Second the diamond blade.
Contributor
Second the diamond blade.
Nothing wrong with the 4 1/2" cutoff discs from HD. They are usually either Dewalt or Diablo. I bought a five pack of Porter Cable discs for my new battery cutoff grinder from Lowes.
NOW you tell me...
I tried the diamond blade and bent it on the first cut when it caught and dropped to the floor. Operator error or design? Returned it.Originally Posted by Lon Crosby
NOW you tell me...
Member
Lehigh Abrasives
Member
You dropped the tool and bent the blade and returned it. Correct?
Joe
Contributor
I have a Milwaukee factory refurbished grinder and use HF discs. Never had an issue with either. I actually think they sell new items labeled refurbished so you think you are getting a deal. I have all sorts of power tools bought "refurbished" and never had an issue with any of them in 15-20 years. Bought a new Milwaukee 18v power tool combo kit new within the last couple of months and so far have had to send the 1/2" drill back and also the 1/4" impact back as neither worked right. They sent me new ones under warranty. Randy
Joe, Yes I did. When I tried to flatten the blade it bent like it was a price of annealed steel, not hard like a saw blade. Not happy with the design, or maybe it was a bad batch. And it didn’t seem to cut nearly as fast as a traditional abrasive blade.
Last edited by Ole Anderson; 03-01-2020 at 5:54 AM.
Member
The disks from pretty much any vendor are fiber reinforced and not going to shatter. I have not found that it makes all that much difference what brand I buy. I have some dewalt ones and some cheapie ones at the moment and don't see much difference. I don't know about anything more premium than that since I never saw a reason to even try anything more expensive.
As far as the grinder itself... The dewalt that I have now is nicer than the HF one that I used to have, but they both worked okay. The dewalt is better designed ergonomically and will probably last longer, but I really didn't think the HF was bad. Not sure what happened to the HF, somehow it didn't make the move to Florida with me. It might have been in mom's garage when she passed and went with the estate clean out of all of dad's old stuff otherwise I'd most likely still be using it.
Contributor
Since discovering diamond blades there's been no looking back. I started with some store brand cheapies, they were OK (cut well but wore out quickly), upgraded to Makita disks and they seem to be lasting forever. One blade got me through all the little trim cuts for building and rock veneering my pizza oven and is still going strong.
My main use for the angle grinder now is to run the little Arbortech 2" RO contour sander. Wish I could find something dramatically smaller, lighter, quieter, and more compact for that use.
Moderator
[QUOTE=roger wiegand;2997017]Since discovering diamond blades there's been no looking back. I started with some store brand cheapies, they were OK (cut well but wore out quickly), upgraded to Makita disks and they seem to be lasting forever. One blade got me through all the little trim cuts for building and rock veneering my pizza oven and is still going strong. [quote]
I haven't tried diamond for masonry but I use one made for steel, mostly for cutting rebar when I don't want to haul out the larger tools. Purchased from HD. Works well.
I haven't used that but from looking on the Arbortech site it appears to be a random orbital sander made for just for angle grinders. Do they have a version that fits on their power carver motor? I have one and I think it's a lot smaller than my angle grinders.
If you use ROS a lot have you considered a pneumatic ROS? I use three and the Grex is my favorite for most sanding on wood turnings. I don't rotary power sanding any more. The Grex is very small, light-weight and comfortable to hold and quiet compared to my angle grinders. I keep a 2" sanding pad on one and a 1" pad on a second.
grex_ROS.jpg
I keep a 3" pad on a pneumatic palm sander which works well for shallow curved surfaces.
sanding_IMG_20171212_094330_319.jpg
JKJ
Member
+1 I bought the HF grinder 10 years ago and used their disks for 3 years to grind and cut rusted bolts off a military truck I was restoring. The grinder still runs like a champ despite lots of use & abuse and never had a disk break. The thin disks cut through metal like butta lol!
When I bought it I figured it might get me through the restoration but I haven’t been able to break it yet.
Contributor
[QUOTE=John K Jordan;2997088]That little Grex looks about perfect. Unfortunately I think it would require a significant compressor upgrade and the tool budget is pretty stretched at this point. Hoping to have the current compressor last long enough that I can sandwich a bigger, better bandsaw in before it needs replacing.
Not too familiar with air tools, my compressor alleges that it can do 11 cfm at 90 psi, the sander seems to want 8. Am I correct in thinking that's too close to full capacity?
Last edited by roger wiegand; 03-01-2020 at 12:48 PM.
Moderator
[QUOTE=roger wiegand;2997117]The air used depends on how fast you run it. I typically use slow sanding speeds and the air use is low. I think it should work fine with your compressor even at full speed. Remember to oil occasionally.
Buy from Joe Fleming at Airbrushingwood and I suspect he would take it back if you were not happy with it.
JKJ
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