Don't buy cheap angle grinders... scared the living bejesus out of myself this afternoon when the guard on my cheap angle grinder slipped off the collar and on to the grinding disc while grinding off some welds. Sparks everywhere, body of the grinder gets hot, plastic components and body warp, grease comes out, more sparks, more heat... can I find the off switch?... can I buggery.

Off down the shops for a new grinder with a trigger so if I drop it or throw it away from me at least it starts to slow down. Only down side is that it's even noisier than the old one.

Nerves are shredded

Stay safe kids,

Mark

She was sat on your shoulder was Lady Luck then... be careful is the moral here then...

I've slackened the screw on mine so I can turn the guard if I want to cut from a different angle. I think I might tighten it back up tomorrow.

I'v had 4 cheap grinders. None any good.

I'v now treated myself to a Makita. We'll see how that goes.

O, by the way Pete, this mayonnaise, isn't that added to steel to make hammer heads?


Paul G

i also had a couple of cheap grinders and never had a problem with them except they dont last very long if you do heavy duty work for which they are'nt designed/build.

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Originally posted by Cita
i also had a couple of cheap grinders and never had a problem with them except they dont last very long if you do heavy duty work for which they are'nt designed/build.

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I have four 'cheap' angle grinders, (less than £20).
A cutter, a grinder, a 'tool' with a cup brush and a 'tool' with a disc brush.
it's basically because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to keep changing discs.
All of them have been fine and not given any cause for concern. I treat them with respect and would not expect them to perform like ones costing several times the price.
For what it's worth the best of the four by far is a Draper one, it's the smallest, quietest and most comfortable to use.

Mick

For me, it was the Draper that lasted the least amount of time.
I had a flap disc on it, taking band saw burrs off.
After less than 30 mins use, (not continuous), the brush holder broke and dug into the copper segments.
Quite spectacular. Flames and sparks everywhere.
Perhaps I was just unlucky.

Paul G

i agree with cita

if you kept the screw tightened, you would be ok!!!

try what you did with a 9 inch grinder!

atb

steve

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i agree with cita

if you kept the screw tightened, you would be ok!!!

try what you did with a 9 inch grinder!

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I agree with the "decent tool lobby"!!

Buy good, buy once!

Buy cheap, buy several times! (and maybe lose a finger or your temper or both)

You won't be disappointed with the Makita..........enough said I think.

In the long run there is no such thing as cheap tools. You either buy cheap and have to replace or buy decent tools in the first place. At least that is what i've found. Rusty

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Originally posted by rusty nuts
In the long run there is no such thing as cheap tools. You either buy cheap and have to replace or buy decent tools in the first place. At least that is what i've found. Rusty

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The clever bit is knowing where to draw the line between cheap and fit for purpose.

Otherwise we would all have garages full of Mr Snap On's products.

Mick

Cheap grinders are very variable in quality but the variable speed 125mm ones Lidel (sometimes) sell are excellent.
Also quality of discs matters Bosch ones are only 98p from B&Q and last twice as long -- they also are less smelly!

Good point there Britishtrident! The quality of some discs are really shocking, the disc goes faster than the steel that it's cutting!! Yes the Bosch ones are very good in my experience. Again, not cheap, but not twice the price of discs that only last half as long.....if you get my drift!

Snap-On used to be (and still are) good because they got replaced when they wore out, i.e. you only buy once, but Facom and Britool, to name but two, are the same now, and cost less to buy. I love Facom stuff, it's so well made. The most used tool in my toolbox is without doubt the Facom 1/4" drive ratchet. It's so small it gets almost anywhere, but will still take enough grief to undo really well seized 13mm nuts.

I've used these and Machine Mart back to back and the Screwfix ones last longer and dust less. I've had 355mm cutoff blades from MM and taken them out as they were vibrating badly, scary in something like that.

I'm glad you've said that Pete, cos I have now had 3 Machine Mart discs break during use. One was on a 9 inch grinder and it threw it out of my hands, luckily no harm done, as I always do the really agricultural chopping jobs outside of the garage. In two of the cases part of the disc didn't seem very well "resined", and part wore away faster, putting the disc out of balance. The other one just shattered when it jammed slightly in some 6mm plate I was cutting.

I'll try some screwfix ones then in my next order with them.

[Edited on 2/1/05 by NS Dev]

Screwfix are flogging their 'Kinzo' 4.5" grinders for less than a fiver now. I've got 3 for the same reason as Mix.
One gets to do all the heavy cutting work and when it's cream crackered I send it back to Screwfix under warranty. It doesn't even matter if it's over a year old and the warranty has run out as you can get away with passing it off as one of the newer ones. Cheeky but cost effective.
Alternatively, toss it in the bin after cutting the 3 pin plug off.

While we're on the subject, I was wondering what the police use to cut through car wreckage to free injured ppl when there's an accident? Reason is, I saw them cutting away the roof of a car on the news, and it seemed really smooth, no sparks. Anyone know?

hydraulic cutters, but its usually firemen who use them. Brooky is an antisparky, so he should know!