Angle-grinder on boat: What's worked for you?

[Cruisingscotts]

Metabo 800w. Its all we use, lots of metal fab. Old Boshes used to be the standard. having the locking thumb switch is a big improvment if you use it alot, or for things you are not supposed to...Rhodus skinny wheels and abrasive flap wheels and you can build anything.

[troppo]

Thank you for your replies, folks. They have been great. Very interesting.

A couple of points I wanna make comment on:

banjoship and Brewgyver gave a reminder about the safety aspect with angle grinders. I fully agree. Even a light weight grinder can fling out stuff at high speed. And then there is the actual spinning disk which can give a nasty bite. Eye protection and an attitude of being careful with the darn thing is good for health.

The Garbone and his story of the homeless guy and the $7 grinder made me chuckle, so did donradcliffe with his response.

Mingget mentioned a multitool. I agree they are great. I got one, a Makita which had more watts than other ones I looked at but can still easily run from my little generator. I have been amazed how useful it has been. And amazed how little dust it throws around compared to the angle grinder.

Please keep the comments coming.

[Snowpetrel]

I upgraded to a Makita 5 inch. After wasting my time and a few weekends replacing cheapies. It's done a tonne of steel work, cutting stainless and grinding for the last 11 years and still going strong. I've got a big 9 inch for the heavy work, but the little Makita is my go to tool for most stuff.

The 125mm 5inch size is way better than the 115 or 100's you can also reuse the old grinding disks from a 9 inch when they wear down (very naughty, technically not rated for the higher RPM... So beware!)

Since then I've got a lot of tools and the makitas haven't let me down, though I am sure dewalt, etc are just as good.

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[Reefmagnet]

As an aside, be very careful using 9" grinders if you store the disks on the boat. There have been numerous instances of 9" disks flying apart violently after they have gotten wet. I have seen this happen first hand and the damage those disk fragments can do is surprising. Just last week, a man died not too far from my location when hit in the chest by an exploding disk from the grinder he was using. Not sure if that was caused by a disk that had been wet, but he had been working outside after heavy rains so a distinct possibility.

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[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

As an aside, be very careful using 9" grinders if you store the disks on the boat. There have been numerous instances of 9" disks flying apart violently after they have gotten wet. I have seen this happen first hand and the damage those disk fragments can do is surprising. Just last week, a man died not too far from my location when hit in the chest by an exploding disk from the grinder he was using. Not sure if that was caused by a disk that had been wet, but he had been working outside after heavy rains so a distinct possibility.

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And NEVER drop a grinder, even a short distance, because wheels crack, particularly cut-off wheels. If you dropped it, put on a new wheel.

[Siberianhusky]

Originally Posted by Brewgyver

Very good point, though possibly too selective. ANY AND ALL angle grinders need to be used with caution. Even the smaller, cheaper "slower" speed units develop enough torque to sprain a wrist, for example, kicking back if applied at the wrong angle with any kind of wheel in use, be it wire brush, cutting or grinding. Another hazard in that instance is the whole grinder flying out of your hand, which needless to say can cause serious injury.

And let us ALL remember to use at least ANSI z87 impact resistant eye protection. Reading this post, I just realized that I failed to take that precaution while using one just last week. I was wearing my reading glasses, but...

BTW, I have a corded DeWalt and a lithium Ryobi. Both good tools, and yes, the battery grinders go throug a fully charged (18 v) battery pretty quickly, but the cordless convenience is often more important.

Should see one side of my thumb from when an abrasive metal cutting disc bound up then exploded cutting some plate.

[unclemack]

Not a massive fan of cordless tools generally - fine if you use every day and charge every night but for occasional use you can pretty much guarantee a wait before doing the job you wanted it for.

Big exception is the 115mm. angle grinder.

I have a few mains powered ones but when the stick's gone and the rig needs cutting away and the salty's splashing all over, 12 Volts is just a lot safer than 240 or 120.

No safer re. arm/leg/other-appendage-removal, obviously.

[Snowpetrel]

Got a Makita cordless as well. Sucks the juice out of a 4 amp/hr lith ion batt real quick, but real handy for some jobs.

