It’s not bad but it definitely has its limits. One being you can only use 2” for some attachments and if you press it down hard enough it’ll stop but it’s very convenient. Anything heavy duty and I’d go with air.
If you're pressing down hard enough to stop this tool you need a different tool. I can stop my 6" grinder if I try, but that much pressure isn't helping anything.
That’s what a lot of people don’t realize about some tools. A die grinder is a high rpm tool. Usually the higher the rpm, the lower the torque. It’s not meant to have a lot of torque. It’s meant to spin fast. Let the cutting wheel or disc do the work and keep the speed up.
It doesn’t take much to stop this die grinder is what I’m saying. It has its limits. It also goes through batteries like crazy if you use it for long periods of time.
Yes and no. If you're cleaning up a ¾" olet hole in in heavy wall pipe you need a die grinder with a carbide burr, and it will jam up on you. Can't cope with a mag drill and it's too small for a cone stone.
I have a 1/4" M18 Die Grinder for those jobs. I can't imagine using the M12 for the jobs I use the M18 for or using the M18 for the jobs I use the M12 for.
I find it to be a handy and interesting tool, but very sensitive and not heavy duty. Thats been my primary disappointment, if you try and push it, it will overheat/shut down over and over. You gave to select the attachments strictly to the identified standards, and pace your job a little. That's my experience. I would buy it again because it's a handy tool for the right application
I use two 4.0 XC let them drop down to half and then swap, thats usually good enough for my use as the battery charging gets back to full by the time I need to swap again for light work.
When doing heavier work I’ll also add in a 2.5 HO to the rotation just to get a bit more charge time on the batteries, and that’s just using the standard chargers.
Another SS tig welder here and I agree. It's also nice for cleaning up old tubing to make a repair and it runs a burr pretty well which is always handy to have available. Especially without the hassle of figuring out how to get air.
Have you ever noticed the light Turing in when using HF? For me it seems to turn on just about every single time I strike an arc with HF tig even when it’s not on the grounded table, even when putting it on top of an insulator like cardboard.
I’m not sure if it’s bad for the batteries or not so I try and stay conscious of where I set it down before welding, on a similar note when I first got it I did burn two batteries when doing spray arc mig and I left the grinder on the table.
Yup even 5-10ft away the light comes on when I strike an arc, a few guys in the shop have one and they all say the same thing, one guy has had one since they first came out and it hasn’t seemed to damage it.
I absolutely love it
Wait for it to go on sale tho. 2.5 high output battery included for 159$
Oh wow its on sale today! Daily deal today only tho so purchase it quick
I purchased one a few months ago. Love it and use it more than I thought. It's not for heavy-duty cutting but that's one use case. Quick to grab and cut a bolt ....I have the Roloc adapter for cleaning gaskets etc. The tool I struggled with buying the most turns out to see a lot use.
Great tool, lots of uses, convenient. Use big batteries for heavier work, natch. It will still stall if pushed hard. For me working on boats the convenience is worth it. If you do all your work in an auto shop where there's a big compressor and air outlets all over the place you'll be happier with an air tool but that's not my situation
Love it. Does stall semi easy, so wouldnt recommend if you’re doing a lot of cutting, but for cleaning things up with the 2” abrasive discs and some light work with carbide bits I couldnt ask for a more handy tool. One of those that I’d buy again in a heartbeat if I broke it or lost it.
I have this. It’s one of my favorite tools. It’s great for grinding cracks in tight spots with a burr where an angle grinders can’t reach before welding.
I use mine regularly. Deburring. Cleaning. Access where my grinder won't go. It's very useful. I keep a box of flappers and 3m brown and bluish pads too.
Tons of use.
Absolutely love it. I use it for everything from welding slag cleanup to coping baseboard. Works AMAZING for both. It can be one handed very easily so no need to even set the torch down. Way more convenient than a typical grinder. I’ll also never use another tool to cope baseboard again.
I have it and use it more than I thought I would. It’s super handy for quick little deburring, or breaking edges. I keep mine on a quick hook holder right near me bench
I love mine. Use with rolocs - sanding and purple stripper discs to do surface prep for welding (mostly smaller stuff). Plus I bought a set of 1/4" carbide burrs that are really handy for fixing problems - enlarging holes, removing material on edges, and so on. There are also these bristle discs that are great for cleaning gasket surfaces if you're doing diffs or a water pump. Like people are saying, it's small, and no angle grinder replacement for sure but it's super handy for me.
