It's bizarro world, when Bg Clive is talking apart power tools and Matthias Wandell is measuring battery performance. I guess AvE will take up woodworking soon.
AvE is very busy clubbing Seal Pups at this time of year. Was gonna make the Blown Seal joke, but it's getting very old by now and I don't know if AvE wears a moustache 😂.
@@heckelphon Yes, and typically no adjustment for backlash in the design, so they're built quite loose so with heat and tolerance stack-up they are kept away from the opposite; binding. Because of that large backlash, when run no-load, those (hopefully hardened) gears chatter quite a bit giving the distinctive angle-grinder sound. They smooth out when cutting, but then there's usually a lot of other noise happening.
I think they are deliberately designed with some imprecision. A few degrees either way isn't going to make much difference with an angle grinder. If the gearbox runs a bit on the warm side (and it's likely to, because imperfectly-meshed gear teeth are necessarily inefficient), there could be some thermal expansion going on; which, in the absolute worst case, could lead to binding and jamming. The manufacturers probably are erring on the side of a little sloppiness and relying on the grease to keep it quiet (which, admittedly, it won't do for long once it starts melting), rather than making everything fit perfectly and run silently but only as long as it's kept cool. It's all a balancing act .....
Just found your channel. Former jet engine mechanic here. You are now my new bed time stories. Keep doing excellent tear downs! Ohh, and I have an Idea I’d like to run by you, it’s an invention of sorts. Have a great evening Clive.
Nice to see Clive doing more mechanical stuff! I used to work in product development for power tools and have worked on some 20V/40V battery platforms. For those asking how the switching works: usually one of the battery connector pins is reserved for communication, and it happens there so that the battery knows what voltage is needed. Power tool batteries are comprised of a layer (industry term P, ie. 1P, 2P, 3P) of 5 18650 Lithium Ion cells, which produce 3.6V nominal (4V max) per cell -> therefore outputting "20V". If you add a second 5 cell layer (this is 2P) and connect them in parallel - you will double the capacity of your battery. However, newer battery platforms can switch these to 40V - there's a switch in the battery circuit that will allow it to change how the second layer is connected - parallel (20V) and series (40V). This also allows the battery to be backward compatible - it will just run in parallel unless it detects the tool is 40V.
In this case they're just using two separate 5S packs which are connected series or parallel inside the tool, and parallel for charging. No particular smarts beyond a different ID resistor to up the charge current.
This system has no switching in the battery. Just in the tool. There seems to be a data facility between them though. Battery video made and coming soon.
The ring & pinion aren’t perfectly aligned like in your car’s differential. These are slapped together with “close enough” tolerances, and after a use or two, chucked into the fuckit bucket
Aldi is my supplier of choice for power tools. Generally I have done well with them,, but not universally well. My hedge cutter worked for less than a second then no more, an angle grinder refused to work then worked, then stopped & a 20/30 volt battery refused to recharge. All of this covered by the 3 year warranty & the rest of the tools which count well in to double figures have been blessings that make so many jobs easier & faster & I don’t find that quality that different to the much more expensive brands. Thanks for sharing!
@@casemodder89 Of the 15+ Aldi power tools I have two failed as did a battery. Risk/expense is massively good as the fails will be replaced under warranty. For an hobby user like me the cost of brand name tools is prohibitive whereas the Aldi tools are low cost & have been great blessings used in many diy projects.
They are on aldis web site for a tenner now. I have 3 of them which have been in use for a couple of years now really cant fault them. They may not be the same as the high end manufacturers but for the price including a 3 year warranty you really cant go wrong. I also have the hammer drill and impact from the same range and have found them all to be good value.
Disappointed that we didn't get an AvE unboxing with a chainsaw. But the 20v/40v battery looks very intriguing. Looking forward to a teardown of the battery pack and the charger. Unbelievable steal for the price you paid, I'd go and get 4 more.
Nothing particularly complicated about it, the battery is actually a pair of 20v batteries presented across four pins. The tool connects to them in either series or parallel The charger just connects them in parallel and charges them the same as the smaller 20v only batteries but with a larger capacity (charge times reflect the difference between 2Ah and 5Ah too)
I used mine for trimming concrete slabs for a new patio. It's a capable machine.3 year no quibble guarantee and returnable at any Aldi.Batteries are half the price of some other brands and are sometimes discounted.
Hey Clive. I've used a LIDL 20V angle grinder on a construction site and have taken it apart a few times. Things that make them fail A LOT quicker than their expensive cousins (it's not necessarily the mechanics!): - no protection against grinding dust ingress - no conformal coating of the PCB(S) - battery pack PCBS don't have coating either - motor switch burns out quickly (rated 20A, 36VDC!) as it heavily arcs when turning the tool on. Just clean those tools with compressed air when done working and you're good to go. Cheers!
For sure it really is a cheap tool that won't last long, however it seems they have improved this 40V version and actually coated the PCB. Probably there were too many warranty returns.
@@mrfrenzy. nice! I had one 20V battery not charging anymore, opened it and the cells were all within 0.05V. So I removed all the lime-sandstone dust off of the PCB and it started charging immediately...
I bought into the Aldi Ferrex dual voltage tool line a few years ago. The angle grinder is one of my favorites and works great for my needs. I trashed the jigsaw and the multitool but got replacements under the 3 year warranty. Although it took the months to send them to me, can't complain for the price honestly. Also got a bunch of 3d printed adapters to use the spare batteries as Powerbanks. Also retrofitted a trash picked NiCd drill to use the same packs and one to run any 18V Makita cordless tools on.
@@bigclivedotcom I wAs never quite sure, good to know! Maybe that's a good idea for a video: How to fit such a battery connector with a MOSFET that will act as a over charge/discharge safety. Anyways: Thank you for relentless output of entertaining education Clive!
I love Aldi tools, the batteries are interchangeable so you only need a couple for all the tools. I have the brushless version of the angle grinder and it's very good.
Not a bad bit of kit for the price. It did sound like some greaze was needed on the bearings. I'm looking forward to going a lot deeper on the bench with you back on the IOM.
That gearbox is actually skimpy on the grease, the cheap tools always benefit from adding a bit more to make them last longer, the gears always wear rapidly first, before anything else gives out.
Thank you for answering the BIG question I had about Aldi advertising of 20/40v batteries, even Aldi couldn't answer my question when I asked them! K Watt.
Plus bigclive has that natural, not trying hard subtle sense of humor. Something AvE doesn’t have but instead just launches nonsense words into the viewer like lame buckshot.
The angle grinder design mechanically is the same as a wall powered one. My dad always takes the gearbox apart since the cheaper ones usually don't have the grease on the gears but beside them. They get quite a bit quieter with grease in the right place.
And also making sure things are aligned properly. I've got a cheap angle grinder that's ancient and other than replacing the flex (broke where it enters the unit) it's brilliant. After replacing the flex it actually got quieter due to better lash between the gears.
Jeez that gear drive sure makes a racket despite it being greased. It is an angle drive gear setup just like a car differential, the big gear is the crownwheel and the small one on the motor shaft is the pinion.
I have the Parkside (Lidl) one. So long as you use the 4Ah battery it's actually pretty good given I think I paid £30 for it. I also love that it has a speed control, it has 6 levels between like 10krpm and maybe 1000rpm or less, great for sanding. That said, like all battery angle grinders it eats through batteries rapidly. It's more for if you need to do a few cuts or grind a few things, same as every battery grinder. In fact I've bought into the entire Parkside system and most are amazing for the price. The impact driver (used to cost £20 but now £30) is actually absurdly high quality, it is competitive with the DeWalt equivalent even, and easily beats the middle ground tools like Stanley, Ryobi, etc. In fact if you want to know whether a Parkside tool is good, check the label on the tool. If it says Kompernass then the tool was actually designed in Germany. The entire 20V range is designed by them, and most of the tools are good. As far as I can tell they're exclusive to Lidl, because I can't find them rebranded under anything else. Another one I'm really impressed with is the little SDS hammer drill (the triangle one), it absolutely destroys any combi drill (I have a Makita drill with hammer mode and it's terrible compared to it), e.g. the Makita completely failed to get through our driveway concrete, but the £20 tiny lightweight triangle SDS one went through easily. They also have an ok 12V system. Sadly not made by Kompernass, and you can tell that even the molds aren't the same. That said they sell a 12V drill with a detachable chuck (to reveal just a hex bit holder}. And I absolutely love this thing as an electric screwdriver. It has a ton of power (I only really keep it on the 4th torque limit setting (it has 18 iirc, then drill mode), and in the fast gear is stupid fast. And the battery lasts an enternity between charges. I absolutely love this thing and use it every day. For £17.99 it has been so ridiculously good, the only thing I wish it had would be a locking hex bit (like the 20V impact driver has). And I also bought the £17.99 12V angle grinder that uses the small 76mm discs. I haven't used it myself yet. But my grandfather (who used to build houses his whole life, so knows quality tools) borrowed it to install a new shower, cutting tiles etc (he wanted a small grinder as his are large ones). He said it chewed through it all like nothing. Again haven't used it myself yet though, but for £18 I'm already happy. I would recommend the 4Ah battery for it over the 2Ah probably. Lidl also have a 3 year warranty on all 20V and 12V tools, that is very good. I really love the Parkside brand and must own over 10 of the 20V line, and I think 3-4 of the 12V line. For what I've spent on them + the tools, I'd only own a few Makita tools. If anyone has any questions about the other tools I own in the range, ask away. They aren't all as good as the impact wrench or that 12V screwdriver (technically a drill), but considering they all cost less than £35, I feel expecting DeWalt/Makita/etc performance out of all of them isn't fair.
