Good 4 inch grinders

Early this year my trusty Bosch grinder was stolen and now I am/ have been in need of one for a home improvement project. I have killed two HF grinders in two days !Each time the switch was at fault.

So other than another Bosch what other brand of grinder should I look at?

Thanks, Paul B

Is your 4 inch one with the sliding switch on the side? If so, buy a 4 1/2 inch one with the trigger. My admittedly small sample suggests they are much better.

I can tell you not the low or mid tier craftsmans unfortunately...

The college welding lab has DeWalt's highest price one ,they can be repaired easily. The oldest one in the lab is 15 years old. They are abused daily from 8am until 10pm. I bought one for myself and am pleased with it. I will get the model number when I go back to the shop.

I've been really happy with my rigid brand one. About 10 years old, admittedly I haven't put it through tons of use but it's a nice machine.

Hitachi for me.

The others I've used have been too heavy.

I've got a Makita 4" grinder that has been good to me. I hardly abuse or even use the thing, though, so grain of salt. Doesn't have the trigger switch which would be a preference.

Another vote for Hitachi. Mine has been used and abused for probably 5 years now without a hiccup. I think I burned through at least 3-4 HF grinders in less than half that time prior to buying the Hitachi.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: I've been really happy with my rigid brand one. About 10 years old, admittedly I haven't put it through tons of use but it's a nice machine.

Home derpot has a 2 pack for $79

I can't kill my makita and it makes lots of tile and concrete cuts. That dust normally kills everything

I've had good luck with both Makita and Hitachi.

Patrick wrote: I can't kill my makita and it makes lots of tile and concrete cuts. That dust normally kills everything

I killed my Makita with concrete dust, but I did little to protect or clean it. Using a HF unit now, but shopping and watching this thread with interest.

Thanks for the input.

Paul

Dewalt gets my vote.....second switch after 10 years....

My dewalt is still going strong after about 15 years.

What's funny is that I built two tube-frame cars from scratch without one; I consider them a crutch. I'm well aware what they can do and what they're for, but they're also really dangerous and throw grit all over the garage. I admit though that fabrication shops need them because time is money. Anyway, I just bought a 4.5" Bosch because IMHO, the 4" units don't have as good a selection of discs. Besides Bosch, agree with Dewalt being good.

In reply to kb58:

That mess and danger (and potential lack of precision) has led to me often using a cutting disk in a dremel instead of a full size grinder except for when the dremel can't do the job.

my dewalt is currently in my boat, where it has been for over a year. It's covered in epoxy, 'glass dust, and has been sorta exposed to the weather (the boat is open except for a tarp over the cockpit) and it has not given me a single issue.

Have always been happy with Milwaukee. Don't really own anything else atm.

I sell a ton of DeWalt grinders. Maybe their best product.

In reply to rslifkin:

I find my Dremel to be utterly worthless for anything I would even consider using an angle grinder for. Takes for-god-damn-ever and I'll use up half a package of cutting disks in the process. YMMV and it certainly does have its place, I just prefer the grinder whenever I can use it.

I always feel like an outcast when these threads come around.

Every single Dewalt tool I've ever used has been a complete piece of E36 M3, the cordless models doubly so.

I have an old fairgrounds tool sale grinder, I've had about 15 years. It's spent days grinding the face off concrete block with a diamond disc, cutting up angle and plate, getting tossed around,and left outside and it still works fantastically. I've got 3 HF 4.5" grinders all about 2 months old that have handled days of grinding weld off of stuff with no problems at all, even after being thrown in anger when a disc breaks or I realize I cut the wrong thing.

Maybe I'm just lucky when it comes to HF, but for 11.99, buy 2 to have a backup. The only other brand that's held up to my particular levels of abuse is Milwaukee, but that hurts the wallet a lot more when they fail.

My HF grinder has held up fine as well, although it's pretty lightly used. It is unbelievably loud though.

And yeah, the dremel cutting disks are kinda short lived. But most of the stuff I use it for isn't a whole lot of cutting, so it's not much of a problem.

I used a Makita for a while until it died. I now use a Metabo (which is not made in China if that matters to you). Be aware that the Metabo line goes way up to the "looks like a normal grinder but the handle is not for decoration" style.

TR7 wrote: I can tell you not the low or mid tier craftsmans unfortunately...

I've got a 20-30 year old Craftsman that has given me good service (knock on wood). I don't use it a lot anymore, but used the snot out of it when I was welding parts on my Spitfire. It could have been made before Sears went cheapass. I would not buy another Craftsman now, given the other good brands out there.

^ I also have a ~10 year old craftsman that's held up well. A few years ago I bought a dewalt that's been fine as well so I didn't have to swap cutting & grinding discs as much. I prefer the craftsman because of the trigger instead of a paddle switch, but I couldn't find a trigger switch model I liked so I bought the Dewalt.

I use the crap outta mine, and neither has hiccup'd. My wife likes to joke (not entirely untrue) that I use the angle grinder for EVERY project around the house.