Reed Gray
10-22-2015, 11:29 PM
Well, the old blue no name grinder that I got many years ago was barely enough to spin dual CBN wheels, and that new Rikon sounded like a good deal, so I ordered one. It got here today, just in time for our club meeting. I had just enough time to pick it up, and then mount it on plywood to take in for show and tell, and put old blue in the raffle.
First thing after unpacking it, I plugged it in and turned it on with the factory wheels. Kind of scary, but I guess it is like getting a new bandsaw, the blades that come on them are junk. There was maybe 1/8 inch sideways run out in the wheels (+/- 1/16 inch). The arbor hole looks like a poured cement or epoxy, and not the plastic bushings. The wheel could be trued up, but having been spoiled by having CBN wheels for 10 plus years, I will save them for some thing... I did a finger test for run out, and could detect almost none, so it ran pretty true without the wheels. These wheels, could be trued up to run safely and smoothly, but not a project I want to tackle. You would need to true the sides of the wheel, and I didn't bother repositioning them to see if it made any difference.
Next step was to remove the rubber feet on the base. I want it mounted firmly on plywood. After removing the feet, I noticed it was rocking on my work bench. I moved it over to my table saw, an old Delta Unisaw, and with 3 feet on the table, the 4th foot was about 1/8 inch up in the air. Probably not a problem if you kept the feet and tightened it down as they would squish enough to cover the uneven base. I took it over to my big belt sander and fixed it.
Now, to fit the 1 1/2 inch wide D Way CBN wheels on it. I removed the outside cover, and the flanges for the standard wheels. The wheel had to be shimmed out maybe 3/8 inches away from the housing. There are nibs on the inside surface that are for screws to attach their tool rest, which of course I am not about to use. I may grind them down eventually, but didn't so I could have it ready to show. This did leave plenty of room to get the nut all the way on for a secure mount. This can be a problem with some grinders that have short shafts. When I turned the grinder on, there was a little side ways run out till it got up to full speed. I am sure this is from the big box store washers which are not 'precision' pieces. I had the exact same problem with my Baldor grinder when I used the same type of washers on it to space the wheel far enough away from the housing. The run out vanished when I replaced the cheap washers with a machined washer. It seems to come up to full speed in about 3 seconds, which surprised me, but probably should not be surprised with the 1 hp motor. My Baldor takes around 4 to 5 seconds (observed, but no stop watch). At full speed, no detectable run out or vibration that I could feel.
Fitting the Wolverine bases was different from most grinders. I don't use them in my turning room, because I don't use gouge jigs, just my robo rest free standing platforms, but need to have the Wolverine set up for demonstrations. With most grinders, you have to put a piece of 3/4 inch plywood under the grinder to get enough room under the wheel housing to be able to move the Wolverine base under it. With this grinder, I mounted it directly on the plywood, and put the Wolverine base on a piece of 3/4 inch plywood. I did have to remove the little attached dust collection port (looks like it is intended for a shop vac). This then matched, exactly the height on old blue, and standard suggested height for the Wolverine set up. Next came sliding my rest up to the grinding wheel. I need a 1/8 inch gap in between the platform and the wheel. The cross tubes in my rest (for the pin) hit part of the wheel shroud and left a gap almost 1/4 inch wide. The part that was contacting was the crimped around part on the vertical part of the wheel shroud, and I ground that down flat, and it fit perfectly with an exact stop for my rest, so if I removed it, I could slide it back into the exact same place with no jig of any sort. Over to the other side, and the gap was more like 3/8 inch, so it isn't symmetrical. I may have to do some extra trimming.
There is an attached light that comes with it, and I took it off. The goose neck on it is too short, and the light not bright enough for my preferences. Yea, it works, but not nearly good enough for my tastes.
Over all view, it isn't close to my Baldor in over all quality, but for the price, it is a really nice set up. Only thing left to do is spend a year or three sharpening on it. There does seem to be plenty of power to run 2 CBN wheels.
robo hippy
First thing after unpacking it, I plugged it in and turned it on with the factory wheels. Kind of scary, but I guess it is like getting a new bandsaw, the blades that come on them are junk. There was maybe 1/8 inch sideways run out in the wheels (+/- 1/16 inch). The arbor hole looks like a poured cement or epoxy, and not the plastic bushings. The wheel could be trued up, but having been spoiled by having CBN wheels for 10 plus years, I will save them for some thing... I did a finger test for run out, and could detect almost none, so it ran pretty true without the wheels. These wheels, could be trued up to run safely and smoothly, but not a project I want to tackle. You would need to true the sides of the wheel, and I didn't bother repositioning them to see if it made any difference.
Next step was to remove the rubber feet on the base. I want it mounted firmly on plywood. After removing the feet, I noticed it was rocking on my work bench. I moved it over to my table saw, an old Delta Unisaw, and with 3 feet on the table, the 4th foot was about 1/8 inch up in the air. Probably not a problem if you kept the feet and tightened it down as they would squish enough to cover the uneven base. I took it over to my big belt sander and fixed it.
Now, to fit the 1 1/2 inch wide D Way CBN wheels on it. I removed the outside cover, and the flanges for the standard wheels. The wheel had to be shimmed out maybe 3/8 inches away from the housing. There are nibs on the inside surface that are for screws to attach their tool rest, which of course I am not about to use. I may grind them down eventually, but didn't so I could have it ready to show. This did leave plenty of room to get the nut all the way on for a secure mount. This can be a problem with some grinders that have short shafts. When I turned the grinder on, there was a little side ways run out till it got up to full speed. I am sure this is from the big box store washers which are not 'precision' pieces. I had the exact same problem with my Baldor grinder when I used the same type of washers on it to space the wheel far enough away from the housing. The run out vanished when I replaced the cheap washers with a machined washer. It seems to come up to full speed in about 3 seconds, which surprised me, but probably should not be surprised with the 1 hp motor. My Baldor takes around 4 to 5 seconds (observed, but no stop watch). At full speed, no detectable run out or vibration that I could feel.
Fitting the Wolverine bases was different from most grinders. I don't use them in my turning room, because I don't use gouge jigs, just my robo rest free standing platforms, but need to have the Wolverine set up for demonstrations. With most grinders, you have to put a piece of 3/4 inch plywood under the grinder to get enough room under the wheel housing to be able to move the Wolverine base under it. With this grinder, I mounted it directly on the plywood, and put the Wolverine base on a piece of 3/4 inch plywood. I did have to remove the little attached dust collection port (looks like it is intended for a shop vac). This then matched, exactly the height on old blue, and standard suggested height for the Wolverine set up. Next came sliding my rest up to the grinding wheel. I need a 1/8 inch gap in between the platform and the wheel. The cross tubes in my rest (for the pin) hit part of the wheel shroud and left a gap almost 1/4 inch wide. The part that was contacting was the crimped around part on the vertical part of the wheel shroud, and I ground that down flat, and it fit perfectly with an exact stop for my rest, so if I removed it, I could slide it back into the exact same place with no jig of any sort. Over to the other side, and the gap was more like 3/8 inch, so it isn't symmetrical. I may have to do some extra trimming.
There is an attached light that comes with it, and I took it off. The goose neck on it is too short, and the light not bright enough for my preferences. Yea, it works, but not nearly good enough for my tastes.
Over all view, it isn't close to my Baldor in over all quality, but for the price, it is a really nice set up. Only thing left to do is spend a year or three sharpening on it. There does seem to be plenty of power to run 2 CBN wheels.
robo hippy