irn_bru_ce
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New to here so thought I would contribute something as I just bought some grinders so should be relevant to others as well.
Bought a Makita GA5021 for £50 as it had no box or pin spanner, did come with a guard and a grinding disc. Later that Day I was in Aldi and noticed they had a Ferrex 5" grinder for £20, so picked that up as well, can never have too many grinders.
Makita GA5021
Power 1050W
Weight 2763g
Origin US&A
Cable 2.5m , 2x1.0mm, rubbery
Guard 180° open base, screw tightening
Ferrex WWS-AG1200/19
Power 1200W
Weight 1898g
Origin China
Cable 3.0m , 2x0.75mm, plasticy
Guard 180° open base, QR lever tightening + 180° closed base, QR lever tightening
I also picked up some of the Ferrex consumables as they seemed cheap as well. A couple of 65mm wire cups, fairly soft but could be handy for gentle work, a bigger knotted cup, not tried that yet, and a few of the flat knotted wire wheels. The flat knottted wire wheel fitted perfectly onto the Makita spindle, but would only go on by a single thread of the Ferrex due to the shoulder below the threads being to large a diameter, so although I spun it up to test, wouldn't be happy to run it like that.
So put matching grinding discs on each grinder and did a quick side by side test. The Ferrex gets up to speed faster than the Makita, and when putting pressure on the disc seems to have more power, which surprised me, as the Ferrex has a slimmer body and quite a bit lighter. The Makita has a proper cable, although only 2.5m, compared to the 3m plasticy cable of the Ferrex.
The Ferrex has the added flexibilty of the 3rd hole on the top to screw the side handle into, and being slightly slimmer might have be able to squeeze into places that the makita struggles. The makita is my preference since it has decent flanges at both ends and the rubber grip means you know exactly where it is, the smaller plastic handle of the Ferrex doesnt feel as safe with welding gloves on
The Ferrex came with 2 guards, I remember a grinder from Lidl about 5 years ago only had the fully enclosed guard so first job was to slice the bottom off for wire brush duties, however 2 guards gives a better option, and I like the fact they have a quick release lever instead of a screw which Makita uses, and from experience these screws dont last that long though using random screw drivers and save the hassle of finding a screw driver on the odd ocassion that it needs tweaking
The big difference between the grinders was the smell, on the initial spin up there was no smell from the Makita, but there was a smell of hot brushes right out of the box from the Ferrex. Maybe that will decrease with use, only time will tell, but interesting that for being a cheap chinese tool, I was very surprised to see the pair of spare brushes that came with it. It appears they would go inbehind the flaps on the side, so they are quick to swap. Not sure if any more brushes would ever be obtainable, whereas the Makita if any of the older tools are to go by, brushes should be available in 30 years time. The other difference was the noise, the Ferrex sounded slightly higher pitched as though it was going faster, but this probably comes down to how many fins is on the cooling fan, I dont have a way of measuring the rotational speed of the motor or the spindle
I think the Makita is usually £100, so will it last 5 times longer than the £20 Ferrex, only time will tell, but with cable and side handle aside, they both feel up to the job at this stage.
Bought a Makita GA5021 for £50 as it had no box or pin spanner, did come with a guard and a grinding disc. Later that Day I was in Aldi and noticed they had a Ferrex 5" grinder for £20, so picked that up as well, can never have too many grinders.
Makita GA5021
Power 1050W
Weight 2763g
Origin US&A
Cable 2.5m , 2x1.0mm, rubbery
Guard 180° open base, screw tightening
Ferrex WWS-AG1200/19
Power 1200W
Weight 1898g
Origin China
Cable 3.0m , 2x0.75mm, plasticy
Guard 180° open base, QR lever tightening + 180° closed base, QR lever tightening
I also picked up some of the Ferrex consumables as they seemed cheap as well. A couple of 65mm wire cups, fairly soft but could be handy for gentle work, a bigger knotted cup, not tried that yet, and a few of the flat knotted wire wheels. The flat knottted wire wheel fitted perfectly onto the Makita spindle, but would only go on by a single thread of the Ferrex due to the shoulder below the threads being to large a diameter, so although I spun it up to test, wouldn't be happy to run it like that.
So put matching grinding discs on each grinder and did a quick side by side test. The Ferrex gets up to speed faster than the Makita, and when putting pressure on the disc seems to have more power, which surprised me, as the Ferrex has a slimmer body and quite a bit lighter. The Makita has a proper cable, although only 2.5m, compared to the 3m plasticy cable of the Ferrex.
The Ferrex has the added flexibilty of the 3rd hole on the top to screw the side handle into, and being slightly slimmer might have be able to squeeze into places that the makita struggles. The makita is my preference since it has decent flanges at both ends and the rubber grip means you know exactly where it is, the smaller plastic handle of the Ferrex doesnt feel as safe with welding gloves on
The Ferrex came with 2 guards, I remember a grinder from Lidl about 5 years ago only had the fully enclosed guard so first job was to slice the bottom off for wire brush duties, however 2 guards gives a better option, and I like the fact they have a quick release lever instead of a screw which Makita uses, and from experience these screws dont last that long though using random screw drivers and save the hassle of finding a screw driver on the odd ocassion that it needs tweaking
The big difference between the grinders was the smell, on the initial spin up there was no smell from the Makita, but there was a smell of hot brushes right out of the box from the Ferrex. Maybe that will decrease with use, only time will tell, but interesting that for being a cheap chinese tool, I was very surprised to see the pair of spare brushes that came with it. It appears they would go inbehind the flaps on the side, so they are quick to swap. Not sure if any more brushes would ever be obtainable, whereas the Makita if any of the older tools are to go by, brushes should be available in 30 years time. The other difference was the noise, the Ferrex sounded slightly higher pitched as though it was going faster, but this probably comes down to how many fins is on the cooling fan, I dont have a way of measuring the rotational speed of the motor or the spindle
I think the Makita is usually £100, so will it last 5 times longer than the £20 Ferrex, only time will tell, but with cable and side handle aside, they both feel up to the job at this stage.