In article , Matthew Durkin
writes
Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs. I've
tried with a chisel, and they won't break with a neat enough finish.
So, I've looked around and found them in all sorts of price ranges.
Looking on screwfix I noticed a 'Kinzo' brand angle grinder that takes the
larger 9" blades for only £19.99. Has anyone bought / used one of these? Are
they any good? Amazingly they do a 4½" blade for £6.99!!
I know for the job I'm doing the smaller blades would be fine, but I may
need something bigger down the line.

I know that cheap probably means it'll burn out on my third stone, but if
anyone has one and knows different I'd be keen to know.
If they are crap - which is a good value one? There's a ferm 4½ at ~£16 and
a 2200W 9" 'GENERAL' brand one at £40.
I also saw that there's a black and decker one for about £30 in Homesbase
(4½") that has a more powerful motor than most on Screwfix.

OK - so I'm confused. Is a known brand lower power one going to last longer
(and be better to use) than a never heard of brand but more powerful
machine.
I'm keen to avoid a repeat of the homebase excel jigsaw and router palava
(just don't buy HB excel!!)

help!
Matt



I bought a cheepie 5 inch one some years ago for about 20 quid and its
still going strong, and more recently a Mckellar one from Focus a 9 inch
for about 40 quid and it seems quite good quality. I see that the other
sheds have a number of different makes, but at the time had no stock!...
--
Tony Sayer

"Matthew Durkin" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs. I've
tried with a chisel, and they won't break with a neat enough finish.
So, I've looked around and found them in all sorts of price ranges.
Looking on screwfix I noticed a 'Kinzo' brand angle grinder that takes the
larger 9" blades for only £19.99. Has anyone bought / used one of these?
Are
they any good? Amazingly they do a 4½" blade for £6.99!!
I know for the job I'm doing the smaller blades would be fine, but I may
need something bigger down the line.

I know that cheap probably means it'll burn out on my third stone, but if
anyone has one and knows different I'd be keen to know.
If they are crap - which is a good value one? There's a ferm 4½ at ~£16
and
a 2200W 9" 'GENERAL' brand one at £40.
I also saw that there's a black and decker one for about £30 in Homesbase
(4½") that has a more powerful motor than most on Screwfix.

OK - so I'm confused. Is a known brand lower power one going to last
longer
(and be better to use) than a never heard of brand but more powerful
machine.
I'm keen to avoid a repeat of the homebase excel jigsaw and router palava
(just don't buy HB excel!!)

help!
Matt



Why not hire one from your local hire shop?. You could also hire a
stonecutter if you have some bigger slabs to cut.

Angle grinders can be difficult to handle if you are not used to them,
particularly 9" ones. If you do decide to buy/hire one, make sure you wear
stout boots, trousers, long sleeved shirt, gloves, goggles, etc. Also, make
sure you buy the right cutting wheels (i.e. for stone, not metal) it does
make a difference!.

HTH

Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs. I've
tried with a chisel, and they won't break with a neat enough finish.
So, I've looked around and found them in all sorts of price ranges.
Looking on screwfix I noticed a 'Kinzo' brand angle grinder that takes the
larger 9" blades for only £19.99. Has anyone bought / used one of these? Are
they any good? Amazingly they do a 4½" blade for £6.99!!
I know for the job I'm doing the smaller blades would be fine, but I may
need something bigger down the line.

I know that cheap probably means it'll burn out on my third stone, but if
anyone has one and knows different I'd be keen to know.
If they are crap - which is a good value one? There's a ferm 4½ at ~£16 and
a 2200W 9" 'GENERAL' brand one at £40.
I also saw that there's a black and decker one for about £30 in Homesbase
(4½") that has a more powerful motor than most on Screwfix.

