a grinder is a grinder, right???

[mikeswelding]

Yo, Norm

mike , Ive never seen a reset on a grinder !
.......... Norm

Yo, Norm-now you have. You must be a lot younger than I am.

[IRONLORE]

I have mostly Milwaukee grinders now, but there is a good electric motor shop near me that usually just put brushes in 'em and they're good as new.
My Makitas are good too. I used to go thru 2-3 grinders a year and would throw them out, but it's cheap to rebuild Milwaukees, so I'm trying to stick to one brand on all electric tools now.

[SmokinPRanch]

Seems all the Hilti tools I've used....their grinders, hammer drills...have been tougher than a bull in heat. We've got an assortment of grinders at the plant, Milwaukee, Dewalt, Hilti, Makita. The Hilti always seemed near top of the heap.

Tool changes are same as the others...5/8-11. The guards, when I use them, seemed to be easy enough to work with.

But it comes down to personal preference and past experience. Just figured I'd throw Hilti into the pot since they don't get mentioned too much and aren't as common as the other brands.

Al

[PatrickW]

The shop my best friend works at just got a contract through hilti where they lease a grinder for 2 years at say $80 but if it breaks they rebuild it or replace it for free.. and at the end of the 2 years they get all new ones if they renew the contract. Sweet deal but he says that everyone hates them, the tool changes are a PITA and the guards arent easily moved or removed, and then they burned a few up already only having the contract for a month or so. From the problems he described it seems like they didnt do their homework when they made them.

[SmokinPRanch]

Hilti

Hilti Grinding and Cutting Tools

[PatrickW]

Had a 4 1/2 dewalt.. keyword had lol, that thing went through bearings faster than cut-off wheels

And if your looking for the best grinder available..

http://www.fein.de/corp/us/en/fein/innovations/detail_grinding.html

[nfinch86]

My blood boils every time I see posts about grinders burning up! Why? I have 2 very old Makitas that have been used hard and overheated more times than I can count, but they still work. Why? Because back when quality and integrity was more important than screwing the customer to enhance the bottom line, these grinders were built with an internal breaker. When they got too hot, they would shut off. Give them a couple of minutes to cool down, push the re-set button on the back near where the cord went in and they were good to go.

Do you think these big corporations have somehow lost or forgotten that technology? H*ll, no! All they do is try to come up with new ways to screw the little guys!

mike , Ive never seen a reset on a grinder !
.......... Norm

[mikeswelding]

My blood boils every time I see posts about grinders burning up! Why? I have 2 very old Makitas that have been used hard and overheated more times than I can count, but they still work. Why? Because back when quality and integrity was more important than screwing the customer to enhance the bottom line, these grinders were built with an internal breaker. When they got too hot, they would shut off. Give them a couple of minutes to cool down, push the re-set button on the back near where the cord went in and they were good to go.

Do you think these big corporations have somehow lost or forgotten that technology? H*ll, no! All they do is try to come up with new ways to screw the little guys!

[Skip]

I have not seen the finished Musk Ox. Did you complete it or is it still in waiting?

I have many occasions to remove parts from the aforementioned Muskox in order to do details on the bench and then replace them on the sculpture...such as the underside of the horns.
This is like building a car...hard to get underneath and impossible to lift.
I use the Dewalt grinder to cut and fit.
Having used several other brands including Makita, I keep a B+D in reserve but I call them 'disposable grinders' so I don't feel so mad when it quits.
A nine inch would torque me across the shop.
More photos soon of the Muskox...summer slowed me down.
Hope you are all working hard and liking it.
Weldress

[Steve]

ALHA, Sorry for the delay, I wasn't ignoring you, just detained elsewhere. Most air grinders I have seen exhaust out the back so unless you point the back where you are welding it doesn't bother. You are so correct in clean AL as it only likes itself. I used the air grinder back when I was doing 375 to 400 outboard propeller repairs a season. Used it to grind the blades to finish so it was primarily for this purpose but also used it for veeing out stock as well. If you are done welding, a smear of Alumicut and a sait 41/2 AL wheel really gets it done. At another employer now and they really balk at the cost. Brought me some 10 buck Menard specials and they didn't last 2 weeks. I have a scar on my forehead like Harry Potter from catching an edge with the thumb switch type. Crawled up my forehead, hit the floor and it was still running, so it's paddle for me. At least with those you have to push in the lock. Good luck with the AL.

[welder_one]

she will be retiring in about 1 to 2 years, i will be sooooooo happy. it is funny that you can put someone in control of the welding purchasing that don't have a clue about welding except that the lightis really bright.lol

[DDA52]

proof? She needs proof? It is German engineering for crying out loud! Ask her if Mercedes is good enough for her. Metabo could easily be the Mercedes of the grinder world.

[welder_one]

cajun, i wasnt being offended by your comments. only stating that if i could use a 7 or 9 inch grinder i would. i did bring my milwuake from home to prove a point, and i believe that we are going to give them a try. i would like to try the metabo, but i cant talk the purchasing lady to come off of any money until she has proof that it is a good machine. this lady and i have had rounds about stuff like this. she wouldnt allow the swap from c25 to c10 mix to allow spray transfer because "we have never used it before, why start now" i told her before we didnt have a machine that would handle it, now we do. we have the millermatic 350p. it will almost spray with c25, but not quite

[HMW]

I feel somewhat qualified to comment on this subject. Pic shows a three or four year accumulation . . . note plenty of B&D's, Dewalts, Milwaulkee's . . . Just a couple years ago, I threw at least this many, probably more, into my dumpster . . .

Only brand I personally have found that holds up, in the 4 1/2" to 5" range, has been Bosch . . .

I didn't see any Metabos in that pile??? I too have tried a bunch. All I ahev now is Metabo and one 9" Black and Decker professional series, the old "wildcat" You cant even slow it down no matter how hard you push on it. I do have a Bosch 7 1/4" circular saw that has been great, Cuts 1/8: aluminum easy

[cajuncat]

most of the time a 9 inch grinder wont fit, if i could fit a 9 incher, believe me i would use one. faster removal, less heat, and less time changing stones or wheels.

welder-one i hope i didn't come across the wrong way about the 9" grinder.i totally understand that the grinder doesn't always fit.i find myself alot of times that the smaller grinder doesn't fit either and i have to use my die grinder to get in some spots.its just that i see with some contractors that we bring in at work the guys using the 4 1/2" grinders instead of something bigger and then complains on the time it takes or that their grinders are getting hot.i work in heavy equipment repair so there is alot of use for the big grinders and i understand in other fields they may never have the reason for a bigger one.it all goes according to the type of work that you do.so i'm sorry if i came across the wrong way.