Angle-grinder on boat: What's worked for you?

[allatsea99]

What a thread. I have leant lots here... power supplies, torque, convenience etc. Just goes to show how individual we are - tools fit for purpose. I was looking for a variable speed general purpose lightweight angle grinder to use now and again for gel coat polishing where bigger buffers can't reach/too dangerous - thought this would do the trick.. alas there can't be much of a market as the big retailers just don't carry this gear. Anyone help here? I'd be wary of advice from those who have had failures with just one machine - carries no weight. Have to agree with Harmer? who credits Ozito - simple basic Chinese gear - I had one 12v machine find its way into salt water. Within 15 mins it was rinsed, dry and humming away - only had 3 parts inside! Follow Nigel Calder's advice for boats: keep it simple.

[Scott Berg]

Interesting thread
We ship a small DeWalt compressor and have an array of air tools
Lighter, cheaper, easier to maintain



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[minaret]

Originally Posted by allatsea99

What a thread. I have leant lots here... power supplies, torque, convenience etc. Just goes to show how individual we are - tools fit for purpose. I was looking for a variable speed general purpose lightweight angle grinder to use now and again for gel coat polishing where bigger buffers can't reach/too dangerous - thought this would do the trick.. alas there can't be much of a market as the big retailers just don't carry this gear. Anyone help here? I'd be wary of advice from those who have had failures with just one machine - carries no weight. Have to agree with Harmer? who credits Ozito - simple basic Chinese gear - I had one 12v machine find its way into salt water. Within 15 mins it was rinsed, dry and humming away - only had 3 parts inside! Follow Nigel Calder's advice for boats: keep it simple.

This thing is awesome, immediately indispensable for me.




http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-2438.../dp/B00LESTLOS

[Siberianhusky]

Originally Posted by Scott Berg

Interesting thread
We ship a small DeWalt compressor and have an array of air tools
Lighter, cheaper, easier to maintain



Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

What small Dewalt compressor supplies enough CFM to run something like an air grinder?
My jobsite compressor won't come near continious duty with most air tools like grinders, sprayers. Works great with nailers, ratchets etc. I can't imagine lugging that 125lb thing on board.
My huge upright 2 stage at home will run anything. Taller than I am and runs on 220V

[unclemack]

Originally Posted by Siberianhusky

What small Dewalt compressor supplies enough CFM to run something like an air grinder?
My jobsite compressor won't come near continious duty with most air tools like grinders, sprayers. Works great with nailers, ratchets etc. I can't imagine lugging that 125lb thing on board.
My huge upright 2 stage at home will run anything. Taller than I am and runs on 220V

+1

I ran a bodyshop for some years, big 3 phase compressor running DA sanders & spray guns almost constantly.
Finally realised it was cheaper just to use electric DA sanders rather than wearing out the air tools and the compressor that cost thousands.
A 15 CFM compressor (about max on UK 13A plug) runs almost continuously driving just one DA or a small-tip spraygun.
Anything smaller than 15CFM you'll be doing an awful lot of waiting...

[barnakiel]

We have a no name (Stiehl?) one and it is as good as it is inexpensive. I prefer Makita tools overall.

I only found the grinder useful when cleaning our cast iron keel. All other jobs get done by our ages old no name drill machine plus relevant disks, pads and brushes.

BTW Two years ago we got a lithium powered handheld Bosch drill machine. This piece of kit is fabulous, the charge lasts well, the power is huge and I can work cable-less which are all very fine points. If you think you may need one, get one.

b.

[CheoyLee39]

Okay. I am going out on a limb here. I know that most love their corded power tools.
However, I am firmly in the camp of boaties who believe that on a boat, anything that can be purchased cordless is the most practical.
Obviously it depends on how much and how heavy the work you are doing. I am on my live aboard 39ft fiberglass yacht that I am refitting and refurbishing myself. I use a Ryobi cordless grinder, Ryobi cordless circular saw, Ryobi cordless jigsaw, Matika cordless drill and a Ryobi cordless vacuum LOL My orbital sander and edging sander are both corded, and run them of the Yamaha 2400 gen. I do also have a small and large corded Matika grinder, however they live in storage I find for most any jobs on my yacht that cordless power appliances are perfectly ideal and practical. The expense for cordless Ryobi appliances initially comes in purchasing one battery with the charger, buy the bigger battery. But once you have these all the appliances are relatively cheap and good quality, and you can run all your Ryobi power tools.

