Air Die Grinder

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plumkrazee70

plumkrazee70

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What is everyone using for an Air die grinder?

I have this el cheapo die grinder from Harbor Freight it claims only 4cfm @90psi, but there is no way. I have an Ingresol Rand 80 Gal 5 HP 15+ cfm @90 and my compressor can't keep up.

I used it to strip the hard places in the engine bay, but it was definitely a chore. The tool itself worked fine, it just seemed like it demanded a ton of air.

Any recommendations? I am going to be prepping the underside of the hood and trunk soon, so I will be using it for that.
 
I have the same one and it works pretty good but it sure eats up some air and I have a Crapsman compressor that doesn't like keeping up with it and overheats.
 
most die grinders will drawn down your air supply pretty fast - your air compressor sounds similar to mine - I have to take breaks when I am using it. I think mine (the grinder) is a middle of the road Sears unit
 
I have a Husky I bought at Home Depot several years ago. Works well but I do believe most use about the same amount of air. It is also rated 4cfm@90psi. The thing I like about it is the handle is plastic covered which keeps it from freezing your hand off. That metal gets pretty cold after holding it for awhile.
 
After doing some research, it seems that all die grinders are air hogs. The good thing about the compressor is that is a 100% duty cycle so it can handle the abuse.

I think the job will go faster if I had some better wire wheels. I didn't realize the wire wheels that HF sells are for drills only and have a max rpm of 4500, good thing I was wearing a shield, long sleeves and welding gloves while grinding. Yikes. I will get some better wheels and have at it again.

Thanks, everyone.
 
I've had a pair of Makita 18V drill/impact screw guns for a few years. I also have a Makita 18V light and it also came with a battery and charger so I actually have 3 batteries and two chargers. These Makita tools have been so reliable and bullet proof that I decided to buy/try the Makita die grinder. Since I already had 3 batteries and two chargers all I had to buy was the bare die grinder (which was not expensive on ebay). While I grind on the 360 magnum exhaust manifolds (the ones I sell) I charge the extra batteries. So I can almost work non-stop for hours. I mostly grind on cast iron and the die grinder has held up really well. I only wish I had bought one a looooong time ago!!
The best part is......NO COMPRESSOR NOISE!!!


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Treblig
 
Treblig said:
I've had a pair of Makita 18V drill/impact screw guns for a few years. I also have a Makita 18V light and it also came with a battery and charger so I actually have 3 batteries and two chargers. These Makita tools have been so reliable and bullet proof that I decided to buy/try the Makita die grinder. Since I already had 3 batteries and two chargers all I had to buy was the bare die grinder (which was not expensive on ebay). While I grind on the 360 magnum exhaust manifolds (the ones I sell) I charge the extra batteries. So I can almost work non-stop for hours. I mostly grind on cast iron and the die grinder has held up really well. I only wish I had bought one a looooong time ago!!
The best part is......NO COMPRESSOR NOISE!!!


View attachment 1714979361 View attachment 1714979362

Treblig
Click to expand...

Interesting. I have the Makita Drill/Driver Combo. Two batteries and Two chargers. It looks like that grinder will accept my battery. Might be worth a look. What wheels or stones do you use?
 
plumkrazee70 said:
Interesting. I have the Makita Drill/Driver Combo. Two batteries and Two chargers. It looks like that grinder will accept my battery. Might be worth a look. What wheels or stones do you use?
Click to expand...


I have two boxes full of stones but I mostly use my carbide burrs:

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As for the batteries. When I bought the Makita light it came with a newer style battery (I bought the light about two years after the Makita drills), the newer battery wouldn't fit (go into) my drill/screw guns. It really pissed me off that they had changed the battery design. But after looking at the battery differences I determined that I could modify the newer battery so that it would fit/work in all my Makita tools. Here you can see the old style battery on the left and the newer style on the right:

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Here you can see where I used the Makita die grinder to trim down this section of the battery plastic:
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After doing that minor modification the newer style battery slid into all the Makita tools I have including the Makita impact wrench. It felt so good to "stick it to the man" so that I didn't have to buy more batteries, now they all interchange.


I only paid $39.99 for the "bare" die grinder. There are many (100 percent positive rated) ebay sellers that have new tools out of the box or they get new tools at estate auctions. They turn around and sell them cheap on ebay.
Treblig

DSC07186.JPG
 
Treblig said:
I have two boxes full of stones but I mostly use my carbide burrs:

View attachment 1714979373 View attachment 1714979374

As for the batteries. When I bought the Makita light it came with a newer style battery (I bought the light about two years after the Makita drills), the newer battery wouldn't fit (go into) my drill/screw guns. It really pissed me off that they had changed the battery design. But after looking at the battery differences I determined that I could modify the newer battery so that it would fit/work in all my Makita tools. Here you can see the old style battery on the left and the newer style on the right:

View attachment 1714979375

Here you can see where I used the Makita die grinder to trim down this section of the battery plastic:
View attachment 1714979377 View attachment 1714979377

After doing that minor modification the newer style battery slid into all the Makita tools I have including the Makita impact wrench. It felt so good to "stick it to the man" so that I didn't have to buy more batteries, now they all interchange.


