Check your angle grinder

[scrapyard welding pro.]

got a new bosch 4 1/2 angle grinder the other day on first use it felt very rough. i was once on another forum where someone said that they had a drill or angle grinder with no grease in it. So i took off the gear box only a bit of grease in one corner the gears were bone dry !!!!!!!!!!! wacked some grease inand put it back together now runs like a dream alot smoother and less noise

while the screwdrivers were out thought i would take a look at my metabo 4 1/2 angle grinder had this for 3 years used it day in day out. really smooth and low noise. gears were nicely covered in grease so only added a little grease.

whenever i get a new tool now i will always check them for grease.

 

[rtbcomp]

I bought a Clarke dust extractor, made an awful noise, squirted some oil into the bearings and it's been fine in daily use for several years.

 

[stormin]

My bosch angle grinder seems noisy too. Only used it once so far and gear box end seemed to get very hot. I'll have to check it out.
Seems very amiss of bosch who you usually expect to provide superior equipment.

 

[Mikey D]

I think i heard somewhere on here that some bosch stuff is now made in china
seems like poor quality control

 

[malcolm]

Been made in China for a while (like everyone else's stuff). I had a lovely blue Bosch angle grinder for 13 years and wasn't made in China. Replaced it with another which was and lasted 1 year. I bought a third in a different size just before the second one expired, but thankfully that one is a lot better and has managed a couple of years already. They are getting the hang I guess, but they've lost my custom.

 

[madkayaker]

I have had my bosch 4 years and it get used a lot for house work dry and wet cutting stone brick etc as well as metal work. Good point giving new tools the once over.

 

[scrapyard welding pro.]

my boschangle grinder was made in germany, bosch percussion drill made in switzerland, bosch sds drill china all bought within 2 months of each other.

 

[Shug]

I've got a makita grinder thats been through some amount of work and abuse since I got it over a year ago. Started making a rattly noise I guess I should crack it open and check its ok. You probably posted that hint just in time

 

[stormin]

Well I opened up the gearbox on my bosch angle grinder. Quite a bit of grease in there but non on the actual gears. All the grease seemed to be around the outside edges of the casing. Added a bit more for good measure mostly on the gear faces. Not much quieter after a test run. Listening carefully after switching off and a lot of the noise seems to be coming from the opposite end of the motor.
Guess I'll have to give it some stick in the next few months before the 12 month warranty expires. Think my next one will be a makita or hitachi.

 

[graffian]

My bosch grinder died a few weeks back and I have been using a b&q £14 thing. It's a lot heavier than the bosch and looks like a little 9inch grinder, switch is awkward for one handed use.

I was wondering what modern bosch tools were like. I bought my grinder in 1986!! and it saw everyday bodyshop use for 10 years and quite a lot of use since then. Best grinder I have ever come across was a german thing 'flex original' it was so smooth, nothing like any other grinder.

 

[HasBean]

Took a couple of mine apart last night, 9" grinder, plenty grease, just not on the gears. Same goes on the two cheap 4 1/2" jobs. New Hitachi, couldn't get the screws out without buggering it up so decided to leave alone, other Hitachi is burried under a montain of cr*p so will have to wait, but I see a trend developing....

 

[pickupminimad]

I make granite worktops for a living so pretty testing work for most angle grinders. Dewalt ones are good for making your workshop look professional to people "not in the know", . Bosch one lasted about 4 months, budget ones last about a day, Hitachi one lasted about 6-7 months, makita has been going for about 9 months now and theres a new one waiting for failiure day but still going strong. Flex original, make wet polishers etc and more biased towards my line of work. Really expensive circa £250 for a wet polisher and old ones lasted for at least a year, dont know whats happened but recently we sent 4 wet polishers back within 2 months of purchase as gearboxs failed. Makita do polishers £140 and again last really well.

 

[Mikey D]

Have you tried a dewalt ? ive got one and no problems with it yet

cheers mike

 

[Hitch]

Its weird, all out small grinders at work are Bosch and Hitachi. Both last really well, but are high powered 5" models.
The only one that has come close to lasting as long was metabo.
Forget about the dewalt, they didnt last five mins!

Beare in mind these are kicked, thrown, dropped, driven over...and use to grind stuff aswell!

 

[graffian]

these are kicked, thrown, dropped, driven over...and use to grind stuff aswell!

That's what your mean't to do with a grinder.

 

[Welderpaul]

The thing that goes first on mine is the pressy inny button to stop the disc turning while you swap it over. Caused by pressing in the button before the wheels stopped.
rushrushrush
Thing i might buy two new 5" bosch ones shortly. Makita gone down in my estimations recently.