Angle grinder out

Hi guys,

I wanted to let you know that the small Dewalt angle grinder died on me today. I’m not sure if it’s actually dead because it spins probably normal speed but it sounds different and has a lot more vibration. i’m not sure if the brushes are out or if it is something else…
I put a red sticker note on it, I didn’t want to open it but it seemed pretty warm to the touch too…
Let me know if I need to do anything.

Hope you guys have a great day.

Thanks for reporting this Axel! In case something like this happens in the future, make sure to coil the cord and tape over the plug. I don’t know where these stickers came from, but the right process is to attach a big white piece of paper saying “OUT OF ORDER WORKSHOP TEAM NOTIFIED” and to make sure nobody could operate it without being willfully stupid. You did great by letting us know, but clearly we need to do a better job of describing the correct process, on the wall of the shop and in the orientation

@stewards has someone had a chance to check this out? Are there parts we need to order?

If this has been resolved, reply to the post and a moderator will adjust the title.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=cord+lockout&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

We need some of these, along with locks left open, to be publicly accessible but without publicly accessible keys. The idea being unsafe equipment can be unplugged and the plug locked in one of these cages. Difficulty though is we have a mix of common 125VAC plugs, and L5 / L6 /L21 twist locks of various amperages. But there lockout cages for twist locks and there may be one size that fits all out twist locks.

The Sawstop has a rotating power disconnect that you can padlock if needed.

In the past, I did bring in cord lockouts, and some brass-and-steel unikey luggage locks from the dollar store. At the time, people were emphasizing “it’s a volunteer do-ocracy, just do it” and someone worked on the equipment without talking to me at all. That involved cutting off the lock and the reusable lockouts were apparently just thrown out. Well they did fix the equipment on a volunteer basis, I don’t want to minimalize the bottom line, but that’s how it went over in the past.

Thank you Flip, I’ll keep that in mind for next time. Hopefully not anytime soon though :crossed_fingers:

So far I don’t think anyone was able to look at it.

I’m out of town. I’ll be back next week if it has not been dealt with. @dannym great suggestion. We should get that or something similar. Thanks @axel for reporting it. Thanks @mrflip for responding.

I ordered some brushes after an inspection and replaced the brushes. The grinder is dead. The winding has some death knell issue and can’t be reasonably fixed.


We will have a new to us 4.5" angle grinder tomorrow. The new one is 10 amps and can hopefully hold up the work load a little better than a typical 7 amp model. Please don’t use anything that is larger in diameter that 4.5" in terms of cut off wheels or flap wheels. Using larger that 4.5" diameter consumables causes premature failure.

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Awesome Joe, thank you for replacing it!