Modern Vespa

I don't know that I even had 10 hours on this grinder.

Dead as a door nail...

"Crapsman"

Noooo! Check the brushes? Electrical cord connection in the housing?

Setting tile, I'd go through grinders every 6 months. I'd wait for a sale at HF and buy two at a time. The dust from tile is brutal on motors.

I bought a Makitta and it spoiled me.
Has put up with a lotta abuse.
But if it dies - it is long past warranty.

Doesn't craftsman come with some kind of crazy lifetime warranty?

Will try and investigate... cheap price = cheap quality

Warranty.... hmmm it may be under warranty.

Sigh. All together now: Craftsman tools are not what they used to be. Probably a bad connection at the switch.

My Milwaukee grinder on the other hand is close to 15 years old. I think it might be indestructible.

I've also got a Makita that's that's been going like the Energizer Bunny for ten years. I wore down two wire brushes just taking the paint off my GL, and that's before all the cutting and grinding wheels I've gone through, too.

I think when they sold the company they stopped that warranty. Could be wrong though.

The lifetime warranty never applied to power tools anyway.

Craftsman 90 day warranty on power tools as long as not used commercially.

Craftsman hand tools are basically guaranteed forever. This does not apply to their power tools, although it used to. I took back a jigsaw that saw 26 years of use before the bakelite case cracked. It was replaced, free of charge, but that was 20 years ago. Recently, I took a socket wrench to Lowes Hardware to get replaced as they took over the Craftsman brand. They honored the agreement even though the wrench was 49 years old and they also let me keep the old one. The old one slips occasionally and I figured it was only a matter of time before it slipped good under pressure and I break all my knuckles. Anywho, the new was is basically junk, it would not even hold a socket on the end, it would just fall off. 2 more trips later, and I have something that is passable, but no where near the quality of the old one. Upside is that I was talking to a gentleman on the third trip to Lowes to find a good one and he told me the original ones are rebuildable. So I am going to have to check into that

Open it up, they really are very simply constructed.

Very much this... but brushes are a few days away via delivery, and I am an impatient person. So... grabbed a Milwaukee with a coupon (and a 5 year warranty).

Onwards...

I bought my Makita to do some bodywork on my car and its lasted many years since though mountains of abuse, highly recommended.

Now that I think of it... it was a 1972 Datsun that was about 10 years old when I did the body...

Oh.... i suddenly feel so old....

510 or 240?

Yep exactly what I would have done. Back when I was doing all the work on my frame i found it was easier to have a couple on hand rather than changing the disc, we have a few second hand shops here and I have 3 hanging on the wall.

110TC... a tiny little 1200 fastback.

A wonderful thing for a kid in college!

Unless it changed again it's a 90 day satisfaction guarantee, then a 3 year standard warranty. Whatever that is for Craftsman.

I have been buying Master force tools from Menards for the last 15 years, I've only used the warranty on a battery charger and they gave me a new one off the shelf. I like their in store brand of power tools so far for that reason.

The crazy thing is that I have 3 more grinders that didn't make it in the pic!

I like that you don't have to waste time changing attachments. You just put one down and grab the other grinder with the attachment you want on it! This is my least favorite part of using a grinder.

EXACTLY!

You just convinced me to go buy a second one!

holy jeebus! And me over here thinking I was cutting a fat hog in the ass with two grinders, and an air powered version with a 90 to back it up.

But I got you on weed whips bro!

I suddenly don't feel bad for thinking "I really should just get a second angle grinder or two," as I was swapping back and forth...and back and forth...and back and forth...between cutting and grinding wheels over the past week. And that's not even considering that I was making do with a wire wheel in a power drill just to keep that piece out of the loop.

Time to hit the pawns shops.

so i've got two here. craftsman has been dogshit for years. their "professional" wrenches and ratchets are okay. the screwdrivers, especially the "pro series" remain okay. anything else is hot garbage.

i know, i know, i'm a chirpy little shit bird over here but if you want something decent pony up and buy a real name brand. snappy, matco, mac, that other one i can't remember right now because that tool truck never came around but had great scewdrivers.

anyway, i have eight snap-on ratchets. i've had to rebuild ONE in the last 20 years. total cost? 12 bucks. is all my shit high line, no. but the stuff that matters, yes.

power tool wise, makita or milwaulkee never do you dirty. dewalt and bosch are kick ass too.