Yes I agree with you . The 20volt stuff is brilliant. Also have the cordless power saw . I have two angle grinders 3 impact and a heavy duty 20v hammer drill . Paid £20 each for most of it and £40 for the power saw . Also brought the fast chargers and 4 amp batteries as I use them 5 days a week at work as I haven't got mains electric very often as it's outside carpentry.
wise words, i jumped on the Ferrex line so i am committed, started with their small SDS and then went onto...Bench Grinder, Bench Sander, Bandsaw, 3 angle grinders, Recip saw, Chainsaw, Strimmer, 2 hand sanders, Combi drill, polisher and brushless Impact, new Dremel clone, and JackHammer. As with Parkside they do vary, the older dark blue models seem best, followed by grey and the newer paler blue. China must have two super factories and two QC people, if you get the tool made in the cheap factory inspected by the dozy QC ,an then you have a lemon of a tool, flip that and you have a very good tool, or best get Mr Makita QC to sniff round the good factory for the best. I have also recently spent £6000 on Makita 18v and corded, and for circ saws and mitres i wouldn't trust cheap brands, just not safe. Ferrex are great for small jobs or a spare for pilot holes. The bandsaw (year old) is very competent.
@@stigkrakpants3052 In my experience Ferrex just doesn't compare to the quality of Parkside. Sure both are made in China, but Parkside 20V is designed in Germany, and the company keeps control of the Chinese factory... Also Aldi mismanage the line so badly. They've now introduced three different battery systems for three different tools, all branded by them. It's ridiculous. Maybe Ferrex was better years ago, and you got the decent ones. But I've opened a bunch of Ferrex tools at my local Aldi (I make sure it's all back and packaged unlike some idiots), and the moulding is dreadful, huge misalignment, bits of plastic that haven't been trimmed, poor attachment to the grip material, etc etc. The 20V line of Parkside you get some very good QA for the price, the moulds are nearly always what I'd expect of older Makitas (of course they don't compare to the new high end ones) that didn't use more modern processes. As I said the 12V line is a significant drop, the moulding is nowhere near as good as the 20V line, but it's still an order of magnitude above Ferrex. Can't speak to the performance or longevity of Ferrex with any honesty, as I said I never touched them because of the dreadful outside. And I'd never touch them now because of Aldi being stupid with their incompatible batteries.
@@stigkrakpants3052 I believe Parkside are produced thus: designed in Germany, made and packaged in China. However, there are German quality control people at the factories who do rotation stints - three months on, three months off or similar and that would appear to be the key to the much improved consistency of their tools. Of course they're not comparable with the 'big three', as the tool snobs are wont to tell us, but does the quality difference really warrant five times the price? So glad I ordered the Batavia steps on Monday: they're no longer available on the website.
Good price for light duty use - The 20V/40V approach is interesting. As for video colour temperature it's much improved 🤣 Sound also seems a little less sibilant, to me very acceptable - it's a toss up, do you go for HiFi quality with booming bass etc. or clear sound with a little sibilance which gives better intelligibility - after all it's an instructional video not a Albert Hall concert! Looking forward to the circuit analysis.
The issue is that the big established brands would need to drop their battery system for that. Currently there are battery share models with the main brand supplying the batteries and smaller brands using them like bosch power for all or metabo's cordless alliance system (cas) etc.
@@clockworkvanhellsing372 DeWalt does this already with the 20/60 volt. I believe green works did this at one point as well. Maybe they still do. I think it was 24/48 volt. As does harbor freight with their outdoor power equipment. 40/80 volt I think.
@@meegstomtom Yes there are quite a frew with this model, thank you for adding us versions. What I mean is that dewalt won't drop their batteryline anytime soon so that we can use m18 fuel batteries on a dewalt tool. :D
@@clockworkvanhellsing372 I don't know why any company would do that. Short of specialized tools using existing battery platforms. I do think it would be convenient though. Lol
I bought a cheap angle grinder from harbor freight and it seemed to like it was extra noisy so I took the right angle drive apart and put a generous amount of wheel bearing grease in there it seemed to quiet it down quite a bit
Somewhat akin to the old used car dealer trick of filling the transmission with 90 weight oil and sawdust. Does a right smart job of quieting things down...
10£ is an excellent deal...hell even the 20£ price is pretty good...assuming it will last a while. Can't wait for the next video...I like seeing the electronic bits :)
for a tenner, even if it only lasted a couple of jobs, it would be worth while. It is cheap for a throw away tool even, and looks like that motor could have some power.
I'm always amazed at the variety of products sold by Aldi outside of the US compared to what is commonly found in the stores here. However, with that being said I don't visit either of the Aldi US locations near where I live very often so I may be missing out on seeing many short term non-food related items.
Hello Clive, I have two of Ferrex 240 volt 5¨ grinders and a bandsaw, which work well and seem to be good value for money. The grinders cost $29.00 Australian and have been running OK for about 3 years now. If they fail, I will throw them in the bin and by another one, rather that spend an obscene amount on the known brands.
Yep Keith. If you are a tradesman using the tools for hours every day it pays to have durable and reliable heavy duty gear. But for most of us who only pick it up to do a little job once in a blue moon it would be just brainless to have premium gear lying around just begging to be nicked. I also find 240volt gear better as well, since the "battery" is always charged and most things are done in the shed anyhow. Though a cheapie battery angle grinder and drill can be useful on occasion.
If it doesn't cost you to go and buy another one, it's a viable strategy. Nevertheless, I buy tools from a tool store where I can handle the physical item and, when elfin safety isn't looking, actually power up for the feel of the thing. As a result, the Feral grinder is in the shed on standby while I juggle 3 Bosch grinders when weld fabricating... because the Bosch ones are lighter for the same nominal power and run more smoothly. Less vibration is a bonus after a couple of hours of "welding".
I bought one of these a few years ago and its had some serious abuse and continues to work fine, the batteries hold up well too. I have other tools in the range, if you plug a 20V battery into this it does nothing but the 40V batteries work in the 20V tools. For the price and the guarantee their an excellent deal.
It's nice to see metal gears and not plastic gears considering how cheap this item is, even though the gears are obviously very noisy. That is a pretty decent looking motor. Looks like this would be okay for a cheap tool.
@@zachv1942 You can and they have, the bigger gear only of course. My father had a name brand (AEG I think) grinder back in the 80:s and he ran a large wire brush on it for an extended time which melted the plastic gear. Guess that's why they now make them in metal.
Amazed to see on such a cheap motor that it seems to have been dynamically balanced as displayed by the metal machined out of part of the rotor segments
I got a couple of the 20V batteries, they are surprisingly good if you keep in mind they have no working protection if you misuse them for own projects.
Have you noticed if the rotor windings copper or aluminium? Years ago I bought a couple of SDS drill from Aldi for emergency work but both of them burned out in a couple of days. When I dismantled them I found out that both rotor and stator windings were aluminium instead of copper.
On my third Aldi/Lidl SDS drill. First was stolen. Second lent and never returned. Third has done Trojan work to date , mainly with chisel bits and the long concrete drill bit. Demolishing brick on flat walls and then breaking these bricks in to smaller pieces to use as hardcore. Or cleaning the mortar off the intact bricks with the 75 mm flat bit. Can’t fault them so far. The smaller most common SDS mains powered the sell cheaper than a days hire for one from a tool hire company. Plus at price the bits are sold for , it’s a no brainier. While I do not have the larger demolition SDS that Lidl/Aldi sell I recently purchased the 25 mm and 50 mm bits to use as heavy pry bars etc. For 3 euro each.
I'm sad he didn't open the pack. For a tenner I wanted to know what kind and how many cells there were. 😔 Hoping for it to be in the "next video" if he does one.
I mean, the ten pound price was a double reduced price, may not be many of these left out there on shelves. I imagine he's probably going to do the battery back at his main bench just like the tool circuit board.
Hi you mentioned getting another tool from this range, strongly advise the cordless multifunctional tool. For me one of the best inventions of recent times , just so handy especially good at cutting square holes and cutting accurate small delicate things due to a very small amount of vibration 🙂
I got one of those on a whim and can confirm surprisingly useful and has become an essential in my tool kit. The cutter release does let go sometimes though.