OK - so I'm confused. Is a known brand lower power one going to last longer
(and be better to use) than a never heard of brand but more powerful
machine.
I'm keen to avoid a repeat of the homebase excel jigsaw and router palava
(just don't buy HB excel!!)

help!
Matt

Matthew Durkin wrote:

Looking on screwfix I noticed a 'Kinzo' brand angle grinder that takes the

Their reputation precedes them... (google back in this group). Probably
best to avoid them (Screwfix did resort to giving them away free with
discs for a while just to stem the rate of returns!)

larger 9" blades for only ï½£19.99. Has anyone bought / used one of these? Are
they any good? Amazingly they do a 4ï½½" blade for ï½£6.99!!
I know for the job I'm doing the smaller blades would be fine, but I may
need something bigger down the line.

For slabs a 9" is usually better - you can use a smaller one to do a
partial cut and then snap the slab, but the 9" is more the tool for the
job unless you are talking very thin slabs (i.e. under 20mm)

I know that cheap probably means it'll burn out on my third stone, but if
anyone has one and knows different I'd be keen to know.

The thing that tends to kill the cheaper ones when cutting things that
kick out abrasive dust like slabs, is the dust getting into the bearings
or the switch gear.

If they are crap - which is a good value one? There's a ferm 4ï½½ at ~ï½£16 and
a 2200W 9" 'GENERAL' brand one at ï½£40.

You could try the ferm - some of their tools are OK. Try to keep dust
out of the switch though. As with all of the budget tools the quality
seems to be a bit more variable. Some will get a good one that goes on
for years, others will last five mins.

Make sure you get a diamond blade. It does not need to be an expensive
one (see toolstation.com for cheap diamond blades) to be 1000 times
better to use than an ordinary abrasive disc. It will cut faster and
more smoothly, make less dust, and last longer than loads of ordinary
discs (A single cut through one big slab will consume an ordinary disc
or two!)

I also saw that there's a black and decker one for about ï½£30 in Homesbase
(4ï½½") that has a more powerful motor than most on Screwfix.

To be honest the price of a top end angle grinder is not that much more
than a cheapie. Often you can pick up a Makita, Bosch (blue) etc
including a diamond blade on special offer that won't work out that much
more than the cheapie plus the cost of the disc.

OK - so I'm confused. Is a known brand lower power one going to last longer
(and be better to use) than a never heard of brand but more powerful
machine.

Ignore the power - to an extent they all ought to be good enough for the
size of disc they are designed for. Power values can be misleading
anyway, since they tell you how much power goes in, not how much comes
out as useful mechanical energy and what comes out as heat and vibration.

I'm keen to avoid a repeat of the homebase excel jigsaw and router palava
(just don't buy HB excel!!)

http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=076030

has a 9" Makita with diamond disc for 85.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product...3&r=2115&g=115

Have the Hitachi I use (I found it in a local shop for about 75 quid inc
disc IIRC)



--
Cheers,

John.

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On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 22:49:19 GMT, "Matthew Durkin"
wrote:

I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs.

Buy a 9" and buy a cheap one (like the 20 quid Kinzo).

A 9" angle grinder isn't very useful. It's big, it's heavy, and the
discs they use have an incredible gyroscopic effect. They also rotate
more slowly than a small machine, so the cutting speed isn't actually
that much different. As an "angle grinder" for use on metal, it's just
not as handy as a 4 1/2".

What it will do is turn a big stone cutting disk, so it will slice
bricks and slabs for you. A 4 1/2" just doesn't have the reach.

So take you 20 quid, and buy it. Get one each of stone/metal grind/cut
disks. If you're doing anything that needs a clean cut, get a diamond
disk too.

You'll kill it eventually. But for a 9" grinder and "typical" use, I
really don't think you'll do it in a hurry.

If you are working a lot of steel grinding, then use 7" flap disks
instead and buy a grinder (like my Makita) that costs about £80 and
upwards. The advantage is that they weigh around half of a cheap
grinder, and for 9" machines that's significant.

The 7" flap wheel is because it's lighter than a 9" rigid disk, and
you don't suffer the gyroscope problem. I also prefer flap wheel to
rigids, for almost all tasks.

