Old B&D angle grinder, can you remember?

[cumbriasteve]

I used my old B&D angle grinder today and it got me thinking:

I bought it from a guy down the road and am fairly sure that was in 1978, also fairly sure it cost me £25, which was a lot of money in those days, I can remember being a little short of the truth regarding the price with my newly wed other half.

It was second hand but as new and once again the distant memory makes me think he said it was about £75 new, which was an astronomical amount compared to the average working mans wage.

Can any of the more mature members confirm that price region.

Considering years ago this grinder was used a lot making gates and trailers, still get's used occasionally, has never had replacement bushes and still works great suggests it has more than served me well, I suspect it may also be a tad out of it's guarantee period.

 

[brightspark]

I used my old B&D angle grinder today and it got me thinking:

I bought it from a guy down the road and am fairly sure that was in 1978, also fairly sure it cost me £25, which was a lot of money in those days, I can remember being a little short of the truth regarding the price with my newly wed other half.

It was second hand but as new and once again the distant memory makes me think he said it was about £75 new, which was an astronomical amount compared to the average working mans wage.

Can any of the more mature members confirm that price region.

Considering years ago this grinder was used a lot making gates and trailers, still get's used occasionally, has never had replacement bushes and still works great suggests it has more than served me well, I suspect it may also be a tad out of it's guarantee period.

yea tools were dear to buy years ago . i bought a 4inch wolf angle grinder for 60 quid . i was only on a tenner a week at work production methods and materials have improved as have volume and mass prodution hence a cheaper price

 

[GrahamGKD]

I'm guessing mine dates from somewhere in the region of 1984 - I spotted a newspaper add and bought two on special offer (one for me and one for my dad) for £35 each. I think that was a pretty good deal at the time. Mine is a 4" version and has a kind of long strip along the body which can be used to switch it off. That tool has just had so much abuse over the years but is still going strong. When the threads went in the plastic gear housing (where the guard is attached) I turned up an aluminum housing for it - daft really but I'm kind of attached to that tool now and it was an interesting project! My dad's one is still there in his workshop and is still working so I can get hold of that one if I need it.

 

[Cyberprog]

It's truly amazing what some old tools can do. I still have the black & decker drill my father had, though I'm loathe to use it as I don't want to kill it! It even has the hammer drill adapter you put on the front too, oh and the pillar stand as well.

 

[brightspark]

It's truly amazing what some old tools can do. I still have the black & decker drill my father had, though I'm loathe to use it as I don't want to kill it! It even has the hammer drill adapter you put on the front too, oh and the pillar stand as well.

lol u wont kill it it will kill u if u dont use it through an rcd more people got electrocuted by using class one drills with the earthwire snapped than u can imagine

 

[Paul.]

I bought a black and decker 4" from Argos in 1980, just after they took over from greenshield stamps, remember them?.
I still have it and the metal case and accessories that came with it, its had a few brushes over the years but has done an unbelivable amount of work, it was around £30 if i remember right, more than half a weeks wages at the time,
I also have a 2 speed Stanley Bridges metal bodied drill, with circular saw and sander attachments, dates back to the 60s and was inherited from my father in law, that still works as well as it ever did

 

[Wallace]

I bought a black and decker 4" from Argos in 1980, just after they took over from greenshield stamps, remember them?.

Good grief, Green Shield Stamps! I always think of them every time I wind the hose pipe back on the reel as that's where it came from around 1983.

I bought a Bosch CSB470RLE 240v reversible hammer drill in a blow moulded carry case from kennards in Staines for £32 (a weeks apprentice wages) back in 1981 and still use it. I spent £10 on it last week and fitted a keyless chuck!

 

[nickk]

in 1978 on the way home from the church we were in ,i bought my 1st bench grinder a B&D,it was£25 & i was earning £21/week!! i'd just left school,still got the box with odd fittings in the grinder was sold to a mate for £10,then in '83 bought my 1st angle grinder a 7" it was £70!! sadly it g ave up a few years later, in the mid 80's i bought a wolf grindette -a 4" angle grinder it was about £40-45, what a difference to nowadays,corse they were all made in england.

 

[Shox Dr]

I still use a Makita 9.6v Screwdriver I bought in 1987, still has one of it's original batteries that holds charge as well as the replacement one. Bought it from the local tools supplies (LTS), upon seeing it for £129.95 if my memory serves me well. It was the first proper screw driver (high tq low speed) I and the shop had seen, it was a few yrs before I saw another make.

That's when makita made stuff to last, the batteries (top left) are from a 18v Makita I bought (96ish) while in the states for £150 around when the LTS wanted 400quid. The batteries lasted about 18 months of use, before dieing new ones costing £140 each. I've kept it as I can't bare to sling it.