(i'm currently rocking a bosch while i get a new switch for my milwaulkee)

anyway. like my pops said, buy it once and buy it right. that good money spends one time; that bad money spends twice as much.

then... on the flip side of that coin...

i've got a friend that runs a very prestigious and successful fabrication shop that specializes in off road going vehicles. you know what he buys? the absolute cheapest ass cheap angle grinders and wheels, and the absolute cheapest ass cheap mig wire for his welders. when they shit the bed, he just throws them out or runs to harbor freight to pick up two more and get his warranty on the one or two or three that are toast. then loads up a basket of wire, wheels, cut-offs and assorted sundries and rolls again.

to note: the welders are good, he just buys cheap ass wire.

Update - craftsman indeed honors their 3 year warranty. They will be sending an entire new grinder. (I had just asked for the brushes.) *shrugs*

So... I guess I'm on my way to starting a whodatschrome collection.

My modest collection of grinders. All have been champs: Cordless DeWalt, corded DeWalt, and corded Bosch.

Nice.

BTW... I know your not supposed to admire the legs and curves of another man's vice... but good god! That vice is an absolute beauty.

buy some brushes and now you have 2

on it!

... and that will make 3.
1. Craftsman with replacement brushes
2. Warranty Replacement Craftsman
3. Milwaukee that I purchased Sunday bc I'm an impatient brat

(Maybe change the thread title to Tool Collecting?)

Borrowing tools is for the weak.

Nah, just a cheap (but reasonably effective) vise. The stand is from a Beverly Shear, and was made by a machinist friend of mine. I can only take credit for welding on the bar stock that holds the grinders. And the paint.

This is my "take it outside so as not to cover the entire workshop in grinding dust" vise. If I have to reef on something, I have a different vise that's mounted quite a bit more solidly.

Now if you want to talk about beautiful vises, I'm going to have to get a picture of Gary's Wilton vise on a custom turret, which is mounted on an extendable piece of receiver hitch tubing mounted under a rolling worktop. That is a thing of beauty.

Grinders in use at about the 13 minute mark. Vise in use at about the 14-minute mark:

Nice job on the table man, and that mobile vice is a spicy meatball.

There's a part 1, but there is minimal grinder content. That was one of my lockdown projects. It was a case of "what do I have on hand that I can do something with?"

Those videos made me feel wholly inadequate about my own fabrication skills, which is to say, Nice Work!

I love watching videos like that, because they help me fill in the gaps in my own techniques. Hell, watching videos of people working (and talking through what they were doing) and asking questions on here is how I learned 90% of what I now know about body work, and that seems to have worked out reasonably well.

I love the idea of having a portable vice! I'm working to make room so I can do something similar. Nice work Jess!

+1. Xlnt solution. Want one.

Just convince CM2 he should make you one so he can practice his welding skills.

Another super-slick build. Adam Savage does lots of super build videos, including his own tools. He has some awesome tool carts which I fully intend to build my own version of if I ever run out of scooter work, which is to say, "never."

Ok.
Timeout.
First - Jess - for the love of god - you have some kick ass tools.
What the hell is that ripping saw guidy thing at the 1min mark?!
Please don't say festool.
After our last discussion - I nearly bought an $800 shop vac - before coming to my senses and cleaning/ fixing/ sealing/ flow improving my 15 year old Home Depot model.
BTW - Great vid.

Birdsnest - 3 grinders - awesome!
Cutting wheel
Wire wheel
Sanding wheel
Ready to go!

SoCal has his own welding heating up - so to speak.
I am also on the take it outside program - for nasty metal cutting and grinding.
The area near the garbage cans is like the Love Canal/ Super Fund EPA site.

It's too late!!!

Steel yourself for incoming images...