angle grinder vs. disk angle sander????

[Boeing]

Just got back from Home Depot....looking at Angle Grinders before I bought at HF. Depot had Mikita(?) for $59...Japan; B&D, $29 China....and MILWAKEE (I thought that was in America?) CHINA....$29 The Mikita had 7.5 amps while the other two were 6 Amp. I noticed that the Milwakee and the B&D were much HEAVIER than the Makida. Light is usually nice for me.....or does that mean cheap? But wait....it was the most expensive? duh?

 

[SPIKER]

Boeing: if you are not running a commercial Grinding/Welding shop go with the Chicago tool HF special usual price is 20 bucks on sale 18bucks and if ya got A 20% off get it out the door with a bill of under 182.57 as you will probably buy 168 bucks of OTHER TOOLS you cant live without If I'm going to use the tools 24-7 and or to make $ then I look at higher dollar stuff. I've been using the same Chicigo HF grinder for about 10 years now. Still have the spare brushes that came with it too. I do admit to having tore it down & fixed the head but only because it fell off the bench & fixed the cord after repeatedly dragging it around by it.

The HF grinding disks too are fine for farm use I sharpen mower blades all time brush hog get once over 2 times a year. Usually they take the hit when it is knocked off but at 40 or 50cents no big deal...


FYI I also have used a LOT of Milwaukee & Dewalt as well as Makita. The 90 bucks Milwaukee will tear you up when they catch and I have the scars to prove it. I'd rather stall the grinder than have it grind off a nipple when it snags your shirt. (got real close to doing that once with a paddle switch dewalt When they catch something you can't let go of the paddle switches fast enough to stop from hurting yourself bad,. I also a scar on back of my hand/finger & Thumb from a paddle switch Milwaukee that took off when grinding something I was holding in other hand. Needless to say I tossed that dam thing & wont own a another one. Slide switches & Trigger switches as I have a 9" HF HD grinder/buffer I bought to cut concrete with. WOrks great but heavy for my ole beatup hands.
MM

 

[TRR]

Since we've gotten into HF tools, I'll add my 2cents. As far a grinders go I have several including Dewalt, Black&Decker, and HF. They all work "fine" - they grind and cut just like they are supposed to and you can't tell the difference when you're done. However, I reach for my Dewalt first because it is just so much nicer to use. When it comes to HF motorized tools, my feeling is that they are fine #1) if the person already knows how to handle that kind of tool #2) for the occasional user where the results don't matter. HF tools have their place, but I'm pretty much with Eddie Walker on this.

Here's an example to clarify what I mean: I learned wood turning on an expensive lathe (about 10x the cost of a HF machine). I can use that knowledge and skill to get good results from a HF lathe with a lot of effort and difficulty that would not be necessary on a better tool, and that someone trying to learn would get very frustrated with and probably give up. (And, yes, I know a lathe is not in the same ballpark as a grinder, but this is intended as clarification for what I said in the first paragraph.)

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I'm old enough to have been through the sorting of stuff that happens after a bud passes on. One of the things that will not be said by those who go through my stuff after I'm gone is "this looks like it came from Harbor Freight."

I bought my last Craftsman electric tool after I bought a Bosch 9" grinder. The Bosch was on sale and I needed a backup for my best Craftsman that I could buy. I put a disc on the Bosch and after one use gave the Craftsman to my wife to put in the Goodwill box.

Here's why: the Craftsman would almost come out of your arms when you squeezed the trigger. It had so much power that it was actually dangerous to use. But I could stall out the Craftsman pushing it into steel. The Bosch on the other hand had no torque twist. And it was impossible to stall out. The difference between the tools wasn't just the efficiency, it was the control.

I find the same thing with the small grinders. I can grab a $200.00 DeWalt 4.5 inch and it is like a balanced framing hammer when hammering nails. The box store Milwaukee, Bosch, DeWalt, etc are like using a 99 cent hammer you get at Hobby Lobby or Dollar General.

Keep in mind, I lose myself when I work with metal, stone or wood. I experience it and I want that experience to be the best it can be.

BTW, I would love to be a fly on the wall when they go through my stuff after I'm gone. "I wonder what the old man used this for?" will be the most common statement.