Another good and actually useful vid- I wanted some bevel gears just like that for an RC car project that I've stalled on, the gear box did sound a bit rough but I guess cleaning up the teeth and improving the mesh/lash might be a good idea too- even at £19.99 they would be cheaper than similar gears used by Traxas, Arrma and the likes and probably just as good quality- And you get a motor, batteries and soft start circuit for any other future projects.... I bet you none the 3 Aldi's that I know of in Bradford don't have any left in stock, And definitely not at £9.99! knowing my luck. I was going to ask about the battery pack(it looks awfully small for 40v) but that's the next vid that's just popped up- lol. All the best.
Yeah, if you go to some trouble and lap the pair in together you should have a serviceable gearset. The existing motor will probably run til the brushes are worn out and is reversible. Great value for money.
On the subject of reduced prices, some time back, they were selling a Ferrex , free standing table saw, for £89-99, which, when they'd got a couple left in the store, they reduced to £59-99. I went in one day, and there was only one left, and it was down to £39-99. Needless to say, I bought it. 😊
@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell Aldi has no warehouse space, the store managers don't like it when there's dead inventory. I got mobile aircons for 129£ instead of their retail 300£ because they took up way too much space on the shelves since summer.
@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell Eh, my bad then, I assumed they'd be the same as EE where they mostly just take in locally manufactured items and sell through them without having any buffer. Shop manager's whim seems more likely, then.
@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell If it was, it was returned unopened, because the box was unmarked, the polystyrene packaging was intact, the blades still in their place, and even the assembly hardware was still in its wrapping. There was no sign of any sawdust, and the metal legs showed no sign of having been bolted onto the table.
@@shadyweaver > Aldi has no warehouse space In Aldi's birthland, here in Germany, items seem not to be returnable to the distribution warehouse. Once in a shop it appears they can only exit through the checkout area. So the local shop manager will set the price low and lower until the items go. I already bought an electric chainsaw and an electric hedge trimmer, 19.99 € each.
First of all, Big Clive you're the best, ripping stuff apart to explain how it works for the benefit of others less well qualified, so they don't have to wreck their own gear doing so, BTW a bit like I often do myself. I like this 40v grinder with nice smooth start up and running speed. The standard 20/40v grinder Big Clive has dismantled here, its normal price is £20, The brushless model is about £10 more (both bare tools, no battery or charger). I have both models. The brushless model is supposed to be easier on the battery and runs at 20v, either smaller 20v battery pack or if you use the 20/40v battery it will still run at 20v 2X 20v in parallel (stacked) to give you extra current potentially providing more torque and slightly more than double running time due to shared load of 2X 20 packs reducing loss as heat, might need big Clive to explain that in more detail. The brushless grinder runs far too fast without any means to regulate it or slow it down, I am afraid to use it as I feel the poorly balanced disc that came with it might disintegrate at the high rpms, I had to keep shutting it on and off to keep the speed under control, I think it should have a recall for safety reasons, so I don't use it, it is probably ok for the lighter cutting blade but be warned its fast and powerful so wear all the protective gear. Hopefully before long Clive will do a teardown of it as well and maybe can guide on a speed control upgrade.
Thanks for pointing this out, I have bought of course. I strongly dislike the way retailers keep changing the mechanical design of their 18/20/36/40v power tool batteries so I tend to buy without battery and then fudge in an external Bosch 18 or 36v battery. Looking forward to second part.
The video is posted 2 minutes ago, how come these folk post comment from 3 weeks ago? Time warp? Space time continuum. I love rack and pinion steering but now it's all electronic/motor driven took the fun out of sporting.
There must be an interesting language relationship between "pinion" and "pillion" (as in riding a motorcycle pillion). I did a very fast bit of wikipediaring, and it told me that 'pillion' is gaelic for 'little rug' (which asks its own questions) but no connections to 'pinion' but I am sure there must be.
Nice try, but a ring gear is something different. This is a helical bevel drive, similar to a regular bevel drive but the teeth are slanted, hence the helical bit.
I had a Makita one like this. It lasted 2 years of DIY use and the board went and made it not economical to repair. I have various brushless tools on my scrap pile. This brand might be worth a look!
Hypoid gear is probably the term you are looking for. Right angled drive with constant mesh teeth. Other methods of turning through 90 degrees do not give consistent pressure on the teeth and consequently have higher wear rates and/ or jerkier motion when transferring high power.
@@chrishartley1210 you're both right, chill out...and trust me, I own several of those things to the left (my avatar), know way too much about ring and pinion gears, from experience...that use hypoid gear oil for a reason....sheesh....
Excellent. Just what I needed with my morning coffee... Yesterday I was reading about 3ph DC (I didn't know it existed) that is used in high speed motors and power tools. Apparently the magnets are on the rotor and the coils are in the housing or something. It is brushless. Maybe you can tear one of those down sometime. Cheers, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
A brushless motor would require a multiplier like a planetary gear set. They have the speed, but not the torque. They are not interchangeable. So there goes your compactness and price point.
@@ipissed so, you're saying that all the other brushless angle grinders out there are required to have an additional gear box? I haven't heard of one that does.
@@ipissed that is UTTER BS. every BL-DC motor can have wayy more rpm's or way more torque then a B-DC motor. or somewhere in between. i own a 18V Fein angle grinder (prosumer tool) and it features Fein's own 850W BL-DC motor. in direct drive on the pinion. and it rips through 4mm stainless like a hot knife in butter.
The MOSFET is there for a soft start. On mine the soft start functionality stopped working soon after I bought it. I kept using it for a year or so and then one day it stopped working completely. Took it apart and the MOSFET had died in a spectacular way. The PCB underneath was completely charred. I replaced it with something close enough and I also had to remove a nearby zener diode because it had failed short. The soft start functionality now works again.
Clive the larger Crown wheel/ring gear and the smaller pinion gear attached directly to the motor are the names or the gears inside the gearbox
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After testing out 2 machines with this battery pack we pretty much bought the whole set. So far good enough for personal use. You never know with this kind of things, but for this price you can give it a go. It's produced by the German company Walter. Can't wait for the follow up on the battery pack, since at some time i have to replace the 18650 in it or fiddle with the electronics. ;)
the little pinion gear holds the armature in the gear box housing. typically will have a nut holding it together, once removed the armature slides out of the gear and housing.
25 years ago, you'd be insane to buy something like this for actual use. These days, major brand names, bought ought by vulture capitalists, are this quality at best, if not worse.
FERREX! I got a 20-volt battery operated drill driver made by Ferrex and sold by Hofer (which is kind of the same as ALDI, but here in Austria) about a year-and-a-half ago. Was quite useful for putting some furniture together. What I experienced was that the brush fire (and resulting back-EMF spikes) in the motor must have been so severe that the actual PWM-switching logic got damaged. That thing started running on *full torque* even on its lowest trigger setting. For "low torque", I would have to squeeze the trigger all the way in, then back out to low. Weird thing. First time I used the tool after the fault, I tried to open the chuck to remove the tool bit. Resulted in a quite unpleasant twisting of my wrist. I disassembled the drill driver, got rid of the switching trigger module, and replaced it with a DPDT polarity-reverse switch and a pot-controlled 20V ESC module from the company that smiles the whole alphabet. I'm not using it as a drill driver anymore. Got a new one from Amazon also.
It's not "made by Ferrex". Ferrex is Aldi's own house brand. Any company that Aldi commissions to manufacture power tools for them will slap that label on. Same as there isn't an Ashfield Farm that produces chicken for Aldi. It's all just 2Sisters or Cranswick or Bernard Matthews putting the name of whatever they're packing for Aldi. The actual chickens come from their normal suppliers they also use for all their other customers.
That is a real bargin at that price. Almost disposable. I think that gear arrangement is known as 'Crown and pinion', with variations like 'Bevel' and 'spriral cut'. Similar to that found in car differentials.
Ive got a ferrex set of tools and garden equipment ive had for 3 years the drill and grinder i have tried n my van and use regular as a forklift engineer. They work in a commercial environment . Id buy again . I have cut dozens of forklift fork tips off and buffed whiskey barrels for upcycling using dozens of flap discs . These tools are as good and probably better as any. Still going strong
Interesting; and very easy to maintain. Assuming the bearings last, changing the brushes would be a doddle and this unit could potentially last for many years.
Now at Lidl *online* they have a 40V brushless 230 mm angle grinder for €119.99 and a 40V brushless saber saw for €99.99 Plus €3.99 shipping (each?) but there is a coupon for free shipping during Christmas spending more than €60 Prices are without the charger and *the batteries* because them use two of 20V, the higher voltage CAS alliance cordless tools do the same and I personally like it better this way. Since a single dead cell kills the whole battery by being able to purchase "half battery" you can save a lot of money on high capacity batteries. That's in Spain, I don't know if they sell online in all the countries where they have physical stores. Also the prices aren't the same in all countries, mainly because each country has its own VAT rate.
