Lets talk power tools

[justtorchit]

Okay, so last night im in the middle of building a bumper when the grinder im using made some odd noises and went from 100° to 500° in a matter of seconds.

the grinder is a makita 6.4 amp 4.5" grinder. Thing has worked awsome compared to my dewalt grinder that is used for nothing else but wirewheeling.
i took the makita apart and everything that i could see looked great. brushes, bearings, gears, motor, all rotating assemblies are free spinning. which leads me to believe there is a short in the wiring on the outer part of the motor that all the juice is sent through. (im no power tool expert, but if youve ever taken one apart you will know what im talking about)

This grinder is actually justin lawheads and i was using it because my old makita shit the bed a while back aswell. and just so happens justin asked for it back about yesterday 15 minutes before it blew up... so originally i say, yeh no problem, come grab it, i need to go get me a new one anyways. then boom, buzzz, kapoot.

so now i need to purchase 2 new grinders....
is makita junk these days?
how bout milwaukee?
Other brands?
I have noticed the home depot has pretty much done away with there rigid brand shit and pumped in a shit ton of milwaukee stuff.
Is this the same good quality stuff from years ago? or just as bad as makita now? I have a bad ass milwaukee sawzall i purchased 2 years ago and the thing is the beezneez (had to purchase because my makita sawzall shat the bed. Notice the trend here?)

So my basic general question is what brand power tools should i purchase from now on. I want to also purchase i nice new 1/2 drill too.... AND I DONT WANT ANY MORE JUNK!

[Ruepart Hoaxley]

I have a Makita sawzall that's just as old as me, and it works great...

Never stuff? Milwaukee is pretty good. I used a little battery-powered Milwaukee sawzall at work for cutting walls level at 2' and 4' and shit, and it was the shit.

[Harry]

Is your Dewalt a 7 or 10 amp? I have been mercilous to my 10 amp one for a couple years now and never have any problems with it. NEVER stalls out. I usually use it until it's too hot to hold, then put gloves on and keep going.

We used to pretty much exclusively buy Metabo grinders at the fab shop I worked at before working here. They also had the shit beat out of them. We would wear out the cords so you'd have to hold it just right to make it run. Never saw one just stop working though, even after replacing the cords.

I've destroyed the gears in a Makita and have hated every one I've used though, so we might not see eye to eye on this type of thing haha.

[justtorchit]

Is your Dewalt a 7 or 10 amp? I have been mercilous to my 10 amp one for a couple years now and never have any problems with it. NEVER stalls out. I usually use it until it's too hot to hold, then put gloves on and keep going.

We used to pretty much exclusively buy Metabo grinders at the fab shop I worked at before working here. They also had the shit beat out of them. We would wear out the cords so you'd have to hold it just right to make it run. Never saw one just stop working though, even after replacing the cords.

I've destroyed the gears in a Makita and have hated every one I've used though, so we might not see eye to eye on this type of thing haha.

Im pretty sure the dewault is 7 amp. Its used and abused. i dont like the feel of it and the trigger dosent lock anymore so its a pain in the ass. plus i like to have 2 grinders when i working on stuff so i dont have to keep swapping wheels back and forth.

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

I have a 1/2" chuck dewalt power drill I love. Its an 18 volt xrp. Its been used for a good 6 years now with orional batteries. I would get aanother in a second

[justtorchit]

I have a 1/2" chuck dewalt power drill I love. Its an 18 volt xrp. Its been used for a good 6 years now with orional batteries. I would get aanother in a second

i have 2 of them.... and about 8 batterys that are all goners.
(one day ill pick up some more batterys)

but for corded drills i only have a old 3/8s makita (red body) and a drill press.

It sucks when i need to go to the drill press with a 50 pound hunk of steel to drill anything over a a 3/8s hole lolol.


Harry- any chain places sell the metabos? im reading up and people are saying they just dont die.

[clean4drxj]

It seems like dewalt is the best bang for the buck these days, back in the day makita was good but I think they kinda went downhill, although it coulda been one that was built on a late friday.

[Harry]

http://www.metabo.us/Local-Distribut...ml?&no_cache=1

If you type in Middletown it comes up with Fastenal and Airgas which were two places we did business with regularly. Never seen them in Lowes, Home Depot, etc. I think they are geared more towards industry.

Google says they might be a little more expensive than a Milwaukee or Dewalt, but like I said... the only way we could make them not work was by ruining the cords We'd send them out, they'd come back $20 later with a new cord and keep on going.

[hoggie101]

Hilti FTW

[StompJrKz400]

i use that same makita at work, we threw all out dewalts away cuz they were terrible in comparison. the makitas are just smoother, and better balanced, for finish work on sheet metal its the only way to go!

[Arundlemcbrundle]

[Carlleen]

[Bigbike]

^^WIN!

[tjramplebump]

i swear to god i have that same shirt...its J Crew

[justtorchit]

soooo, after looking at grinders for about 2 hours last night
i went with the dewault.
im verrrrry impressed by how far they have come from my old dewault.

the new makitas looked okay, but they only have a one year warranty and were semi underpowered. i liked the small body and simplistic design.

the milwaukees looked nice and had a 5 year warranty. But they all felt like shit to grip. to large of a body. and the paddle switches were so god damn cheep and awkward feeling.

the dewault felt most comfortable with the small nice and easy paddle switch. 10 amps. and just had a solid feel to it. 3 year warranty.

well, ill see how it lasts after a few hours tonight