Spectacular Grinder Failure

using the grinder as a cutting wheel ...

I think this one was 4 years old. Suffered same fate as previous one...

 

Well apparently the quality is less four years later.

Here is the one i bought today 30 minutes in.

 

Gotta ask why do you keep buying these cheap grinders, get a good Dewalt, Milwaukee or something similar. I have a Kawasaki that i got from my son about 6 years ago. he used his daily for about 4 years before it finally wore out. He was working in a fab shop using it to prep large assemblies for paint, about 4-5hrs a day.

 

Mikita ...............takes a licken and keeps on ticking ..........

 

Not so much if a day's income is lost when the tools fail at a jobsite. Or even an hour...
My Dewalts never say die.

 

Not necessarily. I have 4 of those and all four have had bearings replaced. I also have 4 Milwaukee, two much older than any of the blues, and have never had a problem with any of them.

 

You can get a reconditioned Dewalt from CPO tools for like $35. Can't tell them from new when they arrive. I punish mine a lot and they never complain.


49T&C

 

I buy the HF ones for throw aways when grinding out mortar joints. No sense destroying a decent grinder as any grinder's life span is likely short under these conditions. Won't use them in the garage though. I have bad visions of serious bodily harm when one them comes apart grinding metal. Mortar joints are relatively soft.

 

The first one lasted me almost 4 years. Not bad for $20.

The second one didnt make 20min.

I am at the crossroads if this next one melts down, i will be upgrading to something real.

I managed to finish what i was doing a bit ago, so there is that.

 

Here is what i melted the grinders on...

Using them to cut 1/2” plate.

Sure beat using a hacksaw.

These are roughed out for the ‘thru the bumper’ mounting plates that will go 8” down the frame, working on how to make it work for a clevis pull point.

 

Oh. I get now.

 

I have a Metabo that I've been using for years. Grinding and cutting metal, diamond blade cutting tile and masonry, everything... It is still going strong.

 

Wow.............4 decades of cutting and grinding and I'm still using the original Mikita...........although I also have two Bosch grinders..... and old 8.5 amp and a later 12.5 amp.....

Not sure what your using for abrasives..........but these Diablo .040 and .060 discs go through plate like butter........although you do need a spacer / shim to use the thin discs........cutting with a thick disc , like 1/8" or better takes out too much material and is hard on your grinder......

 

X2 on the Diablo stuff. Their saw blades, grinding wheels, etc. seem to consistently beat the competition in quality and durability. That's all I buy anymore.

 

Using the cardboard freight thin kerf wheels - tried the alox version, they work ok but don't last as long, tried the 'steel' version today - they last a little better. Will take a trip across town to see if I can track down the diablo wheels. I like their saw blades (my worm drive and crappy little table saw both have 'em).

Going to put on my santa list a new grinder - with a Binford 7000 approved 'more amps' ... these little HF 'heavy duty' ones only have 4.5A... not enough to really do a lot of cutting in 1/2". hasn't been a prob in lighter stuff.

Funny I just happened to think to get out the phone while these other two melted... I didn't think there'd actually be a flame on the first one, and the second, put out a cloud of thick greenish smoke before I could get away from it... it was still 'warm' when I took it back to HF and the gal there asked me why I was returning it ... "It caught fire". "Oh, yeah, I smell it..." (my clothes reek of it).

 

So far my 48 Willys project has eaten up 4) of the $19 Harbor Freight grinders. Thats spread out over now 13 years. I think I can get finished on this one I have now.

 

Home Depot

 

I've got a cordless Milwaukee M18 I've been using quite a bit lately. Not sure I'd want to cut 1/2" plate with it by any means, but it sure is handy for quick, light duty jobs. It will go thru the battery pretty dang quick if I put much of a load on it. I've been impressed with it though. It works better than I expected it too. It was a "free" tool that I got when I bought my last Milwaukee set.