Great teardown. Of all the tools I own my grinders make the worst sound. Next time I buy one I'll be happy to pay more for one that doesn't sound like it wants to kill me.
Having had one for a couple of years it had a “ faulty trigger “ ( from new) and was replaced under warranty without return needed. The motor would start and before up to full speed it would shut off, this happened @ each attempt for multiple times. Later on ( months) I tried it again and it worked 🙀. It has become apparent thro trial and error that it’s fine above approx 15’C. But below it reverts to its old ways😠😠. Any explanations would be welcome 🙂
I've picked up one of these. Must say, I'm quite impressed. I've also picked up one of their 20v Cordless, Rotary Hammer Drills, for £20. It even comes with a spare chuck, for SDS bits. 😎
Update. I've discovered that there isn't a chuck (as such) for the SDS drill bits. The SDS collet is part of the drill, and the chuck has an SDS style shaft, which fits into the built in SDS collet.
unless things have changed it does just put the batteries in either series in the 40v tools and paralell in the 20v ones. since they are drained and charged together unless you screw with it by manually draining one of the sets of batteries they should never drift TOO far out of balance.
I'd guess that's what's happening, but I wonder if the 20V tools do just shunt them in parallel or use just one set. I meant to get a 20V tool to check, but ran out of time.
@@bigclivedotcom from what I could see when I opened one of mine they use both sets, there's copper trace linking the battery connections right at the battery terminals before they hit any components. I've got so many ferrex tools and garden stuff. They are honestly a bargain for a cheap skate DIY person like me.
There is grease in it but sounds like there isn't any on the actual teeth of the gears. i would put more in and also some oil. When screwed back together, is there a rubber seal to stop any oil getting out/dirt getting in.
Seasonal tip: most rolls of wrapping paper come with a brown kraft paper support that is ideal to stop grease getting on your workbench. If you don't have any, you haven't given enough presents.
The 20V/40V thing looks similar to DeWalt's Flexvolt setup, quoted as 18V/54V in Yerp and 20V/60V in USA. (I guess USA Volts are smaller, like USA inches ;-) ). I think the Flexvolt setup allows you to use them in older tools, and charge on either 54V or older 18V chargers, keeping existing users happy with compatibility. In 18V mode the batteries are always dis/charged in parallel, I think using MOSFET switching. Because of that, any imbalance should be small.
Our trade regulators allow companies to advertise the float voltage, rather than the working voltage. That's one of the things I liked about Hitachi Koki cordless stuff: they didn't play that game. You got 10.8V, 14.4V, and 18V even in the USA. Sadly that was probably also a factor in their weak market penetration.
A great looking tool to have at hand, and at that cheap price. I know you've done some before, but you must go into detail sometime, about how Cokes and other components work and affect circuits, Clive?
FWIW its called a ring and pinion gear. They look to be spiral bevel type. Since its an angle grinder and goes at fairly high speed not much reduction is needed, and the rattling is likely excess backlash/clearance to allow the whole thing to be cheap and work with a wider range of tolerances.
the backlash is to allow for heat expansion in the crown+pinion gear. every cold angle grinder sounds like a bag of marbles. but after a few minutes of work the teeth mesh in nicely.
@@casemodder89 Makes sense since motor shaft is probably much hotter than the housing and transfers lots of heat into the gears along with frictional losses. Additionally its an angle grinder so the possibility of dirt ingress is also an issue, and that it doesn't need to be precise to begin with.
I watch these videos and wish that Aldi here was more than just the grocery store that it is. At that price, that's cheaper than the $18.00 I paid for my corded grinder, but I don't use one enough to justify buying another one. Though I've heard that the cordless one can come in quite handy if you're ever in a situation where your car has been "booted"... :-)
It's bizarro world, when Bg Clive is talking apart power tools and Matthias Wandell is measuring battery performance. I guess AvE will take up woodworking soon.
Inverted hierarchy. World's gone mental
It's 1o'clock in the morning, there's oil on AvE's hands again...
AvE is very busy clubbing Seal Pups at this time of year. Was gonna make the Blown Seal joke, but it's getting very old by now and I don't know if AvE wears a moustache 😂.
AvE uses dead tree carcasses the right way. Into the stove heat the shop to make something out of metal. Or at least chainsaw something open.
Best comment ever! 👍🏻😀🇬🇧
It's amazing how such a simple gearbox manages to sound so rough!
Used a few makes in my time and they nearly always sound the same in good way🙂
Although they're helical gears the mesh isn't that precise I suppose.
Terrible haha
@@heckelphon Yes, and typically no adjustment for backlash in the design, so they're built quite loose so with heat and tolerance stack-up they are kept away from the opposite; binding. Because of that large backlash, when run no-load, those (hopefully hardened) gears chatter quite a bit giving the distinctive angle-grinder sound. They smooth out when cutting, but then there's usually a lot of other noise happening.
I think they are deliberately designed with some imprecision. A few degrees either way isn't going to make much difference with an angle grinder. If the gearbox runs a bit on the warm side (and it's likely to, because imperfectly-meshed gear teeth are necessarily inefficient), there could be some thermal expansion going on; which, in the absolute worst case, could lead to binding and jamming. The manufacturers probably are erring on the side of a little sloppiness and relying on the grease to keep it quiet (which, admittedly, it won't do for long once it starts melting), rather than making everything fit perfectly and run silently but only as long as it's kept cool. It's all a balancing act .....
Just found your channel. Former jet engine mechanic here. You are now my new bed time stories. Keep doing excellent tear downs! Ohh, and I have an Idea I’d like to run by you, it’s an invention of sorts. Have a great evening Clive.
Only just found Big Clive? Aaaaaall the videos to catch up on!
Hello Jet Boy.
Can't wait to find out more about your invention.
Apparently my videos are popular as bedtime stories.
@@bigclivedotcom many such cases
Watch the live streams on bigclivelive on Saturday evenings :)
www.youtube.com/@BigCliveLive
Nice to see Clive doing more mechanical stuff!
I used to work in product development for power tools and have worked on some 20V/40V battery platforms. For those asking how the switching works: usually one of the battery connector pins is reserved for communication, and it happens there so that the battery knows what voltage is needed.
Power tool batteries are comprised of a layer (industry term P, ie. 1P, 2P, 3P) of 5 18650 Lithium Ion cells, which produce 3.6V nominal (4V max) per cell -> therefore outputting "20V". If you add a second 5 cell layer (this is 2P) and connect them in parallel - you will double the capacity of your battery.
However, newer battery platforms can switch these to 40V - there's a switch in the battery circuit that will allow it to change how the second layer is connected - parallel (20V) and series (40V). This also allows the battery to be backward compatible - it will just run in parallel unless it detects the tool is 40V.
In this case they're just using two separate 5S packs which are connected series or parallel inside the tool, and parallel for charging. No particular smarts beyond a different ID resistor to up the charge current.
ohhhh that's useful information, thank you
This system has no switching in the battery. Just in the tool. There seems to be a data facility between them though. Battery video made and coming soon.
That right angle drive is called a spiral bevel gear set. The big one is the crown wheel and the small one is the pinion.
AVE would tell you it's called a spinamathing.
The ring & pinion aren’t perfectly aligned like in your car’s differential. These are slapped together with “close enough” tolerances, and after a use or two, chucked into the fuckit bucket
Aldi is my supplier of choice for power tools. Generally I have done well with them,, but not universally well. My hedge cutter worked for less than a second then no more, an angle grinder refused to work then worked, then stopped & a 20/30 volt battery refused to recharge. All of this covered by the 3 year warranty & the rest of the tools which count well in to double figures have been blessings that make so many jobs easier & faster & I don’t find that quality that different to the much more expensive brands. Thanks for sharing!
so basically all you bought is garbage and you think the quality is not different then expensive brands ? you're smoking some weired strong shit.
@@casemodder89 Of the 15+ Aldi power tools I have two failed as did a battery. Risk/expense is massively good as the fails will be replaced under warranty. For an hobby user like me the cost of brand name tools is prohibitive whereas the Aldi tools are low cost & have been great blessings used in many diy projects.
They are on aldis web site for a tenner now. I have 3 of them which have been in use for a couple of years now really cant fault them. They may not be the same as the high end manufacturers but for the price including a 3 year warranty you really cant go wrong. I also have the hammer drill and impact from the same range and have found them all to be good value.
Thanks for sharing 👍
For a tenner, it's worth it for the tool side of the battery connector. Cheers Clive!
The captive ball bearings for the guard is a nice touch.
Possibly more to do with quicker assembly, than ease of maintenance.
@@McNair1952
I'd say ease of use, not maintenance.
My first mains soft start angle grinder was from Aldi 10 years ago. Their tools are brilliant and great value
Disappointed that we didn't get an AvE unboxing with a chainsaw. But the 20v/40v battery looks very intriguing. Looking forward to a teardown of the battery pack and the charger. Unbelievable steal for the price you paid, I'd go and get 4 more.
