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Need some new grinders

Gatorgrizz27

Well-known member
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
756
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888
I’m down to one remaining Harbor Freight grinder and looking to pick up a couple upgraded ones. I’ve got a Bosch that I use for tile and concrete, it is awesome, except for the paddle switch. Works fine for that stuff but I prefer an on/off switch for metal. Been looking at Metabo, they appear almost identical to my Bosch one, and from what I can tell most of them are made in Germany. However they have so many damn models it’s hard to tell what the differences are.

Is this the best “bang for the buck” out there?

https://bakersgas.com/collections/me...tabo-603623420

It’s $113, I don’t need something for a mouth breather to run 8 hours a day but after seeing the light I no longer believe “a grinder is a grinder” and I won’t be buying any more of the HF units that sound like they are full of marbles and wobble from day 1.
 
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We use the W9-115 Metabo (99 shipped on Amazon.) They are (or have been) Made in Germany, Your link seems to be 4 1/2 to 5" where the w9 is 4 1/2"



Metabo has a clutch for when your cutoff wheel gets bound up. It's safer.

We normally replace the brushes 3 or 4 times before they go bad...sometimes a switch goes bad and of course cords are pretty common anyway. It's all easily changed out. One screw gets the case off if anything needs to be replaced.
 
I got the lightest Milwaukee with an on/off switch. It’s like 3 pounds. It’s great for using one handed to debit stuff with a flap disk. The other Milwaukee ones are like 8 pounds. They have more power but it’s worth having the weight trade off for me. Most people use a flapper instead of a grinding whee and finishing with a flapper.
 
Makita has good ones and you can still get 4" as well. Shop has Dewalt, Hitachi, Makita, and Metabo. I bought a couple Fein's to add to the colection. The Makita get used a ton bacuse of the smaller wheel, most are 10 years or older and haven't died. Metabo burned up several years ago and never got looked at again. Hitachi still work but are bulky and not as smooth and same with the Dewalts, they are more mid bulk. The Fein's are pretty new but slightly slimmer bodies (3 years old maybe). The Makita's are about the thinnest and still have a switch. Paddles suck.
 
Have a metabo of the lower grade model line that seems to perform pretty well. Had good luck with the high amp dewalts. Couple other brands havent been hammered on long enough to have an opinion.

I will say any brand will have a percentage of units that burn up after a short amount of use. One unit that goes to shit doesnt turn me off a brand. I was an happy user of the orange HF grinders and had one that lasted 15 years of hard use. I wish they still made that one. The newer burgundy ones are sh!t.

And I hate paddles too.
 
Every time I kill a HF grinder (which is less than yearly at this point) I go buy one and then within 90 days return the burnt out one. I now have a grinder for basically every attachment which is really nice. If you're killing them doing lots of grinding just get the cheapest 6" grinder you can find and use it for those jobs.
 
I cycle through grinders during long jobs. Run one until the gearbox gets warm, then swap out to another one while the first cools. Overall you'll get more hours out of each one.
 
I have a different grinder for different wheels.

Milwaukee 4 1/2 for grinding wheels Dewalt grinder for flap wheels (no guard)
And milwaukee m18 fuel for cutoff wheels
And milwaukee m18 fuel for anything away from the welding table.
All with paddle switches

I tried makita years ago and burned them up real quick.
 
I've got mostly Dewalts, one corded 4.5", one 20v cordless 4.5", one corded 7" monster insane power, and one 60v cordless 4.5/6"....plus a mastercraft 4.5" cordless that I rarely use. I've been happy with them and yet to burn any out but I'm also only grinding one day a month at most.
 
I have a DeWalt that can run a 4.5" or 6" discs on with different guards. It's pretty solid and has a dead man switch which I wanted.
 
I've got a Makita and Milwaukee 4.5". Both have run strong for years but the Makita stripped out the gears this year. About $30 and I'm waiting to give it a test.

I used to do the yearly HF grinders back when they were ~$20. I got sick of having to go 30-40 miles to replace them in the middle of project when they burnt up:homer:
 
Well, there didn’t seem to be much of a consensus, so I ordered a pair of the 11 amp Metabo’s I asked about originally. Hopefully they are a good mix of being powerful and compact, and run smooth.
 
Lil'John said:
I've got a Makita and Milwaukee 4.5". Both have run strong for years but the Makita stripped out the gears this year. About $30 and I'm waiting to give it a test.

I used to do the yearly HF grinders back when they were ~$20. I got sick of having to go 30-40 miles to replace them in the middle of project when they burnt up:homer:
Click to expand...

You know they're still $15-20, right?

Screenshot from 2021-03-18 20-19-06.png
 
I have 3 Metabo’s. One [email protected] amps and two w9-115’s @8.5 amps. All three seem smoother than a newer Milwaukee #6130-33 @ 7. 0 amps. I also like the guard better on the Metabo’s easy to change positions with gloves on.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Every time I kill a HF grinder (which is less than yearly at this point) I go buy one and then within 90 days return the burnt out one. I now have a grinder for basically every attachment which is really nice. If you're killing them doing lots of grinding just get the cheapest 6" grinder you can find and use it for those jobs.
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I’ve been running the snot out of 2 of these for the past year. I’m extremely impressed with them. Bought one for shits and giggles as a back up unit, liked it better than the dewalt I had. Went and got another. One for flap wheels, one for cut wheels and the dewalt has the wire wheel on it that hardly ever gets used.

https://www.harborfreight.com/corded...ard-64856.html
 
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Gatorgrizz27 said:
Well, there didn’t seem to be much of a consensus, so I ordered a pair of the 11 amp Metabo’s I asked about originally. Hopefully they are a good mix of being powerful and compact, and run smooth.
Click to expand...

shit, missed that you already bought some :laughing: 11 amp is a dang good size!
 