What I really wish I had is a 7" grinder. But it looks like those
only come from Mafell or Fein, and cost around £200.



Now for 4 1/2" grinders, it's a whole different story. These are
really useful machines and I keep them out on the bench permanently (I
might do an hour or two's grinding a day, if I'm in the metal
workshop). I buy the good Bosch ones, and I wear those to death fairly
rapidly. I just can't see how under a tenner can be a good investment,
because there _is_ a reliability difference, even on the better ones.

If you get a 4 1/2" grinder, then buy samples of every abrasive disk
you can find for it. They increase the versatility enormously. Most of
the time I use flap wheels, or twisted wire cup wheels. Sometimes (for
working inside corners) I use a rigid disk, usually a cut disk. The
others see a range of use, but it's the flap wheels that do most of
the work.

Screwfix is a decent source for abrasives, but also try the 3M Beartex
from RS, the non-round sandpaper disks(sic) from the same source (they
don't leave scratches from the edge of a disk). The best flap wheels
are from CSM - they have a lighter backing than the Garryson, they
offer 120 grit, and they also have a top-quality range with a top
dressing - these are clogproof on most materials.

Comfortable goggles and earmuffs are a must. I like a faceshield
instead of goggles, but this needs a fabric chin cover, or sparks can
go underneath. For ears I like mil-surplus Peltors (about a fiver or
so - get a bagful for workshop visitors too). Get the artillery or
cook's version (big cups) not the squaddie version with the thin cups
to fit under a helmet (and no sound deadening).

I used to use anti-vibration gloves with angle grinders, but now I
just use neoprene grips stuck to the machine handles and
leather/canvas rigger gloves. I don't think that either the gel or the
air gloves gave me enough hand protection for grinding. Neoprene grips
give as much vibration reduction as the gloves too - air gloves were
particularly disappointing, as they only cushioned the palms.



--
Smert' spamionam

On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 22:49:19 GMT, "Matthew Durkin"
wrote:

Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs. I've
tried with a chisel, and they won't break with a neat enough finish.
So, I've looked around and found them in all sorts of price ranges.
Looking on screwfix I noticed a 'Kinzo' brand angle grinder that takes the
larger 9" blades for only £19.99. Has anyone bought / used one of these? Are
they any good? Amazingly they do a 4½" blade for £6.99!!
I know for the job I'm doing the smaller blades would be fine, but I may
need something bigger down the line.

I know that cheap probably means it'll burn out on my third stone, but if
anyone has one and knows different I'd be keen to know.
If they are crap - which is a good value one? There's a ferm 4½ at ~£16 and
a 2200W 9" 'GENERAL' brand one at £40.
I also saw that there's a black and decker one for about £30 in Homesbase
(4½") that has a more powerful motor than most on Screwfix.

OK - so I'm confused. Is a known brand lower power one going to last longer
(and be better to use) than a never heard of brand but more powerful
machine.
I'm keen to avoid a repeat of the homebase excel jigsaw and router palava
(just don't buy HB excel!!)

help!
Matt

I bought my angle grinder from Wickes for just under 80 quid. It seems
more than adequate for the task, though on reading some of the
responses in this thread, I now see I could've got a big brand name
item for a similar price.

I started by buying abrasive disks from B&Q. It was quite incredible
to see the diameter of those things change as soon as they came into
contact with the job. Later, for some masonry and concrete slab work I
bought a diamond disk from Screwfix. As they were so cheap I bought 2,
thinking that they couldn't be so hard wearing at that price.
After remodeling a victorian 9inch brick wall and cutting 50 or more
concrete flags the first disk is still going strong.
I've become quite inspired with the possibilities. :-)

--
Tony Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.

On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 22:49:19 GMT, Matthew Durkin wrote:

Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs. I've
tried with a chisel, and they won't break with a neat enough finish.
So, I've looked around and found them in all sorts of price ranges.
Looking on screwfix I noticed a 'Kinzo' brand angle grinder that takes the
larger 9" blades for only £19.99. Has anyone bought / used one of these? Are
they any good? Amazingly they do a 4½" blade for £6.99!!
I know for the job I'm doing the smaller blades would be fine, but I may
need something bigger down the line.

