Lidl 9" Angle Grinder - any good?

[The Night Tripper]

Hi All Lidl have a 230mm Angle Grider for £30 on Monday. I really donlt want or like angle grinders (it's one tool it's good to be scared of, I feel), but I have a possible use for one coming up - cutting up the angle iron of an old trailer for scrap.

At that price I'm tempted to buy one and try to sell it on cheap afterwards. Any opinions on its general suitability for such a job? I have an alternative offer of an old (B&D?) Proline Angle Grinder which I could buy instead, if the team thinks that would be a better bet ;-o.

Thanks Jon N

[The Natural Philosopher]

if its a one job wonder, hire a monster and take it back the same day.

should be less than £15

[fred]

In article , The Night Tripper writes

I commented at the time the ad came out that it had a very compact and narrow head/gearbox which should allow it to make marginally deeper cuts and get into tighter spots. Soft start too so no kick to be scared of. Buy one!

[Bolted]

It never is though, so many times I've made that mistake. Latest was a plate compactor for the patio, by the time that came off hire I was well over the ebay price for a reasonable one, and didn't get the same refund option. Mind, my shed and cellar are both big and yet completely full of stuff which I will be using again at some point in the hereafter.

[Andy Dingley]

No, get a moderate quality 4 1/2" grinder instead. 9" machines have a scary gyroscopic effect - if you're not an angle grinder fan, then a

9" will put you right off.

The use for a cheap 9" is when you have thickish masonry to saw up.

The idea of "selling on" one's angle grinder sounds simply bizarre. I expect to only part with mine when they pry them from my cold dead fingers.

[dave]

I bought one of these a few years ago. Thought i'td be useful to have as I was thinking about slicing up some angle iron set in cement (hell to do with a hacksaw!). Apart from that I used it once to cut some steel tubing. Just one comment - I could have done the same with a much smaller AG. While still dangerous tool, a smaller one is a bit safer as the torque can be more easily managed. Saw one of those horrendous accident progs once when a bloke attempted to slice up a steel angle iron bunkbed. The thing kicked back and sliced his abdomen open! He did survive - miraculously. If you do use a 230mm one concentrate 100%. I'd only use it if I really had to.

[John Rumm]

Unless you really need the depth of cut, then a 4.5" grinder is vastly preferable for cutting metal stuff up. Cheaper discs, much lighter, and far harder to do yourself a serious mischief with!

Big ones are good for masonry...

I have an old 115mm proline one. On the plus side, its lasted many years and does a fair job. The switch is ruggest and not affected by dust. Has enough power etc.

The less handy bits are that it has a removable mains lead which is actually not much benefit since you have to take it off to get it back in the box, and if you forget to lock it, then it can fall off - usually when you try lowering the no longer required tool by its wire! It also runs very hot if you work it hard for 15 mins or so.

[The Night Tripper]

Hi All, thanks for the replies I should have said that I already have a cheap 4 1/2" grinder, so if as John Rumm advises they are likely to be better for this job anyway I'll stick with that. The trailor is made from fairly 'serious' angle iron but I'm sure a combination of using the smaller grinder with a hacksaw and a sledgehammer will get there eventually... worth knowing that the main use for the larger size would be for masonry, ta.

I probably should also have said that another thought about the Lidl one was that it's 230V, rather than 110V. I hadn't noticed that it has a soft start, I'd like that feature on my smaller one.

Andy D, the only reason I talked about selling in on was 'cos it would be the larger one that I expected to have very occasional use for. I might not enjoy using the 4 1/2" one, but I'm not getting rid of it.... An alternative for me would have been to take TNP's suggestion and hire one for the day.

Thanks again J^n

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I bought a Lidl 9" grinder a couple of years ago just for the one job - cutting the bricks for installing a larger window. It did the job perfectly. I was surprised to find it was a soft start type - so nothing like so scary as a 4" one without.

For the time I needed it, was cheaper than hiring. And of course it's had occasional use since.

[Steve Walker]

I have a clearout of the garage every few years and it is absolutely guaranteed that a week later I will be doing something and think "I just need a ... I've got one somewhere ... Oh shit I threw it out 'cos I haven't needed it for the past fifteen years!" It happens every time :(

SteveW

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Steve Walker saying something like:

Silly boy; never throw anything that's even vaguely tool-shaped away.

[John Rumm]

I don't know... there have been a few items I was very pleased to be shot of! (B&D Scorpion saw, NuTool hammer drill etc)

[Nick Leverton]

It happens with papers too, take my word for it.

Nick

[Harry Bloomfield]

The Night Tripper pretended :

I would suggest buy it, they are always a mix reasonable quality and extremely good value. It bit more expensive than hiring once, but the second time you need it you are into profit.

If I get near a Lidl on Monday I'll pick one up.

[Andy Dingley]

I need to throw away lots of tools and tool-shaped lumps - otherwise I've no room for shiny new ones!

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Dingley saying something like:

Mmmm... shiny new toys... Therein lies the exception, of course.

[Practical]

replying to The Natural Philosopher, Practical wrote: Go and buy it..it is cheaper than hiring..will be there 1st thing monday

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Which Monday would that be? ;-)

[Andy Burns]

Well, it was in the middle of July, just the wrong year.

[DICEGEORGE]

yep, 4.5" for cutting metal with thin disks, bigger ones for cutting concrete blocks etc.

[g]