Hitachi corded angle grinder - $30 at Lowes!


 
Looks like a great price for a quality grinder. It should give you all the power you need along with durability. The one thing that I don't care for on that grinder is the locking switch. That is the same on the cheap HF grinders and I have dropped those things more than once and they do one hell of a dance before you can run over and pull the cord on them. A little dangerous IMO. The ones with a paddle switch are much better adapted to cleaning out the insides of cook boxes.
 
Yeah I have one of the cheap HF ones. It works quite well but I do think I will buy a paddle switch one. I REALLY wish I could find one with variable speed too
 
I still think this Harbor Freight one is a good balance of features, price and power. Wait for a sale coupon or use one of those 20% off ones.

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Harbor Fraught does sell a nice looking cordless but it's a little too costly yet and I cannot afford the Bosch to have compatibility with my current cordless tools
 
There certainly is something to be said for battery powered.... I also don't want to be overrun with a dozen different battery systems. I'm tempted to pick up 2 of these, can't have too many grinders, and Hitachi has made pretty good power tools in the past. The Porter Cable grinders I picked up on sale at my LWS a couple of years ago for $25/ea work a lot nicer than the Hazard Fraught equivalent.
 
The problem with the cordless systems is that they don't last that long on a battery charge if you run them constantly for a long time. I do have the 18V lithium Bosch system and a reciprocating saw that goes with it. But this saw will drain the battery in minutes when sawing under load. Not sure with a grinder the battery will last much longer. This is at least my experience.
But to be honest: With all the metal dust generated by brushing the firebox I prefer to use an el-chipo grinder because I am not sure how long that grinder will last. That dust gets everywhere and a few years ago I had a Makita grinder that burned out when doing some heavy cutting. There were flames coming out of it. So for this really dirty work the HF grinder works just fine and if that dies it wasn't too expensive. Plus this is dedicated for this job since I don't want to change from brush to cutting/grinding wheel all the time. I have poked myself enough with these brushes. ;)
For certain quality jobs I like quality tools like my Festo track saw. But for some dirty jobs I am just happy to use the cheapest tools I can find.
 
Sam, those are some great prices for a 6amp grinder. I don' think Porter Cable is quite on par with Dewalt, Milwaukee and some of the others, but I would rate it much higher than the 4.3amp HF grinder that many on here used that is priced about the same or a little less.
 
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Yah, it seems like the porter cable one is in between the Harbor Freight cheapo on and the more expensive ones like Dewalt and Makita. For less than $20 though I don't think you can go wrong as it should be better, quality wise, than the HF one (the maroon one). But yah, it would be nice if it did have the paddle switch.
 
Yah, I don't know why, but it seems like all the lower end (even name brand) grinders have the locking switch. I don't know if the paddle switch is more expensive or what. It seems like a pretty simple concept, so I don't see where the extra cost would be.
 
Porter Cable many years ago and had one of their drills that was cordless got rid of it as technology with the batteries and the power of the drills caused me to replace it which I did with a Rigid used to make really good stuff at one time although not Dewalt or Milwaukee pretty damn close.

My angle grinder is actually a Ryobi 5.5 had it for years might have paid 30 bucks for it. It has a trigger and a locking button which I have never used this thing has been a tank have cut over 100 feet of flagstone with it using a diamond blade so cleaning the inside of the firebox was not taxing it I believe its variable speed if that is what you wish for but they are more money now. I'm like Bruce you use the locking button or if its only a slide switch and it gets away from you to me its dangerous also especially using a diamond blade.

You guys doing a lot of grills if you have Menards that price for the Porter is pretty hard to beat.

All my saws are Dewalt including my 12" chop saw which is the most used tool I own. Built a finished basement with it, did all the base molding in my house with it when I went to 5 1/4 from the 3 1/2 did the slats for the 1000 with it. I only use Diablo blades when I need to replace them although the Dewalt ones are pretty good also.
 
The blue Chicago Electric with the paddle switch (not the cheaper red one or the even cheaper brand they often sell for $999) is 6 amp. It is $29.99 full price but take 20% of and you are down to $24. Sometimes a coupon for even less. It is no DeWalt but I think great for what we do.
 
Too funny boy am I a dummy sometimes trying to figure out why you guys kept referring to one or the other as a paddle switch which I called a trigger switch. A little slow sometimes but eventually I get it. :)
 
I have a HF angle grinder. I often hear people say be careful with one. Are there a lot of injuries with these?
 
I don't think it is the HF one specifically. I think it is all of the angle grinders with the locking type switch.
 
And.... just as a point of safety, especially with thin cutting discs, keep out of the plane of the spinning wheel. Discs will explode violently, and at 10k RPMs, even a small shard can do some pretty ugly damage. Oh, and wear a face shield...
 
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