DeWalt 60v flex batteries are sort of the same idea they work on both 20v and 60v tools.
Nothing particularly complicated about it, the battery is actually a pair of 20v batteries presented across four pins.
The tool connects to them in either series or parallel
The charger just connects them in parallel and charges them the same as the smaller 20v only batteries but with a larger capacity (charge times reflect the difference between 2Ah and 5Ah too)
Trouble with aldi is they won't have them when you go back. My local store had these but no battery packs or chargers.
@@dogwalker666 the online store is usually pretty well stocked and the postage is free above £30
@@ConorNoakes oh didn't think of that option.
I used mine for trimming concrete slabs for a new patio. It's a capable machine.3 year no quibble guarantee and returnable at any Aldi.Batteries are half the price of some other brands and are sometimes discounted.
This is like the old school AVE videos that he doesn't do anymore. Great content and I love it.
Clive stops waffling and starts tool tear downs, as Ave stopped doing informed tear downs and started ill- informed waffling.
@@StLaparole Canada eh
@@StLaparole I lost interest when he started pushing support for that dumbass trucker convoy.
I think AvE might just be going through a troublesome time at the moment. I think most Canadians are.
Hey Clive. I've used a LIDL 20V angle grinder on a construction site and have taken it apart a few times.
Things that make them fail A LOT quicker than their expensive cousins (it's not necessarily the mechanics!):
- no protection against grinding dust ingress
- no conformal coating of the PCB(S)
- battery pack PCBS don't have coating either
- motor switch burns out quickly (rated 20A, 36VDC!) as it heavily arcs when turning the tool on.
Just clean those tools with compressed air when done working and you're good to go.
Cheers!
Thanks for sharing 👍
For sure it really is a cheap tool that won't last long, however it seems they have improved this 40V version and actually coated the PCB.
Probably there were too many warranty returns.
@@mrfrenzy. nice! I had one 20V battery not charging anymore, opened it and the cells were all within 0.05V. So I removed all the lime-sandstone dust off of the PCB and it started charging immediately...
I bought into the Aldi Ferrex dual voltage tool line a few years ago. The angle grinder is one of my favorites and works great for my needs. I trashed the jigsaw and the multitool but got replacements under the 3 year warranty. Although it took the months to send them to me, can't complain for the price honestly. Also got a bunch of 3d printed adapters to use the spare batteries as Powerbanks. Also retrofitted a trash picked NiCd drill to use the same packs and one to run any 18V Makita cordless tools on.
Keep in mind that these batteries have no facility to shut themselves off if over-discharged. They just send a signal to the tool to do it.
@@bigclivedotcom I wAs never quite sure, good to know! Maybe that's a good idea for a video: How to fit such a battery connector with a MOSFET that will act as a over charge/discharge safety. Anyways: Thank you for relentless output of entertaining education Clive!
I love Aldi tools, the batteries are interchangeable so you only need a couple for all the tools. I have the brushless version of the angle grinder and it's very good.
Handy thing to keep in the car incase you need to remove a wheel clamp.
Debooting and storage units are the only reasons for a cordless angle grinder from Aldi.
@@paradoxworkshop4659 i used my 40v Ferrex to cut up some rebar
Or nick a high end push bike
Or used by some thugs to cutoff catalytic converters. 😢
Not a bad bit of kit for the price. It did sound like some greaze was needed on the bearings.
I'm looking forward to going a lot deeper on the bench with you back on the IOM.
Never mind going deeper, this thing will probably go straight through the bench. 😂😂
It did sound rough from the get go...
That gearbox is actually skimpy on the grease, the cheap tools always benefit from adding a bit more to make them last longer, the gears always wear rapidly first, before anything else gives out.
@@IceBergGeo It did. more grinding than grinder.
@@m.g.540 it sounded like it needed more grease I guess its the built in obsolesce. As soon as the warranty is over the thing falls apart.
Thank you for answering the BIG question I had about Aldi advertising of 20/40v batteries, even Aldi couldn't answer my question when I asked them!
K Watt.
BigClive stepping in AvE territory! Minus the "aboot" and "release the smoo!" 😀
I do have to release the schmoo on the PCB.
Plus bigclive has that natural, not trying hard subtle sense of humor. Something AvE doesn’t have but instead just launches nonsense words into the viewer like lame buckshot.
@@rdear And AvE mentions "pixies" quite a bit. His tag line at the end of each video sounds uncomfortable too.
@@quantumleap359 fun fact he modified that line from a macgyver episode
Need TTC style power test!
I like the adjustable "on the fly" guard mechanism. That would be very handy to have. Great video Clive.
The angle grinder design mechanically is the same as a wall powered one. My dad always takes the gearbox apart since the cheaper ones usually don't have the grease on the gears but beside them. They get quite a bit quieter with grease in the right place.
And also making sure things are aligned properly. I've got a cheap angle grinder that's ancient and other than replacing the flex (broke where it enters the unit) it's brilliant. After replacing the flex it actually got quieter due to better lash between the gears.
My Bosch mains unit started making a lot of noise refilling with grease fixed it. Designs are all much the same.
Jeez that gear drive sure makes a racket despite it being greased. It is an angle drive gear setup just like a car differential, the big gear is the crownwheel and the small one on the motor shaft is the pinion.
I have the Parkside (Lidl) one. So long as you use the 4Ah battery it's actually pretty good given I think I paid £30 for it. I also love that it has a speed control, it has 6 levels between like 10krpm and maybe 1000rpm or less, great for sanding. That said, like all battery angle grinders it eats through batteries rapidly. It's more for if you need to do a few cuts or grind a few things, same as every battery grinder.
In fact I've bought into the entire Parkside system and most are amazing for the price. The impact driver (used to cost £20 but now £30) is actually absurdly high quality, it is competitive with the DeWalt equivalent even, and easily beats the middle ground tools like Stanley, Ryobi, etc.
In fact if you want to know whether a Parkside tool is good, check the label on the tool. If it says Kompernass then the tool was actually designed in Germany. The entire 20V range is designed by them, and most of the tools are good. As far as I can tell they're exclusive to Lidl, because I can't find them rebranded under anything else. Another one I'm really impressed with is the little SDS hammer drill (the triangle one), it absolutely destroys any combi drill (I have a Makita drill with hammer mode and it's terrible compared to it), e.g. the Makita completely failed to get through our driveway concrete, but the £20 tiny lightweight triangle SDS one went through easily.
They also have an ok 12V system. Sadly not made by Kompernass, and you can tell that even the molds aren't the same. That said they sell a 12V drill with a detachable chuck (to reveal just a hex bit holder}. And I absolutely love this thing as an electric screwdriver. It has a ton of power (I only really keep it on the 4th torque limit setting (it has 18 iirc, then drill mode), and in the fast gear is stupid fast. And the battery lasts an enternity between charges. I absolutely love this thing and use it every day. For £17.99 it has been so ridiculously good, the only thing I wish it had would be a locking hex bit (like the 20V impact driver has).
And I also bought the £17.99 12V angle grinder that uses the small 76mm discs. I haven't used it myself yet. But my grandfather (who used to build houses his whole life, so knows quality tools) borrowed it to install a new shower, cutting tiles etc (he wanted a small grinder as his are large ones). He said it chewed through it all like nothing. Again haven't used it myself yet though, but for £18 I'm already happy. I would recommend the 4Ah battery for it over the 2Ah probably.
Lidl also have a 3 year warranty on all 20V and 12V tools, that is very good.
I really love the Parkside brand and must own over 10 of the 20V line, and I think 3-4 of the 12V line. For what I've spent on them + the tools, I'd only own a few Makita tools. If anyone has any questions about the other tools I own in the range, ask away. They aren't all as good as the impact wrench or that 12V screwdriver (technically a drill), but considering they all cost less than £35, I feel expecting DeWalt/Makita/etc performance out of all of them isn't fair.
Yes I agree with you . The 20volt stuff is brilliant. Also have the cordless power saw . I have two angle grinders 3 impact and a heavy duty 20v hammer drill . Paid £20 each for most of it and £40 for the power saw . Also brought the fast chargers and 4 amp batteries as I use them 5 days a week at work as I haven't got mains electric very often as it's outside carpentry.
wise words, i jumped on the Ferrex line so i am committed, started with their small SDS and then went onto...Bench Grinder, Bench Sander, Bandsaw, 3 angle grinders, Recip saw, Chainsaw, Strimmer, 2 hand sanders, Combi drill, polisher and brushless Impact, new Dremel clone, and JackHammer. As with Parkside they do vary, the older dark blue models seem best, followed by grey and the newer paler blue. China must have two super factories and two QC people, if you get the tool made in the cheap factory inspected by the dozy QC ,an then you have a lemon of a tool, flip that and you have a very good tool, or best get Mr Makita QC to sniff round the good factory for the best. I have also recently spent £6000 on Makita 18v and corded, and for circ saws and mitres i wouldn't trust cheap brands, just not safe. Ferrex are great for small jobs or a spare for pilot holes. The bandsaw (year old) is very competent.
oh and bargain of the year...Batavia step/stand down from £130 to now £30, Toolden sells them for £220.