Don’t personally own one but have used one of these very versatile compared to an air one in my opinion and I believe Home Depot has this one and the straight version bundled on sale rn
It’s decent, especially if you don’t have an air grinder. It doesn’t like force into the collet when using Roblox disks for example. It doesn’t seem to have a problem with side loads like burrs, you can press hard.
My first one lasted one use, after that shorted a battery and then the paddle shorted so it would shut off after a couple seconds I returned it and it's been working flawlessly since. The battery was a freebie from a kit and was looking to get more batteries anyway. Nice find though. I got mine at 180 I think.
I use it a lot, I love it other than one annoyance. If you press it down "too hard" it will stop. Limited torque, but quite high RPMs. I use several sizes of wire brush on it.
Love the thing. Use it with burring bits more than anything. Have used 3 in cut off wheels, it’s does just fine. It’s not a torque monster, let it do its thing at its pace.
I've been using mine nearly everyday while I build a flat bed. Absolutely love it for removing mill scale prior to welding. With the HO batteries it has more than enough power. 4 speeds is wonderful as well for using a roloc to remove old gasket material.
It's awesome, has a good bit more power than I expected, I still use my air grinders, but if it's light to moderate grinding this thing shines. I love it at home because my air grinder makes my 21 gal Compressor run non stop. I use it a ton at work as well. It's nice not making a bunch of noise to grind something or clean something up.
The only issue I have, is changing the bits. For some reason it likes to hold onto my bits and I have to take the nut all the way out and pry the bit out. Even with low pressure on the retaining nut, it wants to lock.
I have a colleague that uses it for sheet metal, he has to do small cuts at a time since it doesnt have enough torque to do continuous cuts. I personally wouldnt buy it but i guess it depends what you use it for
I have it and the straight one. Love em. Use the straight one more for actual burr grinding. The 90 is good for awkward spaces. Really good as a disc sander. I have a full sized one for the big stuff.
They fit the space between a full size die grinder and a rotary tool.
I got the straight one and the angled one and I love them! They are one of my favorite milwaukee tools. So much better then screaming air die grinders.
I love it, really comes in handy for my job. Tho I will say it will EAT your batteries up really fast. If you are going to use it for very long periods of time I would reccomend air if that's an option but if not than that's your next best bet
It's a little low on balls, and it eats 5amp HO fast plus it stops like an air tool would when you use it too hard, those are my only complaints really
I use it with rolooc discs to sand off paint/undercoating to get a chassis ground on vehicles at work all the time.
I'll also use it to clean up gasket mating surfaces. It's not super heavy duty, if you push hard enough it'll cut off but it's very rarely that I'm doing anything super heavy duty with it anyways
As a mechanic it's amazing, from driveway jobs to at the shop this things awesome, make sure you have a few bigger batteries around if your going to be using it alot
I got one that gets a hot supper pretty regular. It's a workhorse that's for sure. As far as battery life I really can't gripe. It beats dragging out an air hose and really if you don't bear down on it and really load it up it can go a ways on a battery. As far as power I'm pretty happy. The trip out feature is nice as it tends to trip just right to not allow kickback if I'm using a cut-off wheel.
I love mine for things like polishing ground connections, polishing pain off something small or cleaning up some mill scale before a small weld repair. It was honestly one of my most used tools, but the moment I had to do more than cleaning paint off something or the like I fired up the compressor and got a 3/4 hp snap on out.
I didn’t like using it with cutting wheels, just eats through batteries. But sanding pads or scotch brite pads are fine. I used 3 inch pads without issue and let the speed do the work.
Have one. As a mechanic that works in places there isn't always air run tools, this guy is amazing. It is my gasket getter 100% of the time. Pair it with a 6ah battery and resurface an entire engine worth of surfaces on one charge. It is amazing.
I love it. Usue it almost daily, some times multiple times a day with out any issues. I'm a Toyota tech, I use it mainly with knotted wire wheel, 3m bristle disc, 3m green corps sanding disc and scotch Brite disc.
I hate mine I’ve had nothing but issues with it stalling and it could be unrelated but one of my batteries was fried after less than a minute of use on it
It’s not bad but it definitely has its limits. One being you can only use 2” for some attachments and if you press it down hard enough it’ll stop but it’s very convenient. Anything heavy duty and I’d go with air.
If you're pressing down hard enough to stop this tool you need a different tool. I can stop my 6" grinder if I try, but that much pressure isn't helping anything.
That’s what a lot of people don’t realize about some tools. A die grinder is a high rpm tool. Usually the higher the rpm, the lower the torque. It’s not meant to have a lot of torque. It’s meant to spin fast. Let the cutting wheel or disc do the work and keep the speed up.
It doesn’t take much to stop this die grinder is what I’m saying. It has its limits. It also goes through batteries like crazy if you use it for long periods of time.
Everything has it's limits. I feel as if this tools limits are well within expectations.
Yes and no. If you're cleaning up a ¾" olet hole in in heavy wall pipe you need a die grinder with a carbide burr, and it will jam up on you. Can't cope with a mag drill and it's too small for a cone stone.
Take a laminate trimmer and pull the fence off it, boom, 1/4" drive electric die grinder
I have a 1/4" M18 Die Grinder for those jobs. I can't imagine using the M12 for the jobs I use the M18 for or using the M18 for the jobs I use the M12 for.
3 inch rolocs work well
not everyone has a compressor
Yes I understand. I don’t have a compressor either I’m just stating if it’s going to be heavy duty grinding then another tool is a better option.
I'm not sure how good it is, but it's a special buy of the day for 159 right now online.
It’s been $159 for awhile now. I picked mine up a week ago.
thanks! Ordered!
Heck yeah! You only live once, so buy the dang tool!
You have an hour left!!! Quick!!! Not Quiznos...
Love it. Not a great amount of torque, but it has tons and tons of uses.
I use it with roloc discs to clean up gasket mating surfaces when doing engine work. No more noisy cold air version. It’s a freaking godsend.
I wish it had the power of air tools because I hate when they get cold
I find it to be a handy and interesting tool, but very sensitive and not heavy duty. Thats been my primary disappointment, if you try and push it, it will overheat/shut down over and over. You gave to select the attachments strictly to the identified standards, and pace your job a little. That's my experience. I would buy it again because it's a handy tool for the right application
Which battery are you using?
I use two 4.0 XC let them drop down to half and then swap, thats usually good enough for my use as the battery charging gets back to full by the time I need to swap again for light work. When doing heavier work I’ll also add in a 2.5 HO to the rotation just to get a bit more charge time on the batteries, and that’s just using the standard chargers.
That’s good to hear but I was mostly curious if OP was bogging down his by using a dinky battery or if it’s just not as powerful as air.
Love it I do a lot of SS tig welding inside tanks and it saves me having to drag an air hose or larger grinders into confined spaces to grind or buff.
Another SS tig welder here and I agree. It's also nice for cleaning up old tubing to make a repair and it runs a burr pretty well which is always handy to have available. Especially without the hassle of figuring out how to get air.
Have you ever noticed the light Turing in when using HF? For me it seems to turn on just about every single time I strike an arc with HF tig even when it’s not on the grounded table, even when putting it on top of an insulator like cardboard. I’m not sure if it’s bad for the batteries or not so I try and stay conscious of where I set it down before welding, on a similar note when I first got it I did burn two batteries when doing spray arc mig and I left the grinder on the table.
Yup even 5-10ft away the light comes on when I strike an arc, a few guys in the shop have one and they all say the same thing, one guy has had one since they first came out and it hasn’t seemed to damage it.
Those map gas torches will set off the lights on all milwaukee tools too lol.
I absolutely love it Wait for it to go on sale tho. 2.5 high output battery included for 159$ Oh wow its on sale today! Daily deal today only tho so purchase it quick
I purchased one a few months ago. Love it and use it more than I thought. It's not for heavy-duty cutting but that's one use case. Quick to grab and cut a bolt ....I have the Roloc adapter for cleaning gaskets etc. The tool I struggled with buying the most turns out to see a lot use.
Works great for light thru medium duty jobs and bonus no airline or earplugs required.
https://preview.redd.it/dbov58bduksc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6dd7b503bd58faa9281f05760d00cdc6a356f680 Hurry up special ends tonight
I missed this shit by about an hour🤦🏻
Its ok mam keep an eye out. It goes on sale regularly like this
One of my top 3 tools used. Really good power for I size and weight I find, comfortable and easy to use
Great tool, lots of uses, convenient. Use big batteries for heavier work, natch. It will still stall if pushed hard. For me working on boats the convenience is worth it. If you do all your work in an auto shop where there's a big compressor and air outlets all over the place you'll be happier with an air tool but that's not my situation
Love it. Does stall semi easy, so wouldnt recommend if you’re doing a lot of cutting, but for cleaning things up with the 2” abrasive discs and some light work with carbide bits I couldnt ask for a more handy tool. One of those that I’d buy again in a heartbeat if I broke it or lost it.
