VIDEO: DeWalt Brushless Grinders Feature Overview

Hello, my name is Nate Peller and I'm the product manager for metalworking and dust at DeWalt. Today we're going to talk about some of our protection features offered on our new corded brushless grinders. We'll talk specifically about our DWE43244N 6-inch paddle switch grinder. We also offer 11 other models in this family that have similar features that will fit your needs as desired.

Before I get started, I want to make sure to put on my safety glasses as part of our first user protection feature. One of the things you're going to notice on this tool is this green LED light. When I went to pick this up off the bench, I quickly knew this tool was plugged in and it was ready to go so I wasn't concerned about whether or not it's plugged in or looking for that. This light will also flash red if there are any faults.

We're going to talk about kickback brake and e-Clutch later, but it will blink red for those features as well as what we call no volt. If I'm using this tool and I lose power but I still have my tool in the on position, whether it's a slide switch or a lock-on version, when I regain power either by a breaker being turned on or plugging it back in, you're going to see that I have a flashing red light. It will not allow the tool to turn back on so this way we're able to protect the user from having it fly off the table, hit someone next to them or turn on inadvertently. All you’ve got to do is release the trigger, pull it again and you're back working.

The next piece I want to talk about what you may have noticed in the first couple of demos there is our new fast brake. On this particular unit, the six-inch unit, it will stop in less than one second with a type 1 wheel on it and that is activated by pulling the trigger and simply releasing the trigger. You'll see how quickly that wheel stops, allowing me to put it down onto my work surface or bring it down on my side without fear of catching the cord or my pant legs based on the wheel stopping quickly.

Next piece we want to talk about is the lanyard-ready connection. On the rear of the tool you're going to see here a black ring, it is actually a spring-loaded ring and allows you to connect a lanyard to this for when working at height. The other end of the lanyard needs to be connected to a rigid structure or another tie-off point, not to a person or your body, but this will allow during a drop if working at heights for the tool to be caught and not be allowed to fall all the way down to the ground or hit someone below. This particular lanyard-ready piece also just like a fall protection harness used for personal protection will allow it to pull out after a severe drop and you're actually going to see a red spring. That red spring will notify you need to replace this piece and you can put a new one on, get it as a part from our service center. A couple of screws and you're back in business.

The last piece I want to talk about is our e-Clutch and kickback brake systems which work together to help a user during a pinch or stall situation. If you're cutting or grinding and the wheel becomes pinched in the material where it's stalled out, the tool actually shuts itself off automatically using our e-Clutch system. What this does is reduce that motion back towards the user and reduce any risk of them getting hit by the tool.

We're now going to take this unit out on the floor and we're going to show you what that looks like in real life. Here you'll see the grinder being used in a cutting application. When the wheel becomes pinched, you'll quickly see the tool shut itself off and all it requires is a simple recycle of the trigger switch to start back up. In summary, we've talked about several user protection features that are offered on our new corded brushless grinders, the first being the LED light which shows green when the unit is powered on and ready to be used. The same LED light will also blink red if there are any issues or problems with the tool. Typically reset by releasing the trigger and pulling it again. We also talked about the brake, which allows on this particular unit for it to stop in one second or less when the trigger is released. The lanyard-ready connection which allows you to connect the tether to the tool when working at height and how to notice if it is damaged and needs to be replaced. The last piece being the e-Clutch and kickback brake systems that stop the tool and stop the wheel when you're in a pinch or stall situation, helping to protect a user from those types of incidents. We feel like this is a strong suite of products and features for you, the user, to help protect your workers on the job site. Thank you and have a great day.