4 of the 4 1/2 size is about right: cutter wheel, grinding wheel. wire brush, and flap sander wheel for blending. need em all.

James K0UA

Think I want to get all the same brand (Porter Cable?), as they die parts can be switched around. Current grinder the switch crapped out. Not really meant to be fixed, got it working, except it would not turn off. Fix again, spring on lock was dead. Now goes on & off, but no lock on.

Though about a larger grinder, just not as handy as the 4.5".

A heavy duty power strip will take care of the plugs as only 1 tool will be in use at any one time. Quicker to un-tangle cords than changing wheels.

Slitting wheel, grinding, wire brush ( wheel & cup ) Flap wheel or sanding sheet. I'm loosing count?? :laughing::confused2:

 

[whistlepig]

I have a Milwaukee 4 1/2" grinder that I have owned for 20 years now. I used to mow commercially and have sharpened mower blades hundreds of times with this grinder. I have used this same grinder to cut brick. I still sharpen mower blades with it and use cut off wheels with it. 4 1/2" seems the best size for me for the kind of work I do with a grinder. If this Milwaukee was to fail I would buy another Milwaukee. This is by far the most dependable corded tool I have ever owned. Milwaukee Tools | Power Grinders | Small Angle Grinders - Corded

 

[Bird]

Of course, I showed the Sioux 1285 because that was the model I've had personal experience with and it's a monster, but Sioux does make a 4.5" model also. I only worked on one Sioux impact wrench, but several of the angle grinders and several of their t-handle drills. Very expensive, in my opinion, but the most powerful air tools I know of.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

I hear that if you really want top of the line, Metabo is in there with the best.

 

[whistlepig]

I guess you have to figure out when to use air, cordless, or corded tools. How's that for a mess?

 

[crazyal]

I only have one, a DeWalt. I've bought too many 4~5 amp grinders that just got too hot while doing really hard grinding. Maybe if I wasn't so hard on them or didn't mind going slow and taking breaks the smaller ones would hold up. Now I only buy the heavy duty grinders, my current one is over 4 years old and is going strong.

 

[two_bit_score]

My "Porter Cable" grinder is on the way out. A little over 3 years of use & abuse. But I don't think 1 grinder is enough anymore. Spend way too much time changing wheels. I was thinking 4 would be about right. Maybe 5 would be a lot better? Thinking of grinders in the $30.00 price range.

Was looking the other day, thinking maybe get a high quality 1. Looked at 1 with multi. speed, anyone ever try one?? But for the same price I can get 3 or 4 cheap ones.

Your thoughts??

That's the ultimate quick change blade system!

 

[Bird]

I hear that if you really want top of the line, Metabo is in there with the best.

That could sure be true as far as I know, but I've never seen one or known anyone who had a Metabo.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I hear that if you really want top of the line, Metabo is in there with the best.

Big 10-4! I'd add the higer ended Milwaukee's are also up there..

When I started my Power Rake project I bought a cheapie 29.99 (think it was right around there) 4 1/2" Porter Cable from Lowes to supplement my good ol Milwuakee 4 1/2" so I wouldnt need to swap out Cutting wheels & Grinding wheels 75 times a day. Needless to say the porter cable is in the garbage and it was replaced with a Metabo (I also use Metabo abrasives exclusively).

That being said, I've got a 6" HF Variable Speed Polisher/Grinder I picked up on sale for 30 bucks or so and slapped a 6" Norton flap wheel on it and its been ok. I think the key here is Duty cycle...I work my grinders HARD, heck i've had the gearbox on the milwaukee so hot I couldnt touch it with my bare hands on more then one occasion. The Milwaukee and Metabo can take a beating and keep going.

 

[Bird]

I used to have a Craftsman 4.5" angle grinder and that thing sounded terrible to me right out of the box when it was new, but it always worked flawlessly.:laughing: Of course, I didn't have it all that long since I sold it in a garage sale when we had to move back to town.