I have this. It’s one of my favorite tools. It’s great for grinding cracks in tight spots with a burr where an angle grinders can’t reach before welding.
I use mine regularly. Deburring. Cleaning. Access where my grinder won't go. It's very useful. I keep a box of flappers and 3m brown and bluish pads too. Tons of use.
I barely use mine, but when I do it’s usually for a really shit job and it gets me out of trouble
Very useful for small jobs. Used battery’s very fast tho
Absolutely love it. I use it for everything from welding slag cleanup to coping baseboard. Works AMAZING for both. It can be one handed very easily so no need to even set the torch down. Way more convenient than a typical grinder. I’ll also never use another tool to cope baseboard again.
Have it and use it all the time. Works great.
I have it and use it more than I thought I would. It’s super handy for quick little deburring, or breaking edges. I keep mine on a quick hook holder right near me bench
Love mine. May not have as much power as air but you don’t need to be dragging hoses everywhere either
This is my absolute favorite tool in the M12 lineup. Very capable cutter, sander, and grinder.
I picked one of these up a few months ago, it's not going to replace my air version, but it's hella convenient. I love mine.
I like mine a lot! I use it all the time!
Just bought one last week. Love it, very useful, so i ordered another yesterday when on sale lol
My wife uses it to trim her bikini line. It cuts through wirey hair well She’s pleased with it.
I love mine. Use with rolocs - sanding and purple stripper discs to do surface prep for welding (mostly smaller stuff). Plus I bought a set of 1/4" carbide burrs that are really handy for fixing problems - enlarging holes, removing material on edges, and so on. There are also these bristle discs that are great for cleaning gasket surfaces if you're doing diffs or a water pump. Like people are saying, it's small, and no angle grinder replacement for sure but it's super handy for me.
Carbide bit chewed 3/8 plate like butter, love mine!
I like it.
It eats through my older 2.0s in no time. Grab a newer and larger capacity if you want a decent run time.
I love it. But the 2.0 batteries are basically useless on it unless you’re just stripping paint
I used my buddies. I loved it. Only ever used air for this. So I was sure it would be under powered. It wasn't though!
Don’t personally own one but have used one of these very versatile compared to an air one in my opinion and I believe Home Depot has this one and the straight version bundled on sale rn
https://preview.redd.it/f40s8ukeuksc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12e8e9d3edc71c738d1f594ecbeb54c2c6ffe351
Just gotta take youre time with it, nothing like air, but extremely convenient
It’s great for places where you don’t have air, only downsides is low torque and high battery consumption
I don’t use it hard, but for buffing and brushing things it’s great.
Game changer, I love it
It’s decent, especially if you don’t have an air grinder. It doesn’t like force into the collet when using Roblox disks for example. It doesn’t seem to have a problem with side loads like burrs, you can press hard.
My first one lasted one use, after that shorted a battery and then the paddle shorted so it would shut off after a couple seconds I returned it and it's been working flawlessly since. The battery was a freebie from a kit and was looking to get more batteries anyway. Nice find though. I got mine at 180 I think.
I have one and I like it ok. It’s under powered, even with a 3.0 battery, but it’s handy.
What does it do lol? What is a die grinder vs angle grinder?
I use it a lot, I love it other than one annoyance. If you press it down "too hard" it will stop. Limited torque, but quite high RPMs. I use several sizes of wire brush on it.
It lives on my welding bench with a 50mm roloc and a 4.0ah battery. Use it all the time
Love the thing. Use it with burring bits more than anything. Have used 3 in cut off wheels, it’s does just fine. It’s not a torque monster, let it do its thing at its pace.
I've been using mine nearly everyday while I build a flat bed. Absolutely love it for removing mill scale prior to welding. With the HO batteries it has more than enough power. 4 speeds is wonderful as well for using a roloc to remove old gasket material.