I know that cheap probably means it'll burn out on my third stone, but if
anyone has one and knows different I'd be keen to know.
If they are crap - which is a good value one? There's a ferm 4½ at ~£16 and
a 2200W 9" 'GENERAL' brand one at £40.
I also saw that there's a black and decker one for about £30 in Homesbase
(4½") that has a more powerful motor than most on Screwfix.

OK - so I'm confused. Is a known brand lower power one going to last longer
(and be better to use) than a never heard of brand but more powerful
machine.
I'm keen to avoid a repeat of the homebase excel jigsaw and router palava
(just don't buy HB excel!!)

I bought one (the smaller blade size) a couple of weeks ago from Maplin for
a tenner. Although I've cut metal, tile and stone with it, I've not really
punished it & so can't vouch for it in the longer term but, at the price
it's pretty much expendable.

"Tony Halmarack" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 22:49:19 GMT, "Matthew Durkin"
wrote:

Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs.
I've
tried with a chisel, and they won't break with a neat enough finish.
So, I've looked around and found them in all sorts of price ranges.
Looking on screwfix I noticed a 'Kinzo' brand angle grinder that takes
the
larger 9" blades for only £19.99. Has anyone bought / used one of these?
Are
they any good? Amazingly they do a 4½" blade for £6.99!!
I know for the job I'm doing the smaller blades would be fine, but I may
need something bigger down the line.

I know that cheap probably means it'll burn out on my third stone, but if
anyone has one and knows different I'd be keen to know.
If they are crap - which is a good value one? There's a ferm 4½ at ~£16
and
a 2200W 9" 'GENERAL' brand one at £40.
I also saw that there's a black and decker one for about £30 in Homesbase
(4½") that has a more powerful motor than most on Screwfix.

OK - so I'm confused. Is a known brand lower power one going to last
longer
(and be better to use) than a never heard of brand but more powerful
machine.
I'm keen to avoid a repeat of the homebase excel jigsaw and router palava
(just don't buy HB excel!!)

help!
Matt

I bought my angle grinder from Wickes for just under 80 quid. It seems
more than adequate for the task, though on reading some of the
responses in this thread, I now see I could've got a big brand name
item for a similar price.

If the grinder is a grey colour, it is most likley a big name. The Wickes
pro range is made by Kress, who are very good.

"Matthew Durkin" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs.

My 2p worth:

I needed a grinder for a particular job, so bought a cheapo 9 inch. It did
the job, and has lasted several years of occasional use since then. The
cheapo ones are much heavier than the decent brands, and that would make a
real difference to how tired you felt if you were using one for several
hours a day.

In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:
If you get a 4 1/2" grinder, then buy samples of every abrasive disk
you can find for it. They increase the versatility enormously. Most of
the time I use flap wheels, or twisted wire cup wheels. Sometimes (for
working inside corners) I use a rigid disk, usually a cut disk. The
others see a range of use, but it's the flap wheels that do most of
the work.

Screwfix is a decent source for abrasives, but also try the 3M Beartex
from RS, the non-round sandpaper disks(sic) from the same source (they
don't leave scratches from the edge of a disk). The best flap wheels
are from CSM - they have a lighter backing than the Garryson, they
offer 120 grit, and they also have a top-quality range with a top
dressing - these are clogproof on most materials.

Interesting. I'm just repairing some secondhand doors for the old Rover
with the idea of swapping them once I've got them perfect.

I'm using an old red Wicks 4 1/2 with a twisted wire cup for cleaning
prior to welding, and a sort of angled semi flap type for grinding down
excess weld - there's plenty of that with me at the moment.

Changing the discs is a pain, so I'm thinking of a second grinder.

The old Wicks one has been fine and was cheap, but has a poor switch.

