I Lost Two Grinders In One Day

I keep four grinders on hand. My Dewalt and B&D Industrial (same units,different labels) are for general grinding and flap wheels. I have a Porter Cable with a cutoff wheel, and my old Milwaukee is semi-retired to wire cup duty.

In the same day, the brushes depleted themselves in the Dewalt, and this happened to the B&D. I lost a pinion gear! (Pic was taken after I swapped cases.) Do yourself a favor and pull the cover off your gearset and grease your gears! The grease was dried up and these gears were dry.



I swapped parts around and created a Frankengrinder.



I blame the carnage on Cat Girl and her faceless sidekick.

 

I buy the HF grinders, got 4 I use. 2 died so for on my build

 

I've killed 3 of the $19 HF grinders got two of them around here somewhere.

 

Before Milwaukee was bought out, I would only use their paddle switch 4.5 inch grinder. Now I only buy the dewalt one because they are the best. I also have 3 or 4 and do the same cutoff/flapdisk/cupwheel setup.

Dewalt. Small, powerful, reliable and 100 bucks. Beat em and they keep working.

Last time i used a HF grinder it lit on fire. I though that was very funny and let it burn.

 

That B&D was old and abused when I stole it, er, I mean, received it for payment from a shop I worked at when they screwed me out of a paycheck 18 years ago. It has seen unthinkable horrors. I dropped it off a 3rd story catwalk at Rhode Island College. No harm.

One of the first tools I bought on my own was the Milwaukee grinder 22+ years ago. I had it for all of a week and seized the outer ring gear bearing. I replaced that and it's sounded like it is going to blow apart ever since. So noisy. That's why it's in semi-retirement/light duty. That was the beginning of the downward fall of my respect for Milwaukee tools.

I've been impressed so far with this Porter Cable grinder I picked up on impulse at Grainger for $33. I got it specifically for a cutoff wheel because of it has on/off switch. I prefer that for cutting. The cord is plastic garbage, but I was happy to see they redesigned the motor's cooling ports so it no longer sucks in hot sparks and redeposits them on your lips, like the old models used to.

Two shops I worked at only used Metabo grinders. I really liked them.

 

I've got 6 grinders, 3 Makita and 3 Milwaukee. 4", 4.5", and 7/9" in both. I've replaced bearings in all the blue ones.

Never needed to touch any of the red ones and the much abused Milwaukee 6096 must be at least 25 years old. Nary a problem with those or for that matter most of my other red tools. I don't really expect I'll need another grinder. But in my elderly life, that 6096 is getting to be a handful----

 

I always buy grinders with paddle switches. I often drop them and when the wheel is spinning and keeps spinning it can eat the cord or my foot, leg or run away. Cant have that. I think my last milwaukee left might be 15 years old?

I have a big 9" hitachi that I never use.

I never repair anything on my power hand tools for the most part. They either work or i buy a new one. I do like a spectacular failure that involves fire though.

 

I bought the cheaper HF grinder, brought it home, turned it on, wire wheeled the pumpkin on a d44 and it ignited.
I took it back, still smoking in the box. Bought the heavy duty one. Abused the daylights out of it. It lived outside this winter under a tarp. Still running. Sounds like it has rocks in it, but still running after ~4 years.

disposable.

 

I hate to say it, but my Harbor Freight POS is running strong after 10 years at a cost of under $20 bucks.

 

Iv got 4 old model milwaukee paddle grinders a dewalt and a big 9" metabo. The dewalt i havnt had long enough for it to go wrong I got it used a year ago I think i replaced the brushes and its been good. The milwaukees have been through hell and back. I have an extra that iv been using for parts for the last ten years and im about out of parts now. But iv had to mess with the brushes in all of them. New ones are 30 bucks so what iv done is when they wear out I just cut the wire and resolder it in a new position and that gives me double the life. And once or twice they have worn out the rest of the way so iv made some brushes from other grinders fit them. I dont know the model numbers they are so worn off but I use them everyday and they will last pretty well forever if i keep them alive. I had a porter cable 15 years ago and burned up the motor in that one. I never burned up the motor in any milwaukee tools they are tough