The jigsaw below it is cicra 1989/90 AEG as a bare tool for £119.99 I bought the SDS drill first, that was one hell of a drill, and set me back around 300quid and was a lot of money for me then. It only went bang 2 yrs ago.

 

[PTvor]

It was second hand but as new and once again the distant memory makes me think he said it was about £75 new, which was an astronomical amount compared to the average working mans wage.

Can any of the more mature members confirm that price region.

About 1984 I bought a B&D P5402 angle grinder out of E&M. It wasn't B&D's usual range, it was the professional range, and it was £s painful - £60 I recall. I phoned them up, being a bit suspicous of buying from E&M advertisers, and for no particular reason the bloke on the phone said that it was a particularly good model. Only 550W, but it seems to have a lot more stick than the current things rated at 550W, which are pretty much toys. I'm sure that the instructions said something like "After about 40 hours running time the brushes should be checked with a view to possible replacement." Mine are about 2/3rds worn and I suppose I should get some while they're still available. It has a odd slide switch, but it's nicely balanced and doesn't produce white finger.

I think that what's happened is that the engineering has become more refined - producing something which works and can be described as an angle grinder and is OK for most DIYers - well, will at least outlast the guarantee in enough cases. Cut up an old gate, two years later cut a few slabs, and if it doesn't do anything after that, it's out of the guarantee so as far as the seller is concerned it doesn't exist any more, and in fact never existed.

A couple of years back I was looking at Makita angle grinders on offer at the local new Screwfix opening. The bloke told me that I didn't have to sport 50 notes to get a serviceable angle grinder. I explained that I had a welder and intended it for more than occasional use and he agreed that my requirements were different.

Pretty much, you still have to pay painful money to get anything any good which will put up with serious use. What's the most you can pay for a 4.5" angle grinder these days? £150? I doubt it would be inferior to that B&D and in adjusted terms, cheaper. £150 for an angle grinder is £s painful to most of us, and I'd say the pain becomes intense at £50. £150 would be excruciating.

 

[fixerupper]

Yep I bought this B&D 9 inch grinder in a ex goverment come bankrupt stoke wharehouse place in Coggeshall Essex maybe 30 years ago , can't remember how much it cost but it still works fine . It fell of a scaf tower a few years ago and I had to make it a new side handle . it is my "go to "grinder I only use a 4 inch for gentle stuff ....jeff...

 

[fixerupper]

Edit that should read bankrupt stock...sorry ...jeff

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

You mean whelbys? The building is still there. I live about 3 mile from Coggeshall!

 

[fixerupper]

I don't remember the name of the place Lawnmower boy , It was in the middle of Goggershall a big barn of a place shelves and shelves of enginering tools, garden tools carpenters tools ,axes, chainsaws overalls not well orginised and a yard outside with all kinds of very cool stuff .
Some new some secondhand , you had to ferret about . I hate shopping but if ever I was in Goggeshall I just had to call in .... I used to live in Little Henny ...Jeff...

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Small world eh! I'm only in Halstead.

 

[fixerupper]

Ah ,Halstead Portways Foundry the home of the famous Tortoise stove .. "SLOW BUT SURE"...jeff..

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Haha! I've got one in me shed. Only the Diddy one.

 

[droopsnoot]

My first angle grinder was a B&D professional that takes 4" discs, bought from a tool place across the road from where I worked. That would be mid-80s, and I recall it was £49 which was a lot at the time. It's a bit of a pain being 4" rather than the more usual 4.25" (or 4.5", I forget now) so it's harder to get discs for, but while working on the restoration it's handy to have that with a grinding disc, a cheapo with a cutter, and another cheapo with a wire brush.

Disaster struck last year, however, when I noticed that the mains cable outer shield had split near the strain relief, exposing first the inner insulation, then some bare copper wire, so I had to stop using it. It's got a "special" connector on it which means that although I can get a new cable, it's about £20 from a B&D spares outlet, more than the cost of a new cheapo grinder. But I don't want to get rid of it, so I am keeping an eye open at car boot sales for a replacement main cable at a reasonable price, or trying to think of a way to get around the problem and still have it safe.

 

[gulf]

was it a black grinder or a green one?I had a black one and it was the best grinder i owned,it lasted for years.sadly B&D "industrial" changed and the quality dropped down to todays standard.I think i have the old black one somewhere

 

[Cobbler]

I've got one of those old B &D professional grinders, the cables gone on mine in the same place. I've had to cut back the sheath & bodge it up, it would never pass a pat test , but a really good grinder. I looked at a new lead, bought a new grinder because of the lead price, decided the new grinder was rubbish compared with the old one, so cobbled it up.

Cobbler