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Opinions on good 4 1/2" angle grinder

Kevco

Cast Iron
Joined
Apr 8, 2007
Location
Farmersville, Ohio
Would like some real world opinions on what manufacture makes a good 4 1/2" angle grinder. I had a Milwaukee but the bearings have died after 2 years and honestly was never really impressed. Milwaukee has seemed to fall into "sell our name" deal as it seems their quality is lacking anymore. I'm I offbase here or have you noticed this too?

About 10 years ago I bought one of their Chopsaws. Motor was VERY weak and only got worse. My Buddy bought a Harbor Freight version and it's a dead ringer for the Milwaukee. Stampings looked like from the same die set and castings as well.


Anyway, any advice on what has worked well for you would be appreciated. Thanks, Kevin
 
The HF tools are all copies of real tools. I just bought a Milwaukee grinder, and I think it is made pretty cheap.

About 7 years ago, I bought a HF grinder. I needed one in a pinch, and was near the store. $14.99. I use it almost everyday, and can't kill it. I bought the milwaukee when I realized how old the HF was getting.

Metabo, has impressed me. One of my customers does hoof trimming. Dirty environment, full of cow shit. He pressure washes the grinders after every day. Usually he gets 1-2 years out of one.

Good luck on your search,
Josh
 
This has been covered many times. Try the search feature using the words Metabo Grinder...here's a good thread to get you started...

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/4-1-2-grinder-recommendation-226683/

:cheers:

Thanks guys.
John, I did do a search but stupidly just put 4 1/2" angle grinder. After sifting through 6 pages of posts with nothing I gave up and posted. Story of my life. Leave out the right , OBVIOUS , word "recommendation" Thanks for not grilling me too hard and appreciate the nudge, Kevin
 
My favorite angle grinders are the 4.5" dewalt. Tough little ba#&** they hold up great and are very powerful. I stay away from the HF grinders for heavy use. Have had several and they all burned up and were under powered. They are cheap though and an advantage is they are lightweight.
 
I've got four 4.5" angle grinders, all different. Makita 9557NB, Bosch 1357A, a DeWalt model I can't recall off-hand, and a Porter-Cable no longer made that looks similar to the current PC60TAG but has a heavier motor. They have held up well for my light fabrication work, and the usual replacement brushes, etc., are still available. Just bought another Makita to stick in a remote location toolbox.
 
I have a Metabo, Milwaukee and DeWalt. I like the Metabo best, but have never needed to do repairs on any of them, so dont really know which is the easiest to maintain.

one thing I find frustrating is that when you go any manufacturers' webpage you find a number of models with slightly diferent model numbers and prices, and the verbal descriptions do not explain the differences. (TVs are even worse!). So when you ask for recommendations, someone mught be describing their experiences with model 123X but doesn't specify that, and then you go buy model 123AX and it sucks. And now you're mad at that person and its not their fault.
 
Fein if you want to spend some money and a seriously nice grinder... honestly though grinders are a disposable tool in my book, I use Makita tools.
 
I stopped buying 4.5" grinders and buy 6" grinders instead. That let's me do small grinder stuff but run 6" cutting disks, which are also nice for some grinding. The higher surface speed of a 6" disk makes a huge difference.

Metabos are good.
 
Wait for a Harbor Freight sale, armed with a cupon, and pick up the max at 9.95 (or close) Have one for every tool, cup wheel, knotted wheel, grinding disc, flapper wheels, cut off discs, etc. If one starts to behave badly THROW IT IN THE TRASH and grap a spare out of your stash. For the price on one name brand you can buy 5, 6 or many more of these el cheap o. I can't afford to have a quality name brand grinder for each tool I use and not having to change attachments saves so much time (money) that it is well worth it.
 
I have both a 4 1/2" and a 5" Makita that are both running strong after well over 10 years of weld grinding. If they ever die, either Makita or Metabo will be the replacement.
 