@@stigkrakpants3052 In my experience Ferrex just doesn't compare to the quality of Parkside. Sure both are made in China, but Parkside 20V is designed in Germany, and the company keeps control of the Chinese factory...
Also Aldi mismanage the line so badly. They've now introduced three different battery systems for three different tools, all branded by them. It's ridiculous.
Maybe Ferrex was better years ago, and you got the decent ones. But I've opened a bunch of Ferrex tools at my local Aldi (I make sure it's all back and packaged unlike some idiots), and the moulding is dreadful, huge misalignment, bits of plastic that haven't been trimmed, poor attachment to the grip material, etc etc.
The 20V line of Parkside you get some very good QA for the price, the moulds are nearly always what I'd expect of older Makitas (of course they don't compare to the new high end ones) that didn't use more modern processes. As I said the 12V line is a significant drop, the moulding is nowhere near as good as the 20V line, but it's still an order of magnitude above Ferrex.
Can't speak to the performance or longevity of Ferrex with any honesty, as I said I never touched them because of the dreadful outside. And I'd never touch them now because of Aldi being stupid with their incompatible batteries.
@@stigkrakpants3052 I believe Parkside are produced thus: designed in Germany, made and packaged in China. However, there are German quality control people at the factories who do rotation stints - three months on, three months off or similar and that would appear to be the key to the much improved consistency of their tools.
Of course they're not comparable with the 'big three', as the tool snobs are wont to tell us, but does the quality difference really warrant five times the price?
So glad I ordered the Batavia steps on Monday: they're no longer available on the website.
Good price for light duty use - The 20V/40V approach is interesting.
As for video colour temperature it's much improved 🤣 Sound also seems a little less sibilant, to me very acceptable - it's a toss up, do you go for HiFi quality with booming bass etc. or clear sound with a little sibilance which gives better intelligibility - after all it's an instructional video not a Albert Hall concert!
Looking forward to the circuit analysis.
Can't wait to see what they did to make these tools and 20V/40V batteries interchangeably compatible.
The issue is that the big established brands would need to drop their battery system for that.
Currently there are battery share models with the main brand supplying the batteries and smaller brands using them like bosch power for all or metabo's cordless alliance system (cas) etc.
@@clockworkvanhellsing372 DeWalt does this already with the 20/60 volt. I believe green works did this at one point as well. Maybe they still do. I think it was 24/48 volt.
As does harbor freight with their outdoor power equipment. 40/80 volt I think.
@@meegstomtom Yes there are quite a frew with this model, thank you for adding us versions.
What I mean is that dewalt won't drop their batteryline anytime soon so that we can use m18 fuel batteries on a dewalt tool. :D
@@clockworkvanhellsing372 I don't know why any company would do that. Short of specialized tools using existing battery platforms.
I do think it would be convenient though. Lol
I bought a cheap angle grinder from harbor freight and it seemed to like it was extra noisy so I took the right angle drive apart and put a generous amount of wheel bearing grease in there it seemed to quiet it down quite a bit
Somewhat akin to the old used car dealer trick of filling the transmission with 90 weight oil and sawdust. Does a right smart job of quieting things down...
10£ is an excellent deal...hell even the 20£ price is pretty good...assuming it will last a while.
Can't wait for the next video...I like seeing the electronic bits :)
for a tenner, even if it only lasted a couple of jobs, it would be worth while. It is cheap for a throw away tool even, and looks like that motor could have some power.
One hell of an assumption you’re making there Greg.
That seems ridiculous considering the battery which would cost more than that for a knockoff for other brands.
This is a decently made grinder for that price, and I'd buy more than one, myself.
The quality definitely appears to exceed the classic harbor freight $10-$12 (when on sale) grinder.
I'm always amazed at the variety of products sold by Aldi outside of the US compared to what is commonly found in the stores here. However, with that being said I don't visit either of the Aldi US locations near where I live very often so I may be missing out on seeing many short term non-food related items.
I've seen lots of Ferrex power tools at my local Aldi over the years. It just depends on what they decide to bring in on any given week.
This grinder has never been available at US Aldi stores.
@@puckcat22679
I love those central aisles, always something different!
@@jctoad maybe, but I've definitely seen drills, impact drivers, oscillating multi-tools, and other stuff there.
@@puckcat22679 yep. Lots of other Ferrex tools. They just had a rotory tool kit the other week.
Hello Clive, I have two of Ferrex 240 volt 5¨ grinders and a bandsaw, which work well and seem to be good value for money. The grinders cost $29.00 Australian and have been running OK for about 3 years now. If they fail, I will throw them in the bin and by another one, rather that spend an obscene amount on the known brands.
Yep Keith. If you are a tradesman using the tools for hours every day it pays to have durable and reliable heavy duty gear. But for most of us who only pick it up to do a little job once in a blue moon it would be just brainless to have premium gear lying around just begging to be nicked. I also find 240volt gear better as well, since the "battery" is always charged and most things are done in the shed anyhow. Though a cheapie battery angle grinder and drill can be useful on occasion.
If it doesn't cost you to go and buy another one, it's a viable strategy.
Nevertheless, I buy tools from a tool store where I can handle the physical item and, when elfin safety isn't looking, actually power up for the feel of the thing.
As a result, the Feral grinder is in the shed on standby while I juggle 3 Bosch grinders when weld fabricating... because the Bosch ones are lighter for the same nominal power and run more smoothly. Less vibration is a bonus after a couple of hours of "welding".
I bought one of these a few years ago and its had some serious abuse and continues to work fine, the batteries hold up well too. I have other tools in the range, if you plug a 20V battery into this it does nothing but the 40V batteries work in the 20V tools.
For the price and the guarantee their an excellent deal.
It's nice to see metal gears and not plastic gears considering how cheap this item is, even though the gears are obviously very noisy. That is a pretty decent looking motor. Looks like this would be okay for a cheap tool.
Good enough to cut off a couple catalytic converters...
These gears can be made of Chinesium, you never know for sure.
Can't really plastic those
@@volvo09 ha
@@zachv1942 You can and they have, the bigger gear only of course. My father had a name brand (AEG I think) grinder back in the 80:s and he ran a large wire brush on it for an extended time which melted the plastic gear. Guess that's why they now make them in metal.
Amazed to see on such a cheap motor that it seems to have been dynamically balanced as displayed by the metal machined out of part of the rotor segments
Cordless angle grinder or portable padlock pick?
I got a couple of the 20V batteries, they are surprisingly good if you keep in mind they have no working protection if you misuse them for own projects.
Have you noticed if the rotor windings copper or aluminium?
Years ago I bought a couple of SDS drill from Aldi for emergency work but both of them burned out in a couple of days. When I dismantled them I found out that both rotor and stator windings were aluminium instead of copper.
And you were only using stepped-shank 1" steel drills in a 3/8" light-duty chuck? 🤔😁
Horses for courses! 😉
Looks like they're copper at 7:30
@@theoztreecrasher2647 Actually they were main voltage 1500W SDS Rotary Hammer Drills with standart SDS chuck.
@@johndoe528 The one I've got looked exactly the same but when I scrape the insulating varnish the wire was copper-clad aluminium.
On my third Aldi/Lidl SDS drill.
First was stolen.
Second lent and never returned.
Third has done Trojan work to date , mainly with chisel bits and the long concrete drill bit. Demolishing brick on flat walls and then breaking these bricks in to smaller pieces to use as hardcore.
Or cleaning the mortar off the intact bricks with the 75 mm flat bit.
Can’t fault them so far.
The smaller most common SDS mains powered the sell cheaper than a days hire for one from a tool hire company.
Plus at price the bits are sold for , it’s a no brainier.
While I do not have the larger demolition SDS that Lidl/Aldi sell I recently purchased the 25 mm and 50 mm bits to use as heavy pry bars etc.
For 3 euro each.
AvE would like to have a word. J/K I am happy to see someone else reviewing cheap tools. It does really help us consumers know what to tempt fate on.
I'm sad he didn't open the pack. For a tenner I wanted to know what kind and how many cells there were. 😔 Hoping for it to be in the "next video" if he does one.
I mean, the ten pound price was a double reduced price, may not be many of these left out there on shelves. I imagine he's probably going to do the battery back at his main bench just like the tool circuit board.
Usually 5x 18650 for "20V" battery. There are 2 banks in series for 40V and parallel for 20V.
The price does not include the battery.
@@rpavlik1 The £9.99 price is for the bare tool only. Battery is £26.99. And then you need a charger ...
Battery sold separately. Ten 2500mAh 18650 cells.
