'Leccy Grinders

[Snipes]

Has anyone tried a cordless Grinder? They cost a fair bit more than 240v/corded but having one that is actually portable would be super handy.

[cobblers]

Aye - I've used the Makita ones a lot, I really like them. They aren't as powerful as a mains one, and if you try and "dig in hard" when grinding they just give up and turn off, but if you cut them some slack and go steady they're pleasant to use.

They're smooth and a bit more gentle than a normal grinder, great for mild use, but if you have a load of 1/4" plate to slice up or want to flap wheel off ten square yards of plate then you'll be disappointed.

With a 1mm slitting disk in and using them for general panel work you'll be grand and the battery will last most of the day.

[Timewaster]

Never be locked out of anything again.

[Des]

I've seen one in use, a youtube clip where an aggrieved motorcyclist sets about an errant motorists door mirror, certainly added vivacity and panache to an otherwise common occurrence. I want one.

[catsinthewelder]

We've got a DeWalt one at work and it's a handy little thing,  it's easy to forget that it is still a dangerous tool when its quiet and smooth though.

[matty879]

ive got an18v hitachi,and its ace if you let the tool do the work and not force it to hard,expensive but a must if like me you frequent the scrapyards a lot really useful.

[matty879]

forgot to say,if your a welder they really come into there own,i recently did a rotten transit,took grinder to scrapyard and cut out all I needed,dressed it all up at home and did a proper tidy job.

[2MB]

As a handy tool for working on thin car steel away from a power source, great. To get you out of the shit on site without access to any other 'engineering solutions', useless. As long as you don't expect too much from them they are pretty good

[matty879]

As a handy tool for working on thin car steel away from a power source, great. To get you out of the shit on site without access to any other 'engineering solutions', useless. As long as you don't expect too much from them they are pretty good

as 2mb says great for car steel,if you want to cut thick stuff,maybe not,like I said in my earlier post,let the tool do the work.also if like me you cut bits of bodywork off in scrappy or even want to use it there get permission first as fire is a real hazard.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

These sound like a handy addition to my armoury for dealing with rotten old heaps. Any reccomendations for a good deal on one?

[garbaldy]

Mr B don't buy a cheep shite one or you will launch it in a pond.

I got a special deal on a Milwaukee and its got some guts, its the battery that makes them expensive that's why I am now going to stick with one make of tools as they share the battery's.

[dave21478]

I have the Makita 18v one, which I chose as I have Makita drills and it uses the same battery packs so I bought a "bare tool" on ebay which is just the grinder with no battery or charger.

 

 

Its been incredibly handy especially on little jobs here and there. By the time you have dragged out the mains grinder and got it plugged in, you would be finished with the battery one.

[Snipes]

I use makita sds drills at work (18v iirc) but I'm not overly keen on them. I have a dewalt speedy drill/driver and it's a bit shit. I fancy trying Panasonic gear.

[matty879]

europarts have them milwuakee things at my local branch,and try to sell me something from their range everytime I go in,the impact gun comes with 2 batterys but not sure on the grinder,im on the shelf as to the quality of these,as I don't own any,so cant comment.

but if their cordless range is like their diagnostic machines I would pass and buy a trusted brand.lot of Chinese shite in their stock

[cobblers]

Yeah, Milwaukee have sold the brand out years ago - I've had a few customers send us their stuff in to work to repair as favour jobs and when you get inside it it's really awful. Some of the stuff they do is still quite reasonable but it's a gamble.

[garbaldy]

Not sure about all Milwaukee stuff but the Impact gun I bought second hand is over five year old now, it has ran rings around the Clark mains one and I gave both my air impact guns away as they also couldn't touch it on performance.

I haven't used the grinder much yet though so can't comment.

 

On cobbler's post I have noticed different manufacture stickers on them some are made in Germany others elsewhere. Both have different warrenty periods.

[andrew e]

We trialled some Makita 7.2V grinders in the late 90's. They had the radio control car type long battery, same as the original pistol grip Makita battery drills. Looked like this:

 

 

When your in the dark, 20 foot up working on power lines what you really need is a gutless grinder that snaps out of your hand evertime the wheel bites. Quite possibly the most leathal thing I've ever used

 

Probably different now mind.

[Banger Kenny]

Used a 18v Ryobi job borrowed from my Brother to use on another Brothers Fiesta snapped coil spring that he managed to get to the dark side of Morrisons car park before wondering why it sounded funny..

Ideal for impromptu "get-u-home slamming"

Before

After (finger not to scale)

Also great for cutting to fit recycle bin

Sadly, I had to give it back to him. Battery life did what I wanted and had plenty of life left.

I want one.

[SiC]

We trialled some Makita 7.2V grinders in the late 90's. They had the radio control car type long battery, same as the original pistol grip Makita battery drills. Looked like this:

 

 

When your in the dark, 20 foot up working on power lines what you really need is a gutless grinder that snaps out of your hand evertime the wheel bites. Quite possibly the most leathal thing I've ever used

 

Probably different now mind.

Utterly, utterly different. It's all about the battery technology. Back in 90s, it was NiCads for lightness and Lead Acid for power. Lead Acid would have been far too heavy for a grinder. NiCads just wouldn't have the current capability to give the power needed.

 

Now we have Li-ion/Li-po cells that can easily match the power output of a power socket. For an example, you just need to look at the Lithium celled battery packs that you can get that happily starts a car.

[jonny69]

I've got a Makita 18V one and it's excellent. I got rid of my mains powered grinder a while back because this one does everything I need. Restored two cars, done a load of fabrication, site work, chased walls in the house, cut tiles, chopped down pipework. It's been great. Anyone who says they're shit isn't using their grinder correctly.

[PiperCub]

I've never owned anything Milwaukee myself nor have any experience with them but I overheard an interesting telephone conversation at a toolshop near me then other year when waiting to be served. The chap in the office was explaining to whoever that while Milwaukee were good enough, they had no support structure in this country so repairs/spares etc were a pain and he was advising the whoever-on-the-phone to stick with Dewalt or Makita if he wanted something long-term.