Welding Tips and Tricks

What’s up everyone, so I have a question for those of you who have or have used cordless grinders. All mine in the shop are corded dewalts and every now and then I have to move them around the shop to cut something small or grind something and I’m thinking of buying one cordless. I already have a nice Milwaukee drill I use daily and I am leaning towards Milwaukee so I can use the batteries interchangeably. Can any say what brand they’ve used and what seems to hold up best in their opinion? Thanks for any input. Here is my current setup!

Since you already have a Milwaukee battery go with the Milwaukee grinder.
Theres not a lot of difference between the top 3 or 4 battery tool producers in terms of performance and quality, so go with what youve got.
Cheers

May as well go with the Milwaukee. You've got batteries already. I've only used the dewalt cordless grinder and it is the nadir at tool on the farm. Use it almost every day for anything you can think of. This last year we upgraded and got the conversion kit to use the 20v lithium batteries and now they cut like a hot knife through butter. If you can get the higher amp hour batteries.

They have both Dewalt and Milwaukee at work. They both a seem to work fine. I’m just not a fan of having to stop working on something to change batteries or worse yet waiting for one to charge. But they do have there place with small jobs. They also seem to be hard on batteries

I like my milwaukee 18v cordless grinder.

I bought it for a vinyl siding job and it cut that stuff most of the day on one charge.

On steel the cutting wheel doesn't suck the battery too bad but a grinding wheel can put a hurt on a battery

Can't lean on them like a corded version or it'll stop until you pull the trigger again.

Overall, wish I had 2 or 3 of them

I have all Dewalt 18 volt cordless tool. The 4 1/2" grinder works OK but like said its hard on battery's if you really bare down on it. Now flap disc's and cut off wheels seem to do a lot better. I keep 4 battery's charged all the time.

Thanks for the input, probably pick one up later this week. I’ve used the dewalt ones at previous employers and liked them but never really thought it would benefit me much in my shop since I have plenty of outlets, but those few times when I just need to do something quick it would be nice just to grab it and go. I use my current ones pretty much daily.

I'll also add that with a wire brushes, especially cup brushes, they work well because the spin at a lower rpm so they don't grab as bad and don't vibrate as much.

I used to use Milwaukee 18v tools when I was doing building maintenance a couple of years back. Not a bad choice and will fill your requirements nicely.

Are those just regular torch holders or.did yoh mod them

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You know what they say about opinions. For the cost of one of those pieces of shiite I can put receptacles avery six feet from one end of the shop to the other, on both walls, and not have to deal with the battery scam. In the field on a scaffold or where there is no electric is one thing. In a shop is another animal.
Off to order a USA Mag holeshooter, new old stock.

wvuarmyeng wrote:Are those just regular torch holders or.did yoh mod them

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They are regular magnet ones I bought at my local welding supply.

Antorcha wrote:You know what they say about opinions. For the cost of one of those pieces of shiite I can put receptacles avery six feet from one end of the shop to the other, on both walls, and not have to deal with the battery scam. In the field on a scaffold or where there is no electric is one thing. In a shop is another animal.
Off to order a USA Mag holeshooter, new old stock.

Sorry I thought I put in my original post that I wanted it for little odd jobs that require an extension cord in or outside the shop. I guess I didn’t. I’ve used the dewalt cordless grinder at a previous employer and it worked very well. You must have had a bad experince to call them a scam. I did end up picking up a Milwaukee fuel grinder and it came with 2 batteries. I will put it to use and post up any feedback if anyone is interested.

Graveyard wrote:

Antorcha wrote:You know what they say about opinions. For the cost of one of those pieces of shiite I can put receptacles avery six feet from one end of the shop to the other, on both walls, and not have to deal with the battery scam. In the field on a scaffold or where there is no electric is one thing. In a shop is another animal.
Off to order a USA Mag holeshooter, new old stock.

Sorry I thought I put in my original post that I wanted it for little odd jobs that require an extension cord in or outside the shop. I guess I didn’t. I’ve used the dewalt cordless grinder at a previous employer and it worked very well. You must have had a bad experince to call them a scam. I did end up picking up a Milwaukee fuel grinder and it came with 2 batteries. I will put it to use and post up any feedback if anyone is interested.

Yeah I'd like to hear about it. I've been a dewalt guy because it is all I know. Just like John Deere farm equipment, Smith torches, kenworth semi tractors, and craftsman crescent wrenches. It's what I've always used cause most of my work was on my uncles farm where that stuff was used so I am always interested in hearing the thoughts on other brands. Like I said before-cordless grinder is the handiest tool we have. I've cut dang near everything with it. cut bolts, cut scrap, do some fabrication jobs like coping angle iron, haul out to a field, put into the back of a combine.

Graveyard wrote: I will put it to use and post up any feedback if anyone is interested.

I'm interested

Ok so after a weeks worth of use I have to say I’m pretty happy with it. I put it through it’s paces and with the 5.0 batteries it lasted a good amount of time. It feels just as strong as my corded grinders, of course it’s a little slower RPM but still easily gets the job done. Like I said before this is for quick little jobs in and outside of the shop and I have no doubt it can handle what I’m going to throw at it and I don’t regret the purchase.

