Buying a grinder

[mabsydney]

Got some rust I need to repair on the GQ and I'm thinking of buying a grinder.

Can you guys recommend something that would be a good general purpose grinder?

Thanks

[ausoops]

if your only using it a little bit then just buy a shitter $30 job from bunnings/supercheap, then when it farks up just throw it out.

[RV80]

You cant really go wrong if you buy one in $100 price range I got a Hitachi 4" the other day on special for $110

[mickyd555]

ive got a makita, there about $75 for a 4". I dont normally like makita stuff, but i give my grinder a flogging so i dont want to spend too much. The cheapy ones tend to have ratshit bearing and they tend to "wander" all over the place after a bit of use.

[80UTE]

I use my grinder alot so i brought a matabo 5" that has the body size of a 4" and a 1100 watt motor so its small and powerful and had a no tool wheel change system but it cost about $350 thou. You have to pay for quality

Wally

[YankeeDave]

I use my grinder alot so i brought a matabo 5" that has the body size of a 4" and a 1100 watt motor so its small and powerful and had a no tool wheel change system but it cost about $350 thou. You have to pay for quality

Wally

We've got 2 the same grinder for $275 and we use them all day long everyday and they are fantastic. We went through a lot of grinders before we settled on the matabo 5"

5" is the best size to use, as I find 4" a bit too small for most jobs.

but if it's only for one job just get a cheapie

[mabsydney]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll take a look in Bunnings next time I'm passing

[Shorti]

Sadly I work at Bunnings... If you're gonna buy one from there I would recomend the makita 5 inch for around ~85 bucks, if you only want a 4 inch and don't want to spend alot the lil maktek 4" is like 49 bucks now as they are being cleared, good lil grinder for the odd job.

[mabsydney]

Thanks to everyone who replied, I got an AEG for $99, seems ok.

I won't be using it heaps but I can't stand crap quality tools and the real cheapys didn't look great. Hopefully this will do what I need.

[adamj1300]

moft of the tradie brands eg makita & hitachi only come with a 1 yr warrenty, if u went a crap brand such as GMC or ozito they are much cheaper & come with at 2 yr warrienties & if u only gonna use if for home use would suit u far better & also there usualy lass than half the price!

[stevelb1]

I'm a fitter/welder by trade and have used one of them so called shitters (GMC) for near on 2 years now and it doesn't even look like stopping yet and I use it every day, not bad for 30 odd bucks

[80UTE]

I'm a fitter/welder by trade and have used one of them so called shitters (GMC) for near on 2 years now and it doesn't even look like stopping yet and I use it every day, not bad for 30 odd bucks

I found if you dont have enough power were the grinder bogs down you cant put enough pressure and the cutting action is poor and the abrasive wheel just polishes the steel makes the job heat up. I had a Hitachi 5' for about 12 years and it just kept on going it had a 1250 watt motor and you could put so much pressure on the wheel it would just rip the metal off. it had been dropped and sat on hot metal but just kept going but the body was a bit big thou. It did cost me $250 + in 1984 and that was about 2 weeks of my apprentice wages at the time and back then 5" grinders were on made in indusrial spec and i wanted 5' as i could get the wheel for free.

Wally

[V8Patrol]

Bought a 4" GMC from "Home Hardware" last month.......

Cost $39.95

Came with 50 discs and a sexy plastic carrying case ........

You do the maths !

I've shoved the GMC under the bench along with the other 5 or 6 odd brand new grinders hiding under there........ and they'll stay there untill my Makita poops itself

The elcheapos are pretty good stuff, we run a few at work and they cop a fair flogging too and come back for more abuse day after day till they die.... then we bin em !



If your really serious about doing rust or body work then I'd look more seriously at a Makita "sander polisher", it will do a better job on the actual panel when it comes to a neat finish...... thousands of panel beaters cant be wrong


The makers of the cheap stuff havent quite mastered the 9" grinder as yet tho.

Kingy