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I'm a welder and use grinders every day to make my living. I'm going to rattle off here a bit and know I'll be sure to step on someone's toes but what I am about to say is based on what I've seen for the last 15 years in the real world. 4.5" elect. grinders in no particular order: Milwaukee- Ok but I hate the swicthes and they lack power for the price tag. Nothing special to brag about. Metabo- very good all around. No complaints at all and is worthy of bragging about. A real powerhouse too. B&D- used to be good years ago but the new stuff is terrible. DeWalt- about the same as milwaukee but I do like their feel better than the Mil. nothing special about these either. Porter-Cable- I place these just a bit higher than the Metabo and at the top of my favorite list. They are a beefy machine and have great power to really lay into a wheel. While the price is up there so is thier bragging rights for quality. In addition, this one is about the quietest running of any of them. Snap-On- overall not a bad machine but has the same stupid swicth style as the Milwaukee and DeWalt. Ok, so there's the scoop in my opinion. Now, I run my own business and my tools take a real beating in the work I do. I hate to take an expensive tool out only to have one little ooops and watch it fall 30' to splatter on the concrete. I bought one of the Harbor Freight grinders for $20 back around '94 with the idea that if it ends up splattered, who cares. While I like my Porter-Cable the best, it stays in the shop. In my service truck you'll find 5 H-F grinders. One with a cut-off wheel, one with a cup brush, one w/ a stringer bead brush and one w/ a grinding wheel. The oldest one was going on 6 years of hard abusive use and finally died a few months ago. The case got broke and I glued it together with PVC cement about two years ago. Right now, I own about 20 of these grinders, each somewhere with some sort of attachment on it. Nothing worse than wasting time swapping brushes or wheels when it's much easier to grab a different grinder. As for the noise, yep they make a lot and keep right on going. I don't baby these either. I run 6" cut-off wheels, 5" knot cup brushes, 7" mounted grinding wheels as well as the stuff you're supposed to use on them. Aside from missing skin on my knuckles from using the over sized attachments, no real problems. The big plus is that these will run 120 volts AC or DC for anyone that has an engine drive welder that only puts out DC current. There is one problem with these H-F grinders. Unless you recess cut the wheel retaining nut, they won't hold a .030" cut-off wheel tight. Someone said about grease on the gears. I will agree that using #1 will melt but it will also run out of most, if not all, grinder heads at some point. These cases are not sealed completely as most have a shaft locking pin through the case. You need to use a high tack high temp grease. Personally, I like the Mystik JT-6 high temp. I use this for everything from the grinders to wheel bearings to heavy equipment. This is not the only brand that has a good high temp high tack grease but it's the only one I will give my stamp of approval and the only one I use in my personal equipment.
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