Rikon slow speed grinder 1hp vs .5 hp

[allen long]

I see Rikon's 1/2 hp is on sale for $99. Is the 1 hp that much bether than th 1 hp versio?

[Dan Henry]

The 1/2 would not run 2 Steel CBN wheels, I now have the 1 hp and it spins up the CBN wheels very well. The rock stones that that come with the 1/2 work ok

[John K Jordan]

I have both. The 1/2 hp is underpowered. As Dan mentioned, it might be a problem with steel CBN wheels. I know people who do have the combination and one guy said he has to give them a spin by hand to get them going. I use the aluminum wheels (Woodturner's Wonders) and the 1/2 horse grinder doesn't have that problem but I still think it is underpowered.

The 1hp grinder comes with a light too, but it's worthless, I'm going to remove the one on mine.

I've tested but haven't swapped out the 1hp for the 1/2hp yet. The casting on the 1/2hp is not level on the bottom but I think it was Reed Grey who mentioned the 1hp has the same problem. Not a big problem, though.

JKJ

[Frederick Skelly]

The 1/2 would not run 2 Steel CBN wheels, I now have the 1 hp and it spins up the CBN wheels very well. The rock stones that that come with the 1/2 work ok

Just to add to this a little - I run only 1 cbn wheel and 1 "stone" whhel on the 1/2 hp and it works fine.

[Joe Bradshaw]

I also have the Rikon 1/2 hp grinder and I run 2 CBN wheels on it with no problem. It is a bit slow to get up to speed. No problem, because I have it at my girlfriends house.
Joe

[Bob Bouis]

I haven't personally examined the 1/2hp grinder, but comparable models often have a flimsy shaft with a tiny lip and stamped washers that offer a poor surface to reference off of, leading to runout in the wheels.

Maybe that's a bigger issue with stones than CBN wheels, though.

[Bill Blasic]

I have the 1/2 HP with 1 steel CBN and 1 aluminum CBN and it works fine. It takes about 3 1/2 to 4 seconds longer to get up to speed than my big Delta but once running does just fine. Just a side point, this grinder ran smoother than any grinder I have ever owned right out of the box and that did not change when it went from stones to CBN.

[Fred Belknap]

I have the no name .5hp grinder from WoodCraft and it works ok, just a bit slow to take off. Sometimes I remember to spin the wheels a bit to take some of the load off the start capacitor. I have 2 CBN grinding wheels mounted.

[Steve Arnold]

The Rikon ½ horsepower grinder works great with 2 aluminum (Woodturners Wonders) CBN wheels on it. It's a very nice combination and I've never felt that it was under-powered.

I also like that the motor housing is smaller than the one on the 1 HP model and much easier to maneuver around.

[Joe Kaufman]

The Rikon badged grinder now sold by WoodCraft has a smaller diameter motor than the previous no name unit which is 6+ inches in diameter. I wouldn't doubt that the new Rikon has less starting torque than than the no-name. As previously mentioned, my no-name takes 4-5 seconds to reach running speed with 2 D-Way steel CBN Wheels.

[Reed Gray]

I always considered the 1/2 hp Rikon, along with the 3/4 hp no name blue grinder that Woodcraft used to sell, to be underpowered for the job. Kind of like turning a 12 inch bowl on a 12 inch lathe, or maybe the bandsaws that have riser blocks that while designed to cut 6 to 8 inches high, struggle a bit with cutting 12 inches high. Yes, you can get the job done, but they are not really made to do that heavy kind of work. All things considered, the 1 hp Rikon is a good tool for the money, and has plenty of power. I took the rubber feet off because I wanted it bolted firmly to plywood for being able to transport to demonstrations and work shops. I had to grind off 1/8 inch on one of the 4 cast metal feet to get it to sit level. The wheel shrouds were not even, and I had to rotate one about 10 degrees to be able to slide my robo rest up into position, so had to ream out the bolt holes. The light is worthless. It comes up to full speed in about the same time it takes my Baldor to come up to full speed. It is noisier than the Baldor, but hey, it works. I did concrete construction for years, and learned from that about having things over built so I didn't have to worry about forms blowing out during a pour. I did have to put the Wolverine bases up on about 5/8 inch of plywood to get them to height rather than the standard for most grinders where you have to raise the grinder about 3/4 inch.

robo hippy

[David Delo]

I've had both of the Rikon's and didn't care much for the smaller one. The ramp up time didn't bother me but didn't care for how the shaft shoulder mated up with the CBN hubs. The 1HP fits up perfectly with plenty of shoulder like it was made for that size wheel hub.

Never saw the so-called Woodcraft no-name grinder until the other day when I picked one up at an auction. Seems to be a pretty decent unit that I'll used for non CBN type stuff and maybe some shaping functions. Motor on this one is 6.25" diameter
No Name 1.jpg

[John K Jordan]

...Just a side point, this grinder ran smoother than any grinder I have ever owned right out of the box and that did not change when it went from stones to CBN.

You may have been lucky! My 1/2hp was not very smooth with the stock wheels and one we got for a kids turning shop was so bad the whole table shook. This, of course, is all in the wheels they slap on and like always, you get the luck of the draw. Even some good Norton 3X wheels I had on my Woodcraft NoName 3/4hp grinder had vibration even after truing, fixed with the OneWay balancing kit.

JKJ

[Bob Bergstrom]

We have a slow speed grinder at our turning club that has one stone and one CBN. A year ago I switched the slow speed Woodcraft out for a 3400 Dewalt. It just seemed to take too long to sharpen with 1700 rpm. Haven't had a member complain and many have learned to appreciate the faster sharpening. I have read the real reason behind the introduction of slow grinders was to sell more grinders. They can help if sharpening carbon steel, but high speed tool steal doesn't loose it's it temper. I have a 1 hp Jet that runs at 3400 and love it. I couldