Morris Minor Owners Club

Seems to have been a flurry of angle grinder related stuff recently, so:
My second best angle grinder suddenly stopped the other day(as they do).
On checking the power through I found that the live side of the on/off switch was not doing it's job.
Closer examination showed that the switch was screwed together, and in less than a minute I had this lot on the table:<br><br>
A quick polish of the contacts, re-assemble and away the grinder goes again.

Now, they don't make them like that any more do they....or do they?
Believe it or not the angle grinder in question is a 5 year old cheapest-of-the-cheap Chinese job! So they can make some things properly! On inspection, the switch body is made of glass loaded plastic for high stability and low flammability, quite unlike what I would have expected to find in a machine that cost me, gulp, £9.99!(complete with complementary disc if I remember!)

Yes - contrary to comments made by others on here a while back - my cheapest of cheap angle grinder still works well - I have had to fit new brushes (it came with a spare set!) - but that's all!

My cheap Power Devil has had a lot of use over the years tile cutting brick joint cutting etc and a while back it sounded like the disc bearings were running dry. These are sealed races so the obvious solution would be to replace them, but as a quick fix I managed to get some oil in them - and bingo! its been working fine ever since!

A while back I had to source tools that would be used by a bunch of mechanically un-sympathetic herberts - they seemed to take a pride in how quickly they could reduce a new machine to a smoking wreck..... It always seemed to be the gearboxes on cheap grinders that they killed, if they didn't burn out first from being leaned on under load. More expensive tools did last longer, but when the users have that attitude, not that much longer and probably not enough to justify the price difference.

Conclusion: If it's for your own use and you're careful/lucky (as some of the really cheap stuff is really very nasty) it can go on for years, quality tools will accept more abuse and spares will be available, (but just about any part will cost more than a new cheap tool)

mines the chepo ones from wicks iv had it 3 years and still going strong came with a metal cutting disc,metal grinding disc and a stone cutting disc + a spare set of bushes [not used yet] for £10.99
and i also bought in the chepo range a hammer drill,sander,jigsaw and a cordless screwdriver all still going strong

Alzax3

Your conclusion sums up the situation very well.

You pays your money and takes your choice; for earning your living the cheapies are not worth having