Woodcraft Slow-Speed Grinder

[Dan Case LR]

After reading so many positive things about Woodcraft's slow-speed grinder (and not finding many options in slow-speed), I decided to pick one up and give it a shot. Woodcraft doesn't have them anymore, but I bought one from one of the several vendors selling them NIB on eBay. $71.99 plus 26.03 shipping seemed like a reasonable deal.

It showed up on my doorstep yesterday and I pulled it out of the box this morning. I wasn't expecting a Baldor, but had hoped for something a little less Harbor Freight-esque. I plugged it in, turned it on and quickly turned it off in time to prevent it from dancing off the edge of my bench. I've seen some mighty wobbly grinders before, but never this bad. Again, I didn't expect a $70 grinder to have premium wheels. I did expect it to be balanced enough to be usable for sharpening, since that is what it was designed for. After fussing with it for a couple of hours, I walked away and checked the vendor's return policy.

The vendor actually has a return policy, which many ebay sellers don't. That's the good news. The bad news is that they won't refund the shipping and require me to pay return shipping. If I return it, my net refund will be $71.99 less about thirty bucks for return shipping.

In fairness to the grinder, without wheels the motor runs quite smoothly and the shaft seems fairly true. If I keep it, it won't be totally useless, just an annoying disappointment. I've seen many mentions of this grinder on this forum, so I assume we have a few owners here. What's your opinion -- keep it and spring for good wheels or send it back and suck it up?

Thanks!

D.

[Prashun Patel]

Get a cbn and see how it runs.

[Reed Gray]

Woodcraft had big problems with the last two batches of their grinders, and returned them, or at least took them off the market. One batch the motors ran really hot, and the other ran with a loud screeching noise. They are planning to have more in the stores this fall some time. I would be wary of the ones on E Bay, they might be the ones that WC pulled off the market.

robo hippy

[Thom Sturgill]

Since you stated earlier that you had ordered Thompson tools, you should visit Cindy Drozda's BLOG (http://www.cindydrozda.blogspot.com/) and read what she has to say about V12 steel and sharpening. Then visit D-way tools (or whatever favorite vendor) and pick up a good CBN wheel ($200). Make sure you get either a wheel drilled to fit or with a STEEL adapter. If you replace the stock wheels (which were probably made to fit the shaft) you will find that the replacement wheels are typically for a 1" arbor and come with plastic adapters. Throw them away and buy a drill bushing from Graingers. Don Geige (http://www.geigerssolutions.com/)r has an excellent article on his site on balancing grinder wheels.

[Dan Masshardt]

I bought mine off eBay. No problems just plug and play.

I guess you have to consider what your alternate plan would be if you returned it. How will you sharpen?

I'd be Inclined to try new wheels. Maybe it's possible to true up the ones you have?

[Dan Case LR]

Good point, Thom. I've been considering a CBN wheel, but hoped to put it off for a while. Given my investment in tools, that seems a little dumb in retrospect--like buying a Ferrari and feeding it the cheapest gas I can find.

Time to order a CBN wheel.

D.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Don't throw good money after bad. If you already know the grinder has been problem enough for Woodcraft to stop selling it, don't keep it. Next to your lathe the grinder is the most used tool in a turners shop. If you can't afford a good grinder and a CBN wheel, buy a good grinder now and upgrade the wheels when you can. For 40 bucks you can get a blue wheel that will work well enough until you can get the CBN. A slow speed grinder severely limits your choices though lots of our friends here swear by them. I have two grinders and both are high speed. With blue wheels or CBN wheels and a decent touch you won't burn your turning tools. Look at the Jet 8" grinder. I have one and though it is not as quiet, smooth and true as my Baldor, it still does the job.
faust

[Mike Cruz]

Dan, this is a common problem with that grinder. Not that the grinder is off, but the wheels DO need to balanced on the shafts. I don't mean grinding them into balance. Rather mounting them so they are balanced. I mentioned this in another thread of yours, but consider getting the CBN wheels. They will run truer, and will sharpen much better. Expensive, yes. But once you use them, you'll never want to go back.

[Dennis Nagle]

I got one of the screetchers. I returned two of them before I got one that wasn't that bad. Mine also vibrated pretty bad but I took the wheels off and both the screetch and the vibration went away. You get what you pay for I guess. I put the wheels back on and took a diamond tool to them. I trued them across the face and on the sides. That, for the most part, did the trick.

[David C. Roseman]

Dan, this is a common problem with that grinder. Not that the grinder is off, but the wheels DO need to balanced on the shafts. I don't mean grinding them into balance. Rather mounting them so they are balanced. I mentioned this in another thread of yours, but consider getting the CBN wheels. They will run truer, and will sharpen much better. Expensive, yes. But once you use them, you'll never want to go back.

+1 to Mike's comments. Especially since it will cost you $30 just to return the grinder. Did it come with a photocopied sheet on balancing the wheels? Woodcraft added the sheet after so many complaints about vibration. Use a Sharpie or similar to mark each wheel and the ends of the shafts for reference points, then rotate the wheels (in opposite directions) by 1/8 turn, retighten the nuts, turn on and check for improvement. Rinse and repeat. It will take awhile, but I'm betting you'll eventually find a "sweet spot," then of course true up the surface of the wheels themselves for concentricity.

That will at least let you use the grinder until you can get better bushings and wheels. There's really not much simpler than a motor with two shafts, and if you have the space, there's always a use for another bench grinder, IMO, even if you eventually end up upgrading from that one. Our Woodcraft slow-speed danced around until I tuned it up as above. Later added the D-Way 180 grit CBN wheel and bushing in place of the 120 (?) grit OEM aluminum oxide. As was said, I'd never go back for lathe tool sharpening.

David

[David Weaver]

Use a Sharpie or similar to mark each wheel and the ends of the shafts for reference points, then rotate the wheels (in opposite directions) by 1/8 turn, retighten the nuts, turn on and check for improvement. Rinse and repeat. It will take awhile, but I'm betting you'll eventually find a "sweet spot," then of course true up the surface of the wheels themselves for concentricity.

Agree with this exactly. Most of the problem is probably the wheels, and you can probably get rid of a large % of the problem with the 1/8th turn method.

If it makes you feel any better, my factory 6" baldor came with dud wheels. The grinder itself is very smooth, but the gray wheels that came with it made it run rough. I'm not a turner, so I just replaced them with middle of the road brown al-ox wheels from mcmaster carr.

[Reed Gray]

If the wheels are that out of whack, you need to true them up one at a time, without the other on the grinder. Use the marker on shaft and wheel so you can put them back on in the same position because that can make a difference. One wheel, then the other, then both together. If you can afford it, the Baldor is worth the money. I prefer the slow speed grinder, while some prefer the high speed. On rare occasions, I want higher speed for shaping, but for general sharpening, the slow speed is easier, especially for those who are not used to using a grinder. With the Baldor, and maybe all others, first warning is to stand out of the line of fire because wheels could have been damaged during shipping. Not a worry though with the CBN wheels.

robo hippy