Angle grinder on sale at Harbor Freight

If this has been posted already, please delete.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that you can get a 4 1/2" angle grinder at Harbor Freight for just $9.99. There was a coupon in Motor Trend but I'm sure it's in other magazines as well. I just picked one up today.

Thats all..

Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Do you need the coupon for the discounted price? Also, is it corded, or cordless?

I'm pretty sure you need the coupon. It is a corded grinder.

There's also a 20% off coupon in the Sunday paper most weeks. It works on things that are already on sale and marked in orange in the store. There was also a coupon for a free multimeter if you spend over $9.99. I just got a bunch of stuff for $30 today

Originally Posted by G_P

Some tweaker stole the diamond blades out of a bunch of boxes

He probably had some stupid idea about the diamonds.....

With grinders, its really important to make sure the 4 or 5 bolts holding the gear head don't come loose.
Theres a low margin of clearance & when the bolts loosen, even a tiny bit, the gap between the teeth increase & the natural progression is that the gears will pull away from each other & wear the teeth down or the armature gear will ride up over the other flat gear & wear/break the teeth off it.

That happened to mine (9 inch cheapo brand) & I left it longer than I should have (It went WIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!) & I found by turning the disc by hand & starting it at the same time it would work for a while, enough to finish the job.
Later I found out that as soon as I noticed the loose screws or the wizzzzz, I should have stopped & tightened up the bolts, they are like 4mm thread...screws more like. Its hard to see a 1mm loosen, with the spring washer as well.

When I pulled it apart I found all the teeth had worn over, increasing the clearance & wearing the edge of teeth off.
No actual teeth broken off, just worn over. The armature teeth were good - weird, I'd thought they would be the first to go, ruining the grinder.

I went thru with a sharp knife & a file & chipped the worn over tooth part off & then filed the chipped edge smoother & cleared out the dirty grease. It had white/clear grease - nice idea, visual indication of metal wear.

It works well now, really noisy though.

Things I'd do now when I get a new grinder.
Remove the posidrive screws & replace with hex head bolts (side access without removing the guard), & fit locking tabs to stop the bolts loosening.
Make sure it had a 'overcentre clamping' guard (makes a huge difference)
Cut lines in the guard so when the disc wears down to 4 1/2 inch I can remove the worn disc & use it in my 4 1/2 grinder.
Make a wall hanging fixture so I can store the grinder on the wall, with the head end up, so the warm grease will drip back down onto the gears to lubricate them next time I use the grinder.
Its a 2 pin 240V cord, replace the cord with 3 pin so it grips in the wall socket better.
A 'end on' plug cord at the correct length so if I have too I can hold the grinder & stamp on the cord so it pulls itself out of the wall socket (or power cord)

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

He probably had some stupid idea about the diamonds.....

Actually since diamond blades tend to be expensive they will drive around to various construction sites and try to sell their stolen tools to the workers there. Some are ballsy enough to try to sell the stolen stuff right in the parking lot 5 minutes after they steal it!

Soon or taking on a polishing project, Harbor Freight has their cheap angle grinder this weekend for $9.Habor Freight Side-Walk Sale.

wore out the bearing in the head grinding fiberglass, now it kind of wobbles. probably will not work much longer, as stated before my makita has lasted allot longer.buy name brand power tools you will come out cheaper in the long run.

I have a HF grinder and I have pushed it to its limit and beyond. Had it smoking to where the wheel would stop numerous times. Have also gotten it so hot I can't hang on to it. Left it in the rain a few times. Dropped/dragged it more times than I can recall and it keeps on going. Could be the best $20 I ever spent.

I picked up the $10 grinder and 5 cut blades for $5. Its not bad for a 10 buck power tool. It does get hot quick. Saved me a ton of time and effort on motors and cutting down Al tho...

Theres a reason the meters are free. Their junk. I got one when they had them free and it doesn't even work. Wouldn't measure voltage of a car battery. Brought it back and they told me those weren't warrantied. I think it's in the bottom of my toolbox.

As I said in a different post regarding HF tools. I have a 4 1/2 angle grinder and it works good for what I use it for. I don't use it on a regular basis or anything but it's never let me down.