Graveyard wrote:Ok so after a weeks worth of use I have to say I’m pretty happy with it. I put it through it’s paces and with the 5.0 batteries it lasted a good amount of time. It feels just as strong as my corded grinders, of course it’s a little slower RPM but still easily gets the job done. Like I said before this is for quick little jobs in and outside of the shop and I have no doubt it can handle what I’m going to throw at it and I don’t regret the purchase.

I don't regret mine either - and 10 years ago I would have actively rejected anything battery powered except drills.

... I'm even thinking about adding a cordless circular saw for carpentry this summer... And a second cordless grinder for mobile work. One for grinding, the other with the wire wheel. The fewer cables to drag around equipment the better

MinnesotaDave wrote:

Graveyard wrote:Ok so after a weeks worth of use I have to say I’m pretty happy with it. I put it through it’s paces and with the 5.0 batteries it lasted a good amount of time. It feels just as strong as my corded grinders, of course it’s a little slower RPM but still easily gets the job done. Like I said before this is for quick little jobs in and outside of the shop and I have no doubt it can handle what I’m going to throw at it and I don’t regret the purchase.

I don't regret mine either - and 10 years ago I would have actively rejected anything battery powered except drills.

... I'm even thinking about adding a cordless circular saw for carpentry this summer... And a second cordless grinder for mobile work. One for grinding, the other with the wire wheel. The fewer cables to drag around equipment the better

Cordless circular saw is a great thing. My uncle got the full set circular saw, light, grinder, impact wrench, hammer drill, right angle drill, and maybe a couple other things but every summer I've used everyone of them. Cordless tools are probably the single most handy tool.

Farmwelding wrote: Cordless circular saw is a great thing. My uncle got the full set circular saw, light, grinder, impact wrench, hammer drill, right angle drill, and maybe a couple other things but every summer I've used everyone of them. Cordless tools are probably the single most handy tool.

I remember when I drove off to the military in 1989, all my tools in the world fit into a 3 drawer craftsman tool box.

Now it would take a semi truck to move all my stuff in my shop

...might have overdone it a little - Haha!

Farmwelding wrote:Cordless circular saw is a great thing.

Really handy to take to the big box, if you need to cut anything out of wood, it's very useful. If you don't have something to carry a full sheet of plywood or long timber, a cordless circular saw or chainsaw can come in real handy.

I will say, I've had some people staring at me when I fire up a chainsaw in the parking lot of Home Depot...LOL

I bought all new Makita brushless cordless tools in the last year. Home depot often has deals where you get extra tools or batteries.

When I was at Fabtech the Metabo guys said that their cordless grinders are made in Germany, but I had already bought the Makita stuff. I don't necessarily believe him either. If I was making my product in Germany I would make sure everyone knew about about it.

Turbo wrote:Metabo guys said that their cordless grinders are made in Germany, but I had already bought the Makita stuff.

This is not the cordless, but AvE always gives a good honest review.

hTqv4mfKYEE

Good to search his channel for "angle grinder", he's good a lot of good reviews...both good and bad...caveat emptor!

aland wrote:
Really handy to take to the big box, if you need to cut anything out of wood, it's very useful. If you don't have something to carry a full sheet of plywood or long timber, a cordless circular saw or chainsaw can come in real handy.

I will say, I've had some people staring at me when I fire up a chainsaw in the parking lot of Home Depot...LOL

Was just talking to a local fellow who is a master chainsaw wood carver. He travels all over Canada (don't know about US) with a group of carvers to put on demonstrations. He is sponsored by Husquavarna and says they are bringing out a new battery saw that mimics the handling and power of a gas saw. He claims it is a huge improvement over the current battery saws available. Don't know when it will be available but sounded good by his telling.

homeboy wrote:

aland wrote:
Really handy to take to the big box, if you need to cut anything out of wood, it's very useful. If you don't have something to carry a full sheet of plywood or long timber, a cordless circular saw or chainsaw can come in real handy.

I will say, I've had some people staring at me when I fire up a chainsaw in the parking lot of Home Depot...LOL

Was just talking to a local fellow who is a master chainsaw wood carver. He travels all over Canada (don't know about US) with a group of carvers to put on demonstrations. He is sponsored by Husquavarna and says they are bringing out a new battery saw that mimics the handling and power of a gas saw. He claims it is a huge improvement over the current battery saws available. Don't know when it will be available but sounded good by his telling.

Hate to run out of juice in the middle of the woods cutting trees down or cutting up firewood. I feel like for chainsaws I'll always be a gas guy. Unless you throw a V8 diesel on it like hey do for the lumberjack competitions.

Trying to picture the two gorillas who could handle a V8 diesel racing saw carving a grizzly out of a tree trunk. Methinks using a battery chainsaw logging would be akin to taking a very small knife to a very large gunfight! I have a little 20v B+D chainsaw that is great for limb trimming and rough cutting some boards etc. Also a fairly full selection of battery tools which are all great within their design capabilities. As said earlier "no cords". Can't beat that.