Cut-off wheels and angle grinders

[davrow]

Knowing I would need it someday I bought a Harbor Freight 4 1/2" angle grinder when it was at a good price. Also got a 10 pack of metal cutoff wheels.

Today was the day so I pull everything out and start by reading the grinder's instructions. First thing it says is: "not for use with cut-off wheels".

Are their bearings too cheap to stand the side stress, or is this a safety issue?

(It cut-off my eight bolts just fine, thank you... )

 

[crash325]

Not to worry it will do fine with cut off wheels. I do keep an extra grinder around as I kill them fairly often. Also don't like changing wheels all the time. Sanding disks, wire brushes of all types & so on.

 

[Code54]

I never looked at the directions for my Dewalt but been running cut off wheels for years without issue - not sure why they would put that but am interested to see what everyone says.

 

[franklin2]

Do the cut-off wheels install ok? I know my grinder takes depressed center grinding wheels, and it has a metal back-up piece with a hollowed out area for the depression in the wheel. When I use cut-off wheels I have to put washers on it to support the cut-off wheel, I do not have the proper back-up piece for the flat cut-off wheels.

 

[adventure bob]

Problem with HF grinders and others is the cooling flow around the motor. It comes to a tradeoff between cost and useable time. I took a welding class and ate 2 HF grinders for considerably less than a Dewalt or Milwaukee. However there comes a cost point where you've replaced your HF grinder enough that you should have bought a more capable grinder. I would argue that unless youre using it a ton, keep on with your HF. While it may say no cutoffs, itll do them for a good bit before it overheats to the point of damage. If you want to see the capability of your HF grinder put a concrete surfacing wheel on it and see how fast it gets to the point that its so hot you cant hang on to it with gloves on. That's about 20 minutes by the way.

 

[crash325]

I have run my cheap ( on sale for as low as $14.50 ) for long periods of time with no heating or other ill effects. Most last for a long time with fairly hard use. Long cuts in thin plywood & even a 2x4 now & then. If you don't mind the smell of burnt wood or need a super straight cut.

You do have to make sure any disk is correctly centered or the disk will blow apart. Could possibly shake it apart. Even the high $$ type.

 

[thepumpguysc]

I had one that ate the gears in the rotating head.. I took it apart and found the teeth gone.
I was cleaning the rust and paint off an old machine w/ a wire wheel and was going at it for 2 days straight w/ a lot of side thrust.
Makes for a lot of noise when the gear goes..
but I had used it religiously w/ a cut off wheel before then.
I THINK the problem lays in the gearing, from where it goes from straight to angle.. cheap as ****..

 

[KennyG]

I have 4 angle grinders, a Hitachi, a Makita, and two from Harbor Freight. I generally do the grinding and cutting with the more expensive and use the cheap ones for wire brush and flap disc. One of the HF grinders has a cracked housing (I dropped it) but they all have been working for a number of years.

 

[Shaneard]

Here at work we have 2 Milwaukee's, one has a cut off wheel year round and the other a flap disc, wire brush or grinding wheel, whichever I need at the time. They are tough and have had zero issues over years. I have a DeWalt & a Porter Cable at home. My dad bought a 1/2" HF electric hand drill, brother put a 3/8" bit in it and tried to drill a hole, burnt it up and didn't get first hole drilled. No thanks on saving money on power tools for me, you get what you pay for.

 

[oldballs]

IIRC, my (major brand) made no statement like that ("not for use with cut off wheels"). Maybe HF got sued over something like that. I'd bet that half of the Angle Grinder are bought by guys like me, that just use them now and then. Thus, just any label probably would serve their purpose.

Even though I'm an old (really old) geezer, I like to buy the " best" one out there....Maybe the best one will make up for my lack of skill in using it.