A General purpose bench grinder?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I don't have a lathe and I no longer cut the grass, so I don't really need to sharpen anything.
It would be nice to have a bench grinder that I could stick a wire wheel or polishing wheel on if I needed one.


What should I look for?
Variable speed?
6" or 8"?

Wen, Baur (Harbor Freight), DeWalt all have similar models - except the DeWalt is a single speed and the reviews of it are pretty bad on the DeWalt site.

I'd like to stay under $150.

[John Kananis]

In this particular case, 150 bucks will get you a much better device off the used market.


I don't have a lathe and I no longer cut the grass, so I don't really need to sharpen anything.
It would be nice to have a bench grinder that I could stick a wire wheel or polishing wheel on if I needed one.


What should I look for?
Variable speed?
6" or 8"?

Wen, Baur (Harbor Freight), DeWalt all have similar models - except the DeWalt is a single speed and the reviews of it are pretty bad on the DeWalt site.

I'd like to stay under $150.

[Cameron Wood]

I got this not long ago & like it. Slow speed is better for wire wheel, and for many grinding tasks.

It supplements a Dayton one, which is excellent but costs much more.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B091GRDLKQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Brian Holcombe]

Pickup a used baldor.

[Carroll Courtney]

Wire wheel, strongly advise a face shield and apron. I have pick pieces of the wire wheel out of my apron. And out of my skin, piece of wire seems to screw into skin.
Like Cameron saying a slower rpm

[Jason White]

I have this 8” one and like it a lot. It’s made by Rikon for Menards.
https://www.menards.com/main/p-1444452322107.htm

[Bill Dufour]

Pick up a used grinder at the flea market. I have an old stanley that works fine. They stopped making that model in 1932. If the original capacitor fails I will have to adapt a round one.
BilLD

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have this 8” one and like it a lot. It’s made by Rikon for Menards.
https://www.menards.com/main/p-1444452322107.htm
That looks like a winner!
I'll keep my eye out for a sale on that one.
Menards runs a lot of really good sales on their private brand stuff - like Masterforce.

[Cameron Wood]

That looks good, but keep in mind that an 8" wheel has about 1/3 faster surface speed at the same RPM as a 6" one,
so even the slow speed is not that slow.

[Rollie Meyers]

Can't go wrong with either a vintage Rockwell or Baldor grinder, they beat the cheap junk out China every time. Picked up a Baldor built JC Penney 6" for $40.

[Wes Grass]

3450 RPM ... 1725 RPM ...

And the oddball 1140 ... for single phase. There's one floating around somewhere in my Dad's collection of GrandDad's stuff. Pretty convenient if you've got nothing but 2P AC.

VFD ?????

The "SECOND COMING" ..

LOL !!!!!

[Thomas McCurnin]

They run about $30 off of Craigslist in my neck of the woods

[Kevin Jenness]

The slower the better for grinding tools w/o coolant imo. An 8" grinder will allow grinding long blades more easily as the wheels are larger than the bell, rarely seen on a 6" unit (there are some slimline Baldor and Milwaukee units). Variable speed controls, especially on cheap grinders, will probably crap out eventually and be hard to fix. An extra $100-200 for a cbn wheel will pay off, even if it pains you to spend more than on the grinder. I have an oddball 1140 rpm 6" from Garrett Wade, never seen since, but I love the control it gives and it cuts plenty fast for me.

[Bill Howatt]

Seems to me that for what his intended use is, pretty well any old thing would do just fine.

[Rob Sack]

I have a couple of old Craftsman grinders, one is about 40 years old and one is probably 60 -70 years old that belonged to my Father.. Both are still going strong. However, when I needed a separate grinder for my sharpening station, I picked up a Rikon and have been quite pleased with it.

[Bruce Wrenn]

My go to bench grinder is a Lowes $19.99 special that I picked up over forty years ago ( Taiwan special, 6", 3450 RPM.) Wheels have been replaced a couple times. Still on original bearings, but I keep a box of 6203's in my tool box, just in case. Somewhere in back of shop, I have a Skill from the era when Skill represented quality. Paid $25 for last grinder off CL, just to use with fiber wheels for sharpening knives. It's a Delta from Taiwan.

[Bill Dufour]

AFAIK the only difference between grinders is the dust/spark containment collection and the tool rest. How will you collect off a wheel throwing bits of wire?
BilL D.

[Derek Kessler]

Honestly, for what you're looking to do, any old grinder should get the job done. But agree with the others, fle markets are a goldmine for grinders.

[Mel Fulks]

I think it’s now much easier to buy a grinder. So many of the older ones were sold with extremely hard wheels. Impossible to wear
those out. And difficult to not over heat the tools.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Honestly, for what you're looking to do, any old grinder should get the job done. But agree with the others, fle markets are a goldmine for grinders.For about $60, you can get a bench grinder from Harbor Freight.

[Tom Bender]

I would not like to spin a wire wheel at 3400 rpm.

[Ole Anderson]

I have an 8" Delta bench grinder that has served me well. Also have a 6" Baldor with extended shafts that runs at half the speed of the grinder.

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