I have a Milwaukee 4 1/2 inch grinder that I have mounted on my 16 inch South Bend with a Tru-trace hydraulic tracer. It has a 3-button carbide insert cutter mounted on it that I use for making spindles in with the lathe. In order to mount it on the tool post, I had to make a 2-piece aluminum clamp that went around the body of the grinder, and holds the switch closed. I designed the contour of the inside of the clamp using reverse engineering software on my Brown & Sharpe coordinate measuring machine. I made this clamp in the early 90's in preparation to turning about 135 spindles and newell posts. In this process the grinder ran at least 200 hours, with no apparent ill affects.

I don't think that my special clamp will fit a new model Milwaukee grinder, so I will continue using it till it dies. On the antique chair, I made 3 replacement spindles for the back. I was pleasantly surprised that I did not need any steady or follow rest support for turning these spindles as the grinder spindle turns at 3600 rpm, and there are three carbide cutters on the cutter head. My theory is that since the cutters touched the workpiece only intermittently and a such high speed, it was able to make the cuts without any bending of the workpeice, which ended up at about 9/16 inch diameter.

This is a trubute to the quality of the Milwaukee grinder, I don't know of a replacement will fare as well.

Lord Byron
 

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Bosch (the industrial blue ones, not diy green over here) are my every day choice. Metabo is good too, just prefer the Bosch but there's no quantifiable reason too it. Apart from the gearbox on the metabo (the 2 i have encountered anyhow) seams noticeably bigger and limits the amount of cutting disc you can wear up!

The above comments about motors and diffrent models need to be remembered. Having a low 600 watts and a high 850 watt bosch is a nice combination in a 4 1/2" grinder. Using the lighter model for lighter things saves a hell of a lot of arm ake at the end of the day :-) Yet the 850 watt one realy is the thing to go to town with when you have a few yards of weld seam to flatten and can not get a bigger grinder in there!

Above that i go straight for my big 9" bosch. I really don't see what going to a 6 or 7" gains you, you either need the power of the big grinder - reach of its discs or its easier to use a smaller one. Equally a 9" grinder and a diamond disc lets you cuts slabs and such with ease.

GO careful with the wood cutting discs, they can kick like a chainsaw! That said kept sharp they can do some great things!
 
800 watts is plenty for a 4 1/2" angle grinder. IMHO if your leaning on it hard enough to bog that down then chances are you need to be using a bigger wheel + bigger grinder. Or you need to be getting some better consumables!

As to the fein, last i saw of there prices were sky high. The industrial rated Bosch ones are very affordable in comparison! Metabo ones are about 25-30% more, but still justifiably good value for money. What ever way you look at it a grinders doing a nasty job in a very nasty grit filled environment. Its really not the sort of tool i intend to leave to some one in my will! Hence i really dont see what there is to be gained by buying a multi hundred pound angle grinder. The bosch ones will last normally long enough to go through 3-4 sets of brushes, a couple of lead changes. That's close to a 7+ years of tuff dusty hard industrial use. I really can't see the value of spending near double as its simply not going to double the products actual working life time!
 
Above that i go straight for my big 9" bosch. I really don't see what going to a 6 or 7" gains you, you either need the power of the big grinder - reach of its discs or its easier to use a smaller one. Equally a 9" grinder and a diamond disc lets you cuts slabs and such with ease.

Thanks to all for the added input. I agree with you on this. I have a 9 inch that I use for heavy cutting and flattening. It's a great tool. My need for the smaller one is that I NEED a smaller one sometimes to get into tight areas.

Typical situation would be this. You have a channel and want to flush out a weld on the INSIDE of that channel. Bigger grinders won't fit. The other problem I'm noticing is that a lot of the 4 1/2" grinders now seem to have the attachment nuts sticking out which doesn't allow flat bottom grinding, which is what I'm looking for. I noticed Metabo's quick tatch is like this. Is it possible to use washers and a 5/8" X 11 mounted nut wheel with those then? Is it an oddball thread? I'm used to just using the depressed center wheels on my small grinder. Tilting makes it harder to get it flat and smooth. I rough it in on an angle, ink it up, put on a new wheel and flat grind till fliush

MVC-019S_7.JPG


Like this when enlarger a box beam to slide on another box beam. A larger grinder physical can't fit into it.
 








 
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