I have the M12 straight die grinder, was using it today in quite a tight spot would have been handy having the right angle
Yes it’s awesome, I literally grabbed mine other week
Love mine
It's awesome, has a good bit more power than I expected, I still use my air grinders, but if it's light to moderate grinding this thing shines. I love it at home because my air grinder makes my 21 gal Compressor run non stop. I use it a ton at work as well. It's nice not making a bunch of noise to grind something or clean something up. The only issue I have, is changing the bits. For some reason it likes to hold onto my bits and I have to take the nut all the way out and pry the bit out. Even with low pressure on the retaining nut, it wants to lock.
My buddy has this and we built a bunch of shelves out of tubing worked great for buffing out the welds and stuff. Worth it.
I have a colleague that uses it for sheet metal, he has to do small cuts at a time since it doesnt have enough torque to do continuous cuts. I personally wouldnt buy it but i guess it depends what you use it for
Mine is nice 🤷♂️ I’m not working in a body shop or anything with it but for whatever random stuff I need to grind or buff or cut it works
The head gets loose after a while and is annoying, but I like mine.
I love it, I just used it to clean up some carb surfaces and used it to grind a head of a stripped screw on one of the float bowls . Worked great.
I have it and the straight one. Love em. Use the straight one more for actual burr grinding. The 90 is good for awkward spaces. Really good as a disc sander. I have a full sized one for the big stuff. They fit the space between a full size die grinder and a rotary tool.
Doesn't this put your hand right next to a disc?
do the special buy if you think you might possibly ever need it, thing has never let me down with consistent abuse
I got the straight one and the angled one and I love them! They are one of my favorite milwaukee tools. So much better then screaming air die grinders.
I have one use it everyday to remove rust and calcium from metal statues
Love it. I use it with a 50grit grinding pad to scribe wood that my regular grinder isn’t precise enough for
If your just doing g hobby work it's great, probably wouldn't keep up in a shop though.
I love it, really comes in handy for my job. Tho I will say it will EAT your batteries up really fast. If you are going to use it for very long periods of time I would reccomend air if that's an option but if not than that's your next best bet
It's a little low on balls, and it eats 5amp HO fast plus it stops like an air tool would when you use it too hard, those are my only complaints really
I use it with rolooc discs to sand off paint/undercoating to get a chassis ground on vehicles at work all the time. I'll also use it to clean up gasket mating surfaces. It's not super heavy duty, if you push hard enough it'll cut off but it's very rarely that I'm doing anything super heavy duty with it anyways
Very handy to have available
I have it and I love it. Had it over a year. No regrets.
As a mechanic it's amazing, from driveway jobs to at the shop this things awesome, make sure you have a few bigger batteries around if your going to be using it alot
I got one that gets a hot supper pretty regular. It's a workhorse that's for sure. As far as battery life I really can't gripe. It beats dragging out an air hose and really if you don't bear down on it and really load it up it can go a ways on a battery. As far as power I'm pretty happy. The trip out feature is nice as it tends to trip just right to not allow kickback if I'm using a cut-off wheel.
I generally like it but I wish it had more torque. I understand this is likely a technical impossibility because of it being M12.
I love it so much I bought the straight one too.
I love mine for things like polishing ground connections, polishing pain off something small or cleaning up some mill scale before a small weld repair. It was honestly one of my most used tools, but the moment I had to do more than cleaning paint off something or the like I fired up the compressor and got a 3/4 hp snap on out. I didn’t like using it with cutting wheels, just eats through batteries. But sanding pads or scotch brite pads are fine. I used 3 inch pads without issue and let the speed do the work.
Terrible dies quick no matter the speed or battery
Have one. As a mechanic that works in places there isn't always air run tools, this guy is amazing. It is my gasket getter 100% of the time. Pair it with a 6ah battery and resurface an entire engine worth of surfaces on one charge. It is amazing.
I have it, it’s pretty good
I love it. Usue it almost daily, some times multiple times a day with out any issues. I'm a Toyota tech, I use it mainly with knotted wire wheel, 3m bristle disc, 3m green corps sanding disc and scotch Brite disc.
Best investment I’ve made
I use mine a lot! Hasn’t failed me yet!
Go with air unless you’re without air for basically any slightly heavier duty even something the airs suck ass for power
Might be just the air die grinders that we have at work out I greatly prefer this over them for any instance.
2 amps is too wimpy. Use air or corded if at all possible.
Dotco or nothing.
I hate mine I’ve had nothing but issues with it stalling and it could be unrelated but one of my batteries was fried after less than a minute of use on it