480W Electric Grinder

I needed an electric die grinder for small specific infrequent tasks in my shop, so it made little sense to spend a chunk of change on a big-name maker. I thought if I get a year of service out of this, it will be a great deal. I was expecting the sort of quality usually associated with Harbor Freight tools, and holy cow was I pleasantly surprised. Shocked, even. The Good: this is a well-made tool with heavy plastic and aluminum castings. Fit and finish are outstanding. It uses a brushed motor, and it's rebuildable (brushless motors are a scam...cheap to make and much lower in torque at low speeds). Two additional brushes are included. The chuck is a Jacobs type so you're not limited to only 1/4" arbors, and it's shrouded in a stationary sleeve, making the tool easy to grip at the front. Total indicated runout 2" from the chuck jaws is .004" which is shockingly good for a cheap tool like this (may be luck, or it may be good QC...I don't know). It has preset variable speed and plenty of power to drive a 2" sanding drum, grinding stone, or 3" Roloc disk. It has plenty of airflow to keep the tool cool, with a directional fan and the exhaust blowing out the front of the tool near the work. This is a great feature because it draws in cooler air from the rear of the tool, away from the business end where there's lots of abrasive particles that would otherwise enter the tool and cause an early death. The Bad: the shroud on the chuck can really slow you down when changing to a different sized arbor because you cannot spin the chuck by hand; the key must be used. The tool is not reversible like some pneumatic die grinders. The air vents can be blocked by your grip and cause the tool to overheat, so pay attention. The switch can be hard to reach; it's not a trigger type, it's a recessed flat toggle at the rear of the tool, and is operated with a fingertip. The Ugly: the power cord is comically short and not even rated at Service Junior specs. I'll be replacing it; the good news is the strain relief is not molded onto the cord, so it can be used with the new, longer cord I'll install. Despite the Bad and Ugly, this tool is a no-brainer. I'll be buying one or two more before the price goes up because having a few means not having to change a drum/disk. Plug in and go. NOTE: I am not a shill reviewer; I'm a shlub like most people with their own shop, and I have many good name-brand tools. I also like a good deal on a good tool, and this is definitely a good deal on a good tool. Recommended.

After my Dremel tool died for the final time I decided to replace it with something else and this die grinder was small enough to do what I wanted it to do. The reviews of this tool and other similar tools helped me choose to order this one. This tool has the chuck with key that I wanted, would accept various size shafts for my assorted collection, and is variable speed. So far I am very happy with it. Works great, isn't too loud, seems to have plenty of power for my use, and seems to be very good quality. I can recommend this to friends without reservation.

Tool works fine for most small and detailed applications. Do not expect to use this to remove welding slag or grind welds.

DISCOUNT THE COMPLAINTS. This piece is a bargain, given its unique versatility. Some complain about vibration, but it vibrates less than a more expensive dremel while being more versatile due to the chuck and it won’t vibrate if you use short-shafted tools in the chuck. The farther your tool extends from the chuck, the greater the chance this will vibrate. Yes it gets warm. Big deal. Wear gloves if you need to. The bottom line here is that you get a LOT of useful versatility for a very modest price.

I chose this grinder over a more expensive brand BECAUSE it had SPEED CONTROLS which the 3x expensive model did not. The first thing to FAIL was the speed control, causing it to run at FULL SPEED, which can be DANGEROUS to the user and/or his projects. In it's first hours of use and proper operation, it did exhibit sufficient power and NO wobbling at all. It does overheats routinely and I found it needed to rest infront of a fan. So the QUALITY of the speed control needs to be improved. Plus, the cooling needs improvement and this machine "could become" a champion. It really overheats to the point that you cannot hold it, even with gloves.

Useless tool I have ever purchase, If you are considering buying one you better buy warranty beyond the one month you get. I used the tool ONCE, kept getting too hot to handle it so I had to stop using it. Once it cooled down the next time I wanted to use it just didn't run at all. Unfortunatelly it was over 30 day and I had to toss it it the trash. I gave it one start because I had no choice, should be cero starts.

I wanted a heavy-duty Fordom tool (which I destroyed). This works great for my heavy power carving, including irregular bowl rough out.

I use this tool daily for various tasks without failure. Now let me expand on that a bit... I use this tool for tasks that fall within its limitations. Things like light to medium duty cutting/grinding/sanding/buffing or basically anything a medium duty air die grinder could be used for and it does great. I will say this is NOT a heavy duty die grinder. If you put a 1/4" double cut carbide bur bit in the chuck of this thing and proceed to turn a few square holes into round holes in a piece of 1/4" thick steel plate I'm almost positive it won't survive to finish the second hole. Its not built for that kind of heavy work. If you use it within its limitations it could last you until you get sick of using it and eventually find some other way to complete those tasks you were using it for.

I’ve used this little tool on many different application. It has worked great. Very fast and lots of power.

This item is very easy to handle, very little vibration, very good price for such a handy tool that can handle many jobs !! Great variety of accessories ( bits, etc.) SORRY, but I have to edit this, folks ! After a few uses of this tool, it stopped working all together, and I'll be returning it for a full refund.