4.5 grinder recommendation?

[dstig1]

Same here. Mine is equipped with a flap wheel and relegated to quick touch ups.

The brushless is most likely better like you say but I won’t bother.

Me 3. The cordless Makita is so useless I only use it when there is really no other good option. I believe they are better now, but mine is several years old that I got with a set of 18v Makita tools. But I have several corded Makitas and they are awesome. I picked up a $20 Northern Tools grinder that is pretty close to useless too. I think you could stop the wheel with your tongue and not notice it. That one only gets really light finishing tasks. i have enough good Makitas that I don't have to change them around too often and can keep them mostly dedicated.

 

[ultrarunner]

I inherited Craftsman from the 1950's, 60's and early 70's that are top performers

 

[Big Barn]

I hate any (corded) power tool that doesn’t have a quality flexible cord.

 

[herm0016]

my metabo should be delivered today. so we will see. hopefully it fits in the case of the ridgid.
I do really like the cords on the ridgid stuff, they have a light and an icon of the tool on the plug so you can see its plugged in and know what cord is what if you have several things out at once and are switching on the extension cord.

 

[flyerdan]

The Metabos that we had at the fab shop were quite good, they were well balanced, lighter than the Milwaukees and had plenty of power. If you use 6" skinny wheels for freehand cutoff wheels, Metabo makes an excellent one as well.

 

[PILOON]

Well here I have to agree with Eddie.
I have 2 Makita's and to me they are indestructible.
One lives with a wire brush and the other has thin cut off disks mounted.

I'll add that both were garage sale buys so who knows how much punishment B4 me.
AND I go thru a pile of cut off disks.

However I do help them somewhat as I routinely blow them clean with compressed air.
I'll add my usage is such that I need to occasionally re tighten some of the screws.

Another Makita plus is that their cords are of a quality that in the cold they don't become 'fishing rods', the stay flexible in the coldest days.

 

[not2old]

I hate any (corded) power tool that doesn’t have a quality flexible cord.

The lousy cords were the reason I wouldn't buy Craftsman power tools.

 

[California]

I posted above I want an 11 amp 4.5" angle grinder and I was waiting for the Dewalt DWE402 to go on sale.

Today I went to Home Depot and looked at the Dewalt. Its great but $89 with wheel was more than I wanted to pay.

Then I stopped by HF's Black Friday sale ... and bought HF's new Hercules 11 amp model. It seems near identical to the Dewalt. I got a bargain table one that appears new, except the box looks like it was used for football by clumsy children - crushed both ends and torn. Whatever - I paid $33.75.

Home now, the grinder checks out as-new. A new toy!

Here's the coupon for this grinder. I think its a good buy at this coupon price.

(I'm going to duplicate this post over in the HF thread, to share the coupon).

 

[5030]

I'm a fan of buying 5 cheap Harbor Freight grinders for the price of a single nice grinder. At $20 each they are disposable & you can have a few with different wheels on ready to go without grabbing wrenches.

I'm with you 100%. I buy the least expensive angle grinders and run the bags out of them until I find the smoke\ and I can find the smoke in all of them (expensive or cheap) at some point. I don't mind landfilling a cheap grinder however. Just smoked a Makita a couple days ago. Man did it stink.

Not a plug for HF but I have a Bauer 20 volt 4.5" angle grinder that I keep a cutoff wheel on for jibs where an extension cord is impractical and I haven't found the smoke in it as of yet. I'm sure I could if I pushed it but it's only for cutting off bolts and stuff. Nice tool btw.

 

[5030]

One thing I do do when I buy an angle grinder (cheap or not) is, I take the gearbox apart and make sure it has adequate grease inside. I've found that the cheaper ones have little grease inside so I always add some quality grease. With my heavy handed use, they need all the help they can get....