Hi you mentioned getting another tool from this range, strongly advise the cordless multifunctional tool. For me one of the best inventions of recent times , just so handy especially good at cutting square holes and cutting accurate small delicate things due to a very small amount of vibration 🙂
I got one of those on a whim and can confirm surprisingly useful and has become an essential in my tool kit. The cutter release does let go sometimes though.
The Right Angle drive is a Spiral Bevel.
When I read Aldi I wasn't expecting something that seems to have some quality to it.
Let alone a dual mode battery.
Another good and actually useful vid- I wanted some bevel gears just like that for an RC car project that I've stalled on, the gear box did sound a bit rough but I guess cleaning up the teeth and improving the mesh/lash might be a good idea too- even at £19.99 they would be cheaper than similar gears used by Traxas, Arrma and the likes and probably just as good quality- And you get a motor, batteries and soft start circuit for any other future projects.... I bet you none the 3 Aldi's that I know of in Bradford don't have any left in stock, And definitely not at £9.99! knowing my luck. I was going to ask about the battery pack(it looks awfully small for 40v) but that's the next vid that's just popped up- lol. All the best.
Yeah, if you go to some trouble and lap the pair in together you should have a serviceable gearset. The existing motor will probably run til the brushes are worn out and is reversible.
Great value for money.
Thanks for doing this Clive, now I can use mine knowing its better quality than I thought.. 👍🏻
On the subject of reduced prices, some time back, they were selling a Ferrex , free standing table saw, for £89-99, which, when they'd got a couple left in the store, they reduced to £59-99.
I went in one day, and there was only one left, and it was down to £39-99.
Needless to say, I bought it. 😊
@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell Aldi has no warehouse space, the store managers don't like it when there's dead inventory. I got mobile aircons for 129£ instead of their retail 300£ because they took up way too much space on the shelves since summer.
@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell Eh, my bad then, I assumed they'd be the same as EE where they mostly just take in locally manufactured items and sell through them without having any buffer. Shop manager's whim seems more likely, then.
@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell If it was, it was returned unopened, because the box was unmarked, the polystyrene packaging was intact, the blades still in their place, and even the assembly hardware was still in its wrapping.
There was no sign of any sawdust, and the metal legs showed no sign of having been bolted onto the table.
@@shadyweaver > Aldi has no warehouse space
In Aldi's birthland, here in Germany, items seem not to be returnable to the distribution warehouse.
Once in a shop it appears they can only exit through the checkout area. So the local shop manager will set the price low and lower until the items go.
I already bought an electric chainsaw and an electric hedge trimmer, 19.99 € each.
No sign of use at all.
First of all, Big Clive you're the best, ripping stuff apart to explain how it works for the benefit of others less well qualified, so they don't have to wreck their own gear doing so, BTW a bit like I often do myself.
I like this 40v grinder with nice smooth start up and running speed. The standard 20/40v grinder Big Clive has dismantled here, its normal price is £20, The brushless model is about £10 more (both bare tools, no battery or charger). I have both models. The brushless model is supposed to be easier on the battery and runs at 20v, either smaller 20v battery pack or if you use the 20/40v battery it will still run at 20v 2X 20v in parallel (stacked) to give you extra current potentially providing more torque and slightly more than double running time due to shared load of 2X 20 packs reducing loss as heat, might need big Clive to explain that in more detail. The brushless grinder runs far too fast without any means to regulate it or slow it down, I am afraid to use it as I feel the poorly balanced disc that came with it might disintegrate at the high rpms, I had to keep shutting it on and off to keep the speed under control, I think it should have a recall for safety reasons, so I don't use it, it is probably ok for the lighter cutting blade but be warned its fast and powerful so wear all the protective gear. Hopefully before long Clive will do a teardown of it as well and maybe can guide on a speed control upgrade.
more mechanical teardowns!
Thanks for pointing this out, I have bought of course. I strongly dislike the way retailers keep changing the mechanical design of their 18/20/36/40v power tool batteries so I tend to buy without battery and then fudge in an external Bosch 18 or 36v battery. Looking forward to second part.
The right angle drive thing is a ring gear, which gets driven by the pinion gear. Similar to how the ring and pinion in a car's differential works.
The video is posted 2 minutes ago, how come these folk post comment from 3 weeks ago? Time warp? Space time continuum. I love rack and pinion steering but now it's all electronic/motor driven took the fun out of sporting.
Crown wheel and pinion in a diff, this is a bevel gearbox. The ring gear is on the flywheel of an engine.
@@tech29X As Clive has stated in the description, Patron members get early access to the videos.
There must be an interesting language relationship between "pinion" and "pillion" (as in riding a motorcycle pillion). I did a very fast bit of wikipediaring, and it told me that 'pillion' is gaelic for 'little rug' (which asks its own questions) but no connections to 'pinion' but I am sure there must be.
Nice try, but a ring gear is something different. This is a helical bevel drive, similar to a regular bevel drive but the teeth are slanted, hence the helical bit.
That's about the crunchiest angle grinder I've ever heard.
I had a Makita one like this. It lasted 2 years of DIY use and the board went and made it not economical to repair. I have various brushless tools on my scrap pile.
This brand might be worth a look!
When makita were corded they used to eat concrete.
If You have two or even one Makita Bl1830 batteries, then I'd recommend buying Chinese knockoff Makita anglegrinder instead.
Thanks mate, I'm looking at buying this next week in Australia.
Hypoid gear is probably the term you are looking for. Right angled drive with constant mesh teeth. Other methods of turning through 90 degrees do not give consistent pressure on the teeth and consequently have higher wear rates and/ or jerkier motion when transferring high power.
Nope, ring and pinion.
@@zachv1942 The gears in your "ring and pinion" gear set are hypoid gears. Ever looked at a bottle of high quality gear oil? It's there on the bottle.
@@chrishartley1210 you're both right, chill out...and trust me, I own several of those things to the left (my avatar), know way too much about ring and pinion gears, from experience...that use hypoid gear oil for a reason....sheesh....
@@chrishartley1210 these aren't hypoid gears. Hypoid= The axes of the gears don't intersect. These are ordinary spiral-cut ring and pinion gears.
Bevel gear
Excellent. Just what I needed with my morning coffee... Yesterday I was reading about 3ph DC (I didn't know it existed) that is used in high speed motors and power tools. Apparently the magnets are on the rotor and the coils are in the housing or something. It is brushless. Maybe you can tear one of those down sometime. Cheers, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
A nice teardown of a decently built device. Pity it doesn't have a brushless DC motor.
And oh yeah, conformal coating on the PCB!
A brushless motor would require a multiplier like a planetary gear set. They have the speed, but not the torque. They are not interchangeable. So there goes your compactness and price point.
@@ipissed so, you're saying that all the other brushless angle grinders out there are required to have an additional gear box? I haven't heard of one that does.
@@ipissed that is UTTER BS.
every BL-DC motor can have wayy more rpm's or way more torque then a B-DC motor. or somewhere in between.
i own a 18V Fein angle grinder (prosumer tool) and it features Fein's own 850W BL-DC motor. in direct drive on the pinion.
and it rips through 4mm stainless like a hot knife in butter.
The MOSFET is there for a soft start. On mine the soft start functionality stopped working soon after I bought it. I kept using it for a year or so and then one day it stopped working completely. Took it apart and the MOSFET had died in a spectacular way. The PCB underneath was completely charred. I replaced it with something close enough and I also had to remove a nearby zener diode because it had failed short. The soft start functionality now works again.
That seems common. It would also have defeated the over discharge protection if the MOSFET had failed short circuit.
Honestly I want more of this because Ave barely does these anymore
Someone should tell him to shop at Aldi every once in a while...
@@DarkKnightBusa do they have Aldi in CanaDerp ?
@@casemodder89 No, but if he lives close to the border, they are fairly close. Some are right up against the border.
Clive the larger Crown wheel/ring gear and the smaller pinion gear attached directly to the motor are the names or the gears inside the gearbox
After testing out 2 machines with this battery pack we pretty much bought the whole set. So far good enough for personal use.
You never know with this kind of things, but for this price you can give it a go. It's produced by the German company Walter.
Can't wait for the follow up on the battery pack, since at some time i have to replace the 18650 in it or fiddle with the electronics. ;)
Austrian actually.
Made by Walter?! I didn't know they did off brand stuff.
@@chrishartley1210 Args, Salzburg, of course, my bad. XD
the little pinion gear holds the armature in the gear box housing. typically will have a nut holding it together, once removed the armature slides out of the gear and housing.
25 years ago, you'd be insane to buy something like this for actual use. These days, major brand names, bought ought by vulture capitalists, are this quality at best, if not worse.