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[jimbunyard]

Originally Posted by GILow

Last time I went looking I had a lot of trouble finding one that had variable speed, but if you can find one I do recommend them. Aside from the extra control at low speed you can unload them a little and save the gearbox, plus I assume they draw less power at the lower settings (though that is not a given.).

I have a (I think) 4.5 amp Black and Decker, a 6 amp Bosch, a 10 amp Dewalt and a 13 amp Dewalt, all single speed. The things that always go bad with me are the cords and the switches. The gearheads heat up on all, especially when swinging heavy wheels for extended periods.

For variable speeds, I made a control with a dimmer switch, a box, a cord and a duplex receptacle. It works with any motor that has brushes, but not with induction motors. I was initially worried about burning up the tool windings or brushes but have had no problems with any of the tools I've used it with, and I've used it a lot.

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by thinwater

And NEVER drop a grinder, even a short distance, because wheels crack, particularly cut-off wheels. If you dropped it, put on a new wheel.

Cut off wheels aren't too bad as they are designed to flex and don't have enough mass to guarantee serious damage. Just the other day I had a PITA cutoff job to do at home that unavoidably led to more flexing of a 4", 1 mm cutoff wheel than I would have liked (made sure I kept the guard on for that one!). When it did fail in short order, I was impressed that it's failure mode was cleanly around the hub with no shattering or fracturing elsewhere at all. It finished up looking like a 45 rpm dukebox record and simply fell away from the spinning spindle and stopped. Almost as if it was designed to fail like that.

[unclemack]

I'd forgotten all about this...
There was a guy demonstrating an "exakt saw" on a shopping channel recently.

Only the second time ever I've looked at a shopping channel I swear and the first time I'd seen one of these.

Assumed it would be the typical toy-like diy rubbish but its tiny little shielded circular blade sawed a big chunk out of a car's brake disc in seconds.
Battery powered too.
Quite impressed - not enough to buy one yet though

Any of you lot used one?

[japarker11]

Originally Posted by Cruisingscotts

Metabo 800w. Its all we use, lots of metal fab. Old Boshes used to be the standard. having the locking thumb switch is a big improvment if you use it alot, or for things you are not supposed to...Rhodus skinny wheels and abrasive flap wheels and you can build anything.

The Metabo survived 400 tons of ss316L plate welding only to spend a couple of years grinding fiberglass. With variable speed you can soft start it with your 600 W.

Sadly, for the boat I found a Fein multi tool. It has displaced the Metabo, a Dewalt random orbital and a Milwaukee Sawsall. Oddly, the cooling fan and shaft bearing setup are very similar to the Metabo which survives fiberglass dust better than all others. The unit is expensive and the countless array of blades and abrasives sure add up but takes up much less room aboard.

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[NSboatman]

I'm surprised that Walter brand tools haven't reared their heads thus far. Look at what the welders and fitters use - their jobs depend on it. Around here, that's Walter or Metabo more often than not.

Among other metalwork, we replaced about 40 sq ft of plate on my boat last winter, working with a couple of old school shipyard hands. they took one look at my assortment of dewalt, Craftsman, Milwaukee and Bosch grinders, snorted, and went out to their trucks and brought in some 'real tools'.

After spending many hours on the business end of both my grinders and theirs, I have to agree that theirs were significantly better. but mine aren't dead yet... so I can't justify replacing them... yet. I know what I'll buy when the time comes...

[Cruisingscotts]

Originally Posted by japarker11

The Metabo survived 400 tons of ss316L plate welding only to spend a couple of years grinding fiberglass. With variable speed you can soft start it with your 600 W.

Sadly, for the boat I found a Fein multi tool. It has displaced the Metabo, a Dewalt random orbital and a Milwaukee Sawsall. Oddly, the cooling fan and shaft bearing setup are very similar to the Metabo which survives fiberglass dust better than all others. The unit is expensive and the countless array of blades and abrasives sure add up but takes up much less room aboard.

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You know if the new offbrand blades and access will fit a fein? I have a older one wiht the bolt head vs. quick release. I woudl use it alot more but the tooling is so $$$$.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Cruisingscotts

You know if the new offbrand blades and access will fit a fein? I have a older one wiht the bolt head vs. quick release. I woudl use it alot more but the tooling is so $$$$.

Yes, they do.