Which 4.5 inch angle grinder to buy

[mjncad]

I've got a Bosch 4.5" and I'd like a couple more.

 

[drizler]

I used to have 5 of the cheapos which covered every possible use and brush / disk. Over time they all bit the dust, many with premature regularity especially the HF blue ones. The HF orange grinders seem to last a long time or at least did though their swithes leave lots to desire. Now at last only the Makita 4/5" that I got free when I bought a 14" cut off saw. The Makita is nice now that I broke off the safety on the paddle switch. The HF's were a good deal when I could get one for $15. Now days with them costing $30 I'll pass for the better brands. Those HF swithes are just too crappy for that much $$$ from me.

 

[chopped]

lookd like they changed the look fo the el cheapo one.
4-1/2" Angle Grinder

 

[drizler]

Heavy Duty 4-1/2" Angle Grinder

If I was getting one from HF I would go with this one. Why, because it's the exact twin of the one I had for 8 years and worked even after being buried in the snow all one winter under a trailer. I also read a few comments about buying "The Orange One". That seems in keeping with my experience as well. The others I had were blue ones and they broke their switches very quickly in nearly every case. The one you picture looks suspiciously like the one I got at Big Lots one day and the switch broke in a couple of uses literally. The idiotic safety switch made it a horror to use and it died within an hour of use.
It's a crap shoot with the HF grinders no matter how you slice it. The extra brush set is a real joke as thats the ONE thing you will never need. Now if they offered another switch it would be a better deal. With any HF grinder the switch is always going to be the weak link. Too bad they don't just make a simple trigger type with no idiotic safety tab on it.

 

[Soundguy]

i have a nice makita 4.5 grinder.. and past that every few years I buy a cheap harbor freight one. I wait till they go on sale for 9$ and get a couple. i keep one as a backup and run one for 'junk' work. I get about 2-3 ys out of the 9$ grinders stripping rust and paint and making my welding look better. somewhere int here.. say 1.5-2ys I install the spare brush set. at about 2.5-3ys something usually dies.. switch or gear head or brush holder. I toss it in a bucket. every couple years I dig thru the bucket and take 2-3 of them apart and build 1 working frankenstein. right now my franke has a wire wheel on it.. my 2yr old has a grind wheel on it.. and the makita a cutoff wheel. still got a spar 9$ job in the box had for a year.

I do the same thing with other power tools .. save the carcasses and see what I can do with em..


soundguy

 

[mlh29]

I too was in need of a new grinder recently.
I dropped my old milwaukee and tried to catch it. ripped out gord and switch.
About an hr later my spares ( black and decker 4.5 that walmart sold 4-5 yrs ago both burned up... entirly my fault didnt let them have a break and the one literally caught on fire...

I looked for a long time on the net. Went to lowes bought a 4. inch porter cable on slae for 34.99 paid an extra 8 bucks for no hassle 3 yr replacement. It came with extra wheels and seems to be holding up well, not the smallest but gets the job done.
I agree wholeheartedly that power tools have gone down hill... have a 3/8 magnum milwaukee drill that crapped out.. the warranty place doesnt even wan tt o send in as part s cost more than th enew cheapie they sell as a replacement. I will be pordering th enew cord, switch and brushes and fixing asap after this deplyment. Good luck

 

[N8ghz]

I have 5 of them, 3 Skil from Lowes, and 2 Makitas. The Skil's are noisier, but have been good for me. I got tired of changing from discs to brushes or whatever, so I got 2 more Skils and 1 more Makita. Now I have sanding disc, hard grinder disc, cup brush, and radial brush, I keep a grinding disc on one of the Makita's too.
The Skil's were like $29 and the Makita's more.

I very seldom put a wafer disc on, due to having a Ridgid 14" chop saw and a Milwaukee Steel cutting circular saw. If I ran one of those much, I'd buy another Skil.

Both have served me well and I use the heck out of them all. I suppose by having 5 of them, I average the usage of all? instead of having just one for everything?

 

[crash325]

I'm now up to 3 and think that 3 more is in the works. Not thrilled with any of the 3, almost new Ryobi with twist handle, Grade 2 H/F almost new and a mostly worn out Porter Cable.

Do most of my cutting with a slit disk on the Ryobi. It has run hot from day 1. But to its credit it has done a lot of cutting.

H/F called heavy duty is really light duty and also runs hot. Some wire brushing and a fair amount of grinding.

Porter Cable is about 3 years old and pretty well worn out. It has had some hard use, but not really been abused.

Not sure what the next brand will be. It seems like most all of them have some short comings.

Want to add a 7" model in the mix for some real heavy work and the ability to deeper than the 4.5" will.

H/F Slitting disks are real good. Better than the high dollar disks. About a buck each, hold up well and I have never had 1 shatter.

Seen my "Sheep's Foot" thread, all the cutting on it was done with the Ryobi grinder. 2/3 of the stobs were cut with a metal band saw, that being the only exception.

 

[drizler]

I'm now up to 3 and think that 3 more is in the works. Not thrilled with any of the 3, almost new Ryobi with twist handle, Grade 2 H/F almost new and a mostly worn out Porter Cable.

Do most of my cutting with a slit disk on the Ryobi. It has run hot from day 1. But to its credit it has done a lot of cutting.

H/F called heavy duty is really light duty and also runs hot. Some wire brushing and a fair amount of grinding.

Porter Cable is about 3 years old and pretty well worn out. It has had some hard use, but not really been abused.

Not sure what the next brand will be. It seems like most all of them have some short comings.

Want to add a 7" model in the mix for some real heavy work and the ability to deeper than the 4.5" will.

H/F Slitting disks are real good. Better than the high dollar disks. About a buck each, hold up well and I have never had 1 shatter.

Seen my "Sheep's Foot" thread, all the cutting on it was done with the Ryobi grinder. 2/3 of the stobs were cut with a metal band saw, that being the only exception.

You want to cut lots of metal get a 14" cut off or a HF metal band saw. Those things go on and on forever consumable wise. I had a HF cutoff and it died in 3 years of pretty light occasional use, got a Makita now which is better of course. My buddy built lightweight utility trailers on the side and used one for years. The blade sux but the saw is pretty sound.

 

[devildog1]

Many pros use Metabos. Also I like Makita.

Metabos is th best I have had mine for about 20 years, don't use it to often but when iI need to grind or cut off some metal it works just great.
DevilDog