The only thing I do not use is a multi cutting blade on a grinder. These blades are an absolute danger. Have been known to flick back into the operator, I almost completely lost my finger on one. Working in very confined and awkward spaces on boats is fraught with danger. Multi blades should be avoided at all costs.

[topcar]

I have been building up a kit of Ryobi 18 volt tools... 13mm drill, multi-tool, 115mm angle grinder, reciprocating saw, orbital sander. They all use the same lithium-ion battery. I have got a few extra batteries from 1.4mah to 4mah. The tools have so far proven reliable and being battery powered are super handy.

[unclemack]

I've seen ads on TV for a range of tools whose "selling point" is that batteries are interchangeable throughout the range - so you only need one battery and one charger for however many tools they stuff up you.

Buy into that nonsense and you're stuck with them so it is a brilliant wheeze in marketing terms.

Thing is, batteries and chargers can fail so spares are essential unless you're just a tool collector.

A charger & battery for each tool would presumably make them an expensive choice. Haven't even looked at their prices - I don't buy from companies that treat customers as idiots.

In short - it's a great way of SELLING tools.

edit: On reflection it could be a sensible choice if you have a newer boat, pay professionals to do the bigger jobs & your tools are just for the smaller jobs.
Didn't mean to offend anyone

[Training Wheels]

Love my Makita 18V tools. Angle grinder, drill, vacuum, sawsall, circular saw, jig saw, orbital sander, multi tool...... They're all great, very powerful. I have found if I need new batteries, it's more cost effective to buy a new tool, with a charger and batteries.


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[Siberianhusky]

Ya for a homeowner or occasional user they are great, as a contractor the only one I bother with are the drills. Everything else has a cord, run all day at full power, nothing like a battery crappin out just as you get everything lined up and ready to go 100' in the air!
Unfortunately the new batteries deliver good voltage until the end, tool works, all of a sudden tool doesn't work with no warning. The old NiCad days the tools would get slower and lose power so you knew it was on the way out.

[troppo]

When I asked my original question about angle-grinders, I had not given much thought to battery ones. I find it interesting how some folks have found the battery option suits their situation.

Go into almost any tool shop now-a-days and what do you see? Big displays of battery tools, small displays of corded tools. With a neighbour who willingly lends me his professional battery tools (but I don't take out onto my boat!), I recognise they do provide some advantages.

I am tempted when I see some of those heavily discounted pro quality battery sets with an assortment of tools. If I got a kit including angle grinder, and several solid batteries to run them (and 12v charger) then I could see it would be useful.

On the other hand, practically all my tools for the boat work from my little generator. The generator is light weight, making it easy for me to carry to and fro the boat. Needs to be light so I can haul it out of the dinghy up on deck. Cords can get in the way compared to a battery system but when I do hours of sanding then I like the grunt of 240v and no flat battery (have to make sure the genny tank is filled before I take it out to the boat).


In the broader scheme of things to keep doing the boat work and maintenance, not just thinking about the angle grinder, I may have to choose between spending money on: A. Bigger generator, or B. Battery tool kit or C. Inverter big enough to run corded tools [recharge battery using current small generator plus current charger which can do 12v 25 amps.] Ah, with boats, there is always something to be thinking about spending money on.

[leftbrainstuff]

We have a dewalt cordless and corded. The cordless has limited life on a single battery. Great for small jobs.

The corded will run from our 2000W inverter no problem.

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[Scott Berg]

Originally Posted by unclemack

+1

I ran a bodyshop for some years, big 3 phase compressor running DA sanders & spray guns almost constantly.
Finally realised it was cheaper just to use electric DA sanders rather than wearing out the air tools and the compressor that cost thousands.
A 15 CFM compressor (about max on UK 13A plug) runs almost continuously driving just one DA or a small-tip spraygun.
Anything smaller than 15CFM you'll be doing an awful lot of waiting...

The compressor we have onboard, a DeWalt D55151, handles the small DA (3" CP model), die grinder, and other small tools fine. It would never handle a big sander, let alone a sprayer. I put it on when we were doing a LOT of air conditioner maintenance (they're great for adding turbulence to a water hose to blow out caulked in mud in a condenser). I wouldn't want to drag a big on aboard. I do have a friend who has a two cyl model bolted onto his main engine and two custom air tanks (about 100g total) but he is a bit nuts!

[Siberianhusky]

You must be thrashing that poor little thing! Only delivers 3.2 cfm, my jobsite one is 3.7cfm with twice the tank capacity. Probably fine for occasional home owner style usage, wouldn't want to tackle anything serious with either! Mine is pretty much for nailers and staplers or blowing dust off the labourers before they are allowed in the truck.