Tried using a harbor freight cheap grinder on a big job in Portage

Brought their $20 angle grinder to a boiler repair last Tuesday. It lasted 45 minutes before the brush holder melted and sparked out. Learned you really can't cheap out on the tools that get daily abuse. Anyone else got a harbor freight horror story?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayden_nelson851mo ago

Ended up burning through two of those in a week myself.

ward.jamie1mo ago

Bet you’re using them wrong then. Honestly, I’ve had the same one for six months and it still works like new. People blame the gear when they don’t know how to set it up right or push it past what it’s meant for. Tbh, two in a week sounds like user error, not a bad product.

charles44217d ago

Man that's rough but honestly I've had the exact same thing happen. Bought one of those cheap grinders for a weekend project and it died halfway through cutting some old rebar. The motor just gave out with a puff of smoke and a weird burning smell. My buddy laughed and said you get what you pay for when it comes to power tools. I tried a second one and it lasted maybe an hour before the trigger switch started sticking. After that I just gave up and borrowed a proper Dewalt from a neighbor. Some things you just can't cheap out on no matter how tempting the price tag is.