I have 4 of these dewalt grinders.

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWE40...nder&qid=1616129433&sr=8-1&tag=91812054244-20

I have abused them dropped them etc for the last 9 years every single day. I had to replace the brushes in 2 of them in all that time and those are easy to change and cost me $25 for a set of 10 which will do 5 grinders so money ahead. I also like the paddle switch that some hate BUT i like it since if it gets away from you it shuts itself off.
 
I have 3 of the Dewalt 11 amp paddle switches also, couldn't be happier. My coworkers hate paddle switches :grinpimp:
 
I’ve got a pair of Dewalt 4.5” grinders that I’ve been abusing the hell out of for years now. Love em. Like others, I keep a flap disc on one and generally a cut off disc on the other. Saves time and effort swapping discs around between jobs.
 
I have a milwaukee 5" rat tail, 11amp I think? That I like.

I use a makita with a paddle switch for tile but it doesn't see a ton of use.

I cannot recommend ryobi in the 2 for $40 pack:laughing:
Screenshot_20210208-102334_Video Player.jpg
 
We have a 4.5” Flex grinder for polishing.... lots of hours in hand this thing is top notch... 4 makita 4.5’s for diamond wheels (cutting tile and stone) we got them 2 fir 99 bucks clearance.... the sliding switch mechanisms are garbage... 2 have failed!!! Prolly why they were on clearance!!!! I’ve got a new 4.5” fuel in my garage.... little use so far (some emt cutting), love this thing so far.... also in the garage is a corded ryobi which is about 15 years old.... it gets the fuckin abuse but won’t quit...
Biggest thing to me is how they feel while working with them.... if your just getting them for rough jobs, cutting and such... doesn’t really matter.... but if you’re holding it for hours on the day... polishing and such, it’s worth having a nice smooth running machine in hand!!!
 
I have a makita I've been happy with for a couple years. We had a hilti at work that had been around for probably 10 years according to the boss. It got a couple sets of brushes and I think someone replaced a bearing in it at some point. Finally but the dust a couple months ago when I ran it until the magic smoke and melted plastic poured out of it. Replaced with a Ryobi, it works. Kinda. :laughing: Overheats fast and smells like burnt plastic. I need to "forget" to pick it up and run it over with the backhoe or something :lmao:
 
I pulled the trigger on the Makita 7". :mr-t:

$118 on Amazon... GA7062
 
My Ryobi has to be 15 years old now. No safety. No guard. Full on. Full off. Thing rips. It'll grab something and tear right out of your hand. Probably the only tool other than the big table saw that freaks me out. :laughing:
 
Gatorgrizz27 said:
I’m down to one remaining Harbor Freight grinder and looking to pick up a couple upgraded ones. I’ve got a Bosch that I use for tile and concrete, it is awesome, except for the paddle switch. Works fine for that stuff but I prefer an on/off switch for metal. Been looking at Metabo, they appear almost identical to my Bosch one, and from what I can tell most of them are made in Germany. However they have so many damn models it’s hard to tell what the differences are.

Is this the best “bang for the buck” out there?

https://bakersgas.com/collections/me...tabo-603623420

It’s $113, I don’t need something for a mouth breather to run 8 hours a day but after seeing the light I no longer believe “a grinder is a grinder” and I won’t be buying any more of the HF units that sound like they are full of marbles and wobble from day 1.
Click to expand...


I have that Metabo you linked to. I can tell you it kicks ass. Lots of power. I paid somewhere around $250 for mine and I'd say it's worth it at that price.

I just bought another one from the link you posted...............................Thank you Sir.
 
gt1guy said:
I have that Metabo you linked to. I can tell you it kicks ass. Lots of power. I paid somewhere around $250 for mine and I'd say it's worth it at that price.

I just bought another one from the link you posted...............................Thank you Sir.
Click to expand...

Sweet, good to hear. For whatever reason welding stuff seems to ship slower than gun parts lately, so I still don’t have them yet, but they are en route.
 
Gatorgrizz27 said:
Sweet, good to hear. For whatever reason welding stuff seems to ship slower than gun parts lately, so I still don’t have them yet, but they are en route.
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The new Metabo from Baker's Gas was delivered today. :smokin: That said, I'm still waiting on a 80% STI frame I ordered in Dec. :crybaby2:
 
gt1guy said:
The new Metabo from Baker's Gas was delivered today. :smokin: That said, I'm still waiting on a 80% STI frame I ordered in Dec. :crybaby2:
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Funny, mine showed up yesterday. Maybe they were back ordered. Haven’t used them much yet but the they seem wicked powerful. Wondering if I should have gotten the variable speed model. The cords aren’t as nice as my the one on Bosch, which is disappointing. For some reason stiff/kinky cords piss me off. I suppose because they tend to get tangled and tripped over.
 
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