I only paid $39.99 for the "bare" die grinder. There are many (100 percent positive rated) ebay sellers that have new tools out of the box or they get new tools at estate auctions. They turn around and sell them cheap on ebay.
Treblig

View attachment 1714979378
Click to expand...

Nice. I have the newer slim batteries. I will check ebay out. Thanks so much.
 
It works real good so far and I use different sized wheels. If that don't work I use a bench grinder/wheel. I have redone a LOT of parts for both of my cars this way. I also have a prepainting process as well. I strip off what I need,grab a pair of pliers and spray it off with autozone brake cleaner then hit it with a small propane torch or heat gun to make the moisture evaporate before I prime it then paint it. I can literally see the moisture evaporate and move like water rolling on to the beach.
 
Since we are on power tools :). I bought a Ryobi 18V drill/saw combo kit to help when I go to the junk yards but it's the biggest POS I ever bought and never keeps the charge long. I also replaced the battery and ran it to zero with the flashlight and recharged it and same deal. What have you had luck with
 
Sedanman said:
Since we are on power tools :). I bought a Ryobi 18V drill/saw combo kit to help when I go to the junk yards but it's the biggest POS I ever bought and never keeps the charge long. I also replaced the battery and ran it to zero with the flashlight and recharged it and same deal. What have you had luck with
Click to expand...


I haven't owned a battery powered saw but there are many times that I wished I had one at the salvage yards. I've had to remove many exhaust manifolds down pipes at the salvage yard. The down pipes are hell to remove without a saw. If I ever bought one I'd buy a Makita only because my tools have been so indestructible and reliable. The only reason I bought the drill and screw driver set was that a friend had a set that I had used many, many times and I couldn't believe how well they performed and how quick the batteries recharged.

Treblig
 
I have that same issue. I charge my battery before I leave and by the time I cut 1/4 of the way through a U bolt with a cutting wheel bit it's out of juice and I end up having to use a hacksaw to cut the other 3 which is a PITA. I need to invest in a decent portable drill/saw combo and a 1/2 impact this year
 
Treblig said:
I haven't owned a battery powered saw but there are many times that I wished I had one at the salvage yards. I've had to remove many exhaust manifolds down pipes at the salvage yard. The down pipes are hell to remove without a saw. If I ever bought one I'd buy a Makita only because my tools have been so indestructible and reliable. The only reason I bought the drill and screw driver set was that a friend had a set that I had used many, many times and I couldn't believe how well they performed and how quick the batteries recharged.

Treblig
Click to expand...

X2 on Makita. My drill/impact set has been awesome and I have owned them for about 5 years with regular use and the batteries still charge in 15 minutes.
 
Sedanman said:
It works real good so far and I use different sized wheels. If that don't work I use a bench grinder/wheel. I have redone a LOT of parts for both of my cars this way. I also have a prepainting process as well. I strip off what I need,grab a pair of pliers and spray it off with autozone brake cleaner then hit it with a small propane torch or heat gun to make the moisture evaporate before I prime it then paint it. I can literally see the moisture evaporate and move like water rolling on to the beach.
Click to expand...

Where I am running into issues is under the hood and under the trunk lid. It is not the easiest place to sand so the die grinder fits the bill nicely, but the wheels I have been using are sub par. I did use the HF wheels in the bay after stripping off the first coat of paint with stripper (ending up with the factory finish) but that took me 16+ hours to do and I went through 3 packages of those wheels. Turns out they are not designed for pneumatic tools. lol.

What wheels are you using? Maybe my drill with a good wheel will make all the difference.
 
12 buck HF angle grinder with a wire wheel. Cuts paint faster than most options. Hit it with a heat gun prior and it literally flies off. Wear a mask , ear plugs and goggles!
 
A buddy of mine had softened his engine bay paint with brake cleaner but I think he said he went through a case of it.
 
Sedanman said:
A buddy of mine had softened his engine bay paint with brake cleaner but I think he said he went through a case of it.
Click to expand...

I did soften the paint in the bay with some stripper. I realize where I went wrong was using the crappy HF wire wheels, which are designed for drills. I went to a local "tool" store yesterday and bought two made in the USA, 20k rpm wire wheels. Will give that a go this weekend. Shouldn't take long. :)
 
For stripping the underside of my car to reprimer it after i got the undercoating off, i used a DA sander with a 6" diameter pad, and 80 grit, then switched up to 180 grit to smooth out the scratches, and just used my HF die grinder with scotchbrite roloc discs in the tight spots, then hand sanded the rest of it that those 2 tools couldent get to.

I plan on doing the same thing with my engine compartment. I have a husky 220v twin piston oil type 80 gallon compressor. I noticed a difference with my DA sanders. I have a HF brand and a bluepoint. The bluepoint tends to use less air, and the compressor cycles less.
 
I replaced all my Makita battery powered drills with Bosch and have no regrets.
 
Interstate batteries has replacement batteries or you can have yours rebuilt.
They have a higher ma/h rating then originals. I get my Dewalt batteries there.
 
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