--
*Always borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"GB" wrote in message
...

"Matthew Durkin" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs.

My 2p worth:

I needed a grinder for a particular job, so bought a cheapo 9 inch. It did
the job, and has lasted several years of occasional use since then. The
cheapo ones are much heavier than the decent brands, and that would make a
real difference to how tired you felt if you were using one for several
hours a day.


A friend of mine acquired 30 odd plain concrete slabs from his neighbours
old patio paving and went about cutting them with his 5 inch grinder to pave
his side alley. Every one needed cutting to fit the width.. Main problems
were 5 inch didn't cut right through the slabs, took a long time, he got
through quite a few disks (only a couple of quid each) and the dust buggered
up his nice expensive Bosch grinder.

Bought a cheap (£40 ?) 9 inch grinder which did the job in half the time,
used only one disks and didn't suffer from sucking in its own dust. Kicked
himself for not buying the 9inch grinder in the first place.

Tony Halmarack wrote in message

I started by buying abrasive disks from B&Q. It was quite incredible
to see the diameter of those things change as soon as they came into
contact with the job. Later, for some masonry and concrete slab work I
bought a diamond disk from Screwfix. As they were so cheap I bought 2,
thinking that they couldn't be so hard wearing at that price.
After remodeling a victorian 9inch brick wall and cutting 50 or more
concrete flags the first disk is still going strong.
I've become quite inspired with the possibilities. :-)

Yep, if it were me I'd get a cheapy grinder & spend the money on the diamond discs.

Matthew Durkin wrote:

Hi All,
I need to buy an angle grinder to cut some decorative concrete slabs. I've
tried with a chisel, and they won't break with a neat enough finish.
So, I've looked around and found them in all sorts of price ranges.
Looking on screwfix I noticed a 'Kinzo' brand angle grinder that takes the
larger 9" blades for only £19.99. Has anyone bought / used one of these? Are
they any good? Amazingly they do a 4*" blade for £6.99!!
I know for the job I'm doing the smaller blades would be fine, but I may
need something bigger down the line.

I know that cheap probably means it'll burn out on my third stone, but if
anyone has one and knows different I'd be keen to know.
If they are crap - which is a good value one? There's a ferm 4* at ~£16 and
a 2200W 9" 'GENERAL' brand one at £40.
I also saw that there's a black and decker one for about £30 in Homesbase
(4*") that has a more powerful motor than most on Screwfix.

OK - so I'm confused. Is a known brand lower power one going to last longer
(and be better to use) than a never heard of brand but more powerful
machine.
I'm keen to avoid a repeat of the homebase excel jigsaw and router palava
(just don't buy HB excel!!)

help!
Matt

I bought the Kinzo a few weeks back when I had to lay a patio. First one had to
go back because the adjustable handle was buggered (I don't know why
manufacturers of cheapie tools add features like this when they are clearly
going to be a likely source of problems. Anyway, replacement arrived and I set
to work with it. Did the job just fine, although never having used a grinder
before, the amount of kickback was alarming. Every now and then, the bloody
thing would lunge toward me (I guess I could have swivelled the handle and had
it lunging away from me, but I didn't want to risk breaking it). Overall, for
£20, it's great.


Regards, Jim.

Tony Halmarack wrote:

contact with the job. Later, for some masonry and concrete slab work I
bought a diamond disk from Screwfix. As they were so cheap I bought 2,
thinking that they couldn't be so hard wearing at that price.
After remodeling a victorian 9inch brick wall and cutting 50 or more
concrete flags the first disk is still going strong.
I've become quite inspired with the possibilities. :-)

They do seem to last well. I got a diamond disc "free" with my 9"
Hitachi grinder, so far it has cut 20 or so 1.5" thick concrete paving
slabs, 20m through concrete paths, 300 concrete roof tiles, 50
engineering bricks, and a large variety of other smaller tasks. The disc
is probably only 2/3rd used so far.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
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