Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by GARY C »

mt-engines wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 8:07 pm FOREDOM Flexible Shaft Grinder with a foot pedal. Air is too noisy.
Same here.
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by SpeierRacingHeads »

I have 6 Makitas and 6 air grinders going. The new GD0603, IMO, suck. Went through 3 in about 2 months. I have several older Japan units that I keep running, and a big box of junk Makitas. For air I have a couple Dotco, but I have 4 Cornwell air that have been going strong for 15 years.

Electric to hog material and air for finish work.
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

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EDC wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 3:28 pm Two speed controllers wired in series.

Works great.
I'm not sure if your joking but that's something I'd like to try :)
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

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hoodeng wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:33 pm In that video the guy showed a number of carbides that had runout, he could have trued the ones that can be bumped back into line.
The burr heads were welded/brazed or w/e they do crooked except the one that I cut down the shaft was mostly. But I wanted a shorter one anyway and for that price, still cheaper than others. Never bumped any back in line, so wouldn't be sure how to do it w/o risking the heads coming off at high speed. Also that's me in the video.
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

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SpeierRacingHeads wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:32 am I have 6 Makitas and 6 air grinders going. The new GD0603, IMO, suck. Went through 3 in about 2 months. I have several older Japan units that I keep running, and a big box of junk Makitas. For air I have a couple Dotco, but I have 4 Cornwell air that have been going strong for 15 years.

Electric to hog material and air for finish work.
Seen your FB post on the new Makita grinders sucking, still I didn't plan on using mine nearly as much as you. I'm just a diy guy and not trying to port for a living. Thx for the input :)
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by hoodeng »

This is for long shank carbides with vibration, if the thing is bent it is binned.

I put the points in a three jaw chuck, in a bit over what they would be in the hand piece collets and then check for zero at the jaws, then put the dial indicator just behind the carbide head on the shank, then check for runout. A few bumps with a nylon hammer on the shank behind the head will get things pretty true, within .002" or better. Note, some have extremely hard shanks and will not move, just spring, so don't try too hard.

I have been doing this for a long time and have never had a head come off.
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

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hoodeng wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:28 am This is for long shank carbides with vibration, if the thing is bent it is binned.

I put the points in a three jaw chuck, in a bit over what they would be in the hand piece collets and then check for zero at the jaws, then put the dial indicator just behind the carbide head on the shank, then check for runout. A few bumps with a nylon hammer on the shank behind the head will get things pretty true, within .002" or better. Note, some have extremely hard shanks and will not move, just spring, so don't try too hard.

I have been doing this for a long time and have never had a head come off.
Cool thx :)
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by JoePorting »

DOTCO are the best, if you can still find them.
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

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JoePorting wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:49 pm DOTCO are the best, if you can still find them.
Agree, Joe. And yes Dotco will still sell as many as you want for $600 each.

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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by jcisworthy »

I use a Milwaukee electric die grinder. It is heavy, but I am used to using it now and I can grind for hours with it. I tried others like the Makita and air and they are gutless compared to the Milwaukee. I have used mine for years now with hours and hours of trouble free service.

Concerning air, I do not see the sense of running an air compressor when you can run an electric die grinder.

I use a router speed controller from Harbor Freight with the Milwaukee to control speed.

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/ ... nders/5196
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by hoodeng »

What model Makita were you using? The ones i quoted are 750W [1hp] these will wind ones wrist off if one is not careful. [i don't fully lock the chuck]

Some guys on here have been hanging off a die grinder for a lot of years now and have probably tried different types out, they have got comfortable with what they are using... At the end of the day it will be whatever works best for you. But for someone starting out or looking to step up, will have to weigh up the investment of air and its associated equipment against the electric side of things.

Wow!!! that Milwaukee is a monster!!!! 11amps!. If the one i use can turn me over if it gets caught i hate to think how many laps of the vice i would do it that thing got hold of me!!


Cheers.
Last edited by hoodeng on Thu Sep 16, 2021 4:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by jcisworthy »

I use the one in the link above
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by BOOT »

hoodeng wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 3:59 am Some guys on here have been hanging off a die grinder for a lot of years now and have probably tried different types out, they have got comfortable with what they are using... At the end of the day it will be whatever works best for you. But for someone starting out or looking to step up, will have to weigh up the investment of air and its associated equipment against the electric side of things.
Agreed different strokes for diff folks, years from now I could be on team electric. These days more people use battery toots vs air, so yah I guess it's not as common to Not have an air compressor. I've had one since I was 18 so it's something I can't live w/o, well I don't know if they got a battery or electric chisel/hammer(not talking jackhammer LOL).
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by BradH »

Seriously part-time & infrequent porter here. I started out using an air grinder, but switched to one of the older Makitas years ago.

The air grinder I have is small, so long-shank burrs seem awkward to control. Perhaps a different air grinder might be better, but my noisy compressor cycling on & off gets really annoying. The last time I used it was to round off the leading edges of my crankshaft's throws.

I like the idea of a foot-pedal speed control for an electric grinder. What I've been using is a cheap slider control to keep the RPM in check, especially if using an aluminum burr that chews up material so much faster. The Harbor Freight dial-style looks nice, but not really different in function.

Only broke the head off of one burr: I was reaching deep into an intake manifold and dug it in at a bad angle in the curvature of a runner. This was a small diameter aluminium burr... it caught hard and popped the end right off. Oops.
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Re: Porting With an Electric Die Grinder

Post by 1980RS »

I have several air and electric die grinders. My variable one just died last night, took it apart and found the speed switch died, cut the wires and it works at WOT now I use the plug in speed limiter which does the same thing. It was only $50 but I have done a lot of porting work with it so this one owes me nothing.
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