Angle grinder for other purposes

Yes. I've loads of these, almost never use them. Angle grinders run too fast for most "sandpaper", so you get lots of problems with clogging and burning. In particular, you get lots of edge burns where you catch the circumference of the disk. If you do use them, there's a funnel-shaped plastic backing pad that goes onto the grinder to support the disk.

For metals (aluminium) I sometimes use 3M's somewhat triangular disks and backing pad, as these avoid the edge problem. For wood though, I'd use a drill instead of a grinder, running at around a tenth of the speed.

A purely circular sanding action tends to leave marks. And an angle grinder goes too fast for this anyway.

Keep an eye on Lidl - I got an excellent random orbit sander from them with cheap discs too for not a lot. It makes a brilliant job of sanding wood. But a belt sander is better if you need to remove more surface.

angle grinders make the fastest stock removing sanders, but as finishing sanders theyre a disaster. It would do anything other than tidy it. If you're foolish enough to try it, you want a nylon backing pad for an angle grinder plus fibre abrasive discs.

NT

Yup, far too aggressive.

ROS are deffo the way forward, great stock removal with 40 grit discs, almost belt sander but docile, rigt up to 240 for fine finish.

A certain knack is required to prevent over doing it & gouging the surface.

As others have said, angle grinders run much faster than drills, saws, etc. From a safety point of view, don't use any accessory on an angle grinder unless it was designed to operate at that speed, or you risk it flying to pieces at high speed and doing you or someone nearby some real damage.