FERREX! I got a 20-volt battery operated drill driver made by Ferrex and sold by Hofer (which is kind of the same as ALDI, but here in Austria) about a year-and-a-half ago. Was quite useful for putting some furniture together. What I experienced was that the brush fire (and resulting back-EMF spikes) in the motor must have been so severe that the actual PWM-switching logic got damaged. That thing started running on *full torque* even on its lowest trigger setting. For "low torque", I would have to squeeze the trigger all the way in, then back out to low. Weird thing. First time I used the tool after the fault, I tried to open the chuck to remove the tool bit. Resulted in a quite unpleasant twisting of my wrist.
I disassembled the drill driver, got rid of the switching trigger module, and replaced it with a DPDT polarity-reverse switch and a pot-controlled 20V ESC module from the company that smiles the whole alphabet. I'm not using it as a drill driver anymore. Got a new one from Amazon also.
It's not "made by Ferrex". Ferrex is Aldi's own house brand. Any company that Aldi commissions to manufacture power tools for them will slap that label on. Same as there isn't an Ashfield Farm that produces chicken for Aldi. It's all just 2Sisters or Cranswick or Bernard Matthews putting the name of whatever they're packing for Aldi. The actual chickens come from their normal suppliers they also use for all their other customers.
That is a real bargin at that price. Almost disposable. I think that gear arrangement is known as 'Crown and pinion', with variations like 'Bevel' and 'spriral cut'. Similar to that found in car differentials.
Ave is proud of you. A good teardown
First Aldi just opening in my town this year.
As soon as I saw the ferrex logo I knew this one was gonna be a banger
Ive got a ferrex set of tools and garden equipment ive had for 3 years the drill and grinder i have tried n my van and use regular as a forklift engineer. They work in a commercial environment . Id buy again . I have cut dozens of forklift fork tips off and buffed whiskey barrels for upcycling using dozens of flap discs . These tools are as good and probably better as any. Still going strong
Interesting; and very easy to maintain. Assuming the bearings last, changing the brushes would be a doddle and this unit could potentially last for many years.
Now at Lidl *online* they have a 40V brushless 230 mm angle grinder for €119.99 and a 40V brushless saber saw for €99.99
Plus €3.99 shipping (each?) but there is a coupon for free shipping during Christmas spending more than €60
Prices are without the charger and *the batteries* because them use two of 20V, the higher voltage CAS alliance cordless tools do the same and I personally like it better this way.
Since a single dead cell kills the whole battery by being able to purchase "half battery" you can save a lot of money on high capacity batteries.
That's in Spain, I don't know if they sell online in all the countries where they have physical stores. Also the prices aren't the same in all countries, mainly because each country has its own VAT rate.
Great teardown. Of all the tools I own my grinders make the worst sound. Next time I buy one I'll be happy to pay more for one that doesn't sound like it wants to kill me.
Now I can’t wait for the electronics post of the video.
You should do a video giving over the various tools in your kit.
I wonder if the battery pins are soldered onto the board as ordinary components then pushed into the plastic end piece during final assembly.
That would make sense, and locking as they are inserted. Keeps high temperatures away from the plastics.
No need to desolder. There's a black plastic bar that pushes out that let you take the whole board out in one piece
It was hell getting the PCB out. The contacts are pushed in and then locked with a slide-in dovetail bar, then the PCB is dropped in and soldered.
@@bigclivedotcom Sad, though it makes me wonder if that bar locks itself when the soldered board is pushed in.
Having had one for a couple of years it had a “ faulty trigger “ ( from new) and was replaced under warranty without return needed. The motor would start and before up to full speed it would shut off, this happened @ each attempt for multiple times. Later on ( months) I tried it again and it worked 🙀. It has become apparent thro trial and error that it’s fine above approx 15’C. But below it reverts to its old ways😠😠. Any explanations would be welcome 🙂
It sounds like the overcurrent protection was on the edge of its threshold.
I've picked up one of these. Must say, I'm quite impressed.
I've also picked up one of their 20v Cordless, Rotary Hammer Drills, for £20.
It even comes with a spare chuck, for SDS bits. 😎
Geez at 1 pound to 1.80 ozzy dollars we're paying 3 times the price.
@@EmeraldHill-vo1cs You're paying the equivalent of £60? 😲
Update.
I've discovered that there isn't a chuck (as such) for the SDS drill bits.
The SDS collet is part of the drill, and the chuck has an SDS style shaft, which fits into the built in SDS collet.
Oh no, ive been shafted, Part 2 😫😫😫 can't wait ❤️
It has to rest on the healing bench. Keep your shaft in a vice.
Interested to know the increased efficiency of a brushless motor over brushed?
Looks like I'm going to Aldi tomorrow for snacks and a grinder!
unless things have changed it does just put the batteries in either series in the 40v tools and paralell in the 20v ones. since they are drained and charged together unless you screw with it by manually draining one of the sets of batteries they should never drift TOO far out of balance.
I'd guess that's what's happening, but I wonder if the 20V tools do just shunt them in parallel or use just one set. I meant to get a 20V tool to check, but ran out of time.
@@bigclivedotcom from what I could see when I opened one of mine they use both sets, there's copper trace linking the battery connections right at the battery terminals before they hit any components. I've got so many ferrex tools and garden stuff. They are honestly a bargain for a cheap skate DIY person like me.
@@bigclivedotcom They do indeed place the two packs in parallel. The charger also charges them in parallel.
Isn’t it called a pinion drive, similar a differential pinion gear driving the ring gear, with the pinion shaft being the motor shaft in the drill?
Most interested in seeing the batteries they're using and the real capacity.
2500mAh cells. Video made and coming soon.
I love going to Aldi for my everyday groceries fresh Bananas, Mangos, Angle Grinders, and their take and bake pizza is good too!
man I have that same screw driver, and had no idea that the bits came out lol... big clive thumbs up for that ;)
There is grease in it but sounds like there isn't any on the actual teeth of the gears. i would put more in and also some oil. When screwed back together, is there a rubber seal to stop any oil getting out/dirt getting in.
...And not once did you have to engage your safety squints to take apart the Jesus clip, well done!!! AvE would be proud!
I noticed that Lidl at €19.99 have a similar offering but with a 20v battery (sold separately for €29.99) [in Portugal]
Seasonal tip: most rolls of wrapping paper come with a brown kraft paper support that is ideal to stop grease getting on your workbench. If you don't have any, you haven't given enough presents.
I'm happy to see a cordless power tool that takes a chonkier battery torn asunder, just what I wanted for Christmas
Got brushed and brushless, work very well good vfm
The 20V/40V thing looks similar to DeWalt's Flexvolt setup, quoted as 18V/54V in Yerp and 20V/60V in USA. (I guess USA Volts are smaller, like USA inches ;-) ).
I think the Flexvolt setup allows you to use them in older tools, and charge on either 54V or older 18V chargers, keeping existing users happy with compatibility. In 18V mode the batteries are always dis/charged in parallel, I think using MOSFET switching.
Because of that, any imbalance should be small.
Our trade regulators allow companies to advertise the float voltage, rather than the working voltage.
That's one of the things I liked about Hitachi Koki cordless stuff: they didn't play that game. You got 10.8V, 14.4V, and 18V even in the USA. Sadly that was probably also a factor in their weak market penetration.
Free standing to-92 package in an angle grinder,
Nice.
Plain bearings.
AVE would have mentioned the cheap expendable plain bearings.
Butwochaexpect for a tenner?
yes looking forward to seeing how that battery pack is working. thanks!
Coming soon. It was quite complex. Already released on Patreon along with the PCB from this tool.
A great looking tool to have at hand, and at that cheap price. I know you've done some before, but you must go into detail sometime, about how Cokes and other components work and affect circuits, Clive?
I own several Ferrex power tools and have never had a problem with any of them and the batteries are as good as some top makes
I like the old fashioned tools like my orange Black and Decker...cheers.
I wonder if the 20v one is compatible with the battery from that chainsaw, that would be useful...
At least now you have the right tool to be on par with AVEs unboxing videos.
FWIW its called a ring and pinion gear. They look to be spiral bevel type. Since its an angle grinder and goes at fairly high speed not much reduction is needed, and the rattling is likely excess backlash/clearance to allow the whole thing to be cheap and work with a wider range of tolerances.
the backlash is to allow for heat expansion in the crown+pinion gear.
every cold angle grinder sounds like a bag of marbles. but after a few minutes of work the teeth mesh in nicely.
Interesting to know.
@@casemodder89 Makes sense since motor shaft is probably much hotter than the housing and transfers lots of heat into the gears along with frictional losses. Additionally its an angle grinder so the possibility of dirt ingress is also an issue, and that it doesn't need to be precise to begin with.
Crown and pinion are the gears employed in this type of gearbox. The crown is the larger of the two.
I watch these videos and wish that Aldi here was more than just the grocery store that it is. At that price, that's cheaper than the $18.00 I paid for my corded grinder, but I don't use one enough to justify buying another one. Though I've heard that the cordless one can come in quite handy if you're ever in a situation where your car has been "booted"... :-)
I'm amazed you've never taken a grinder apart, judging by watching this video.
I'm sure I'll have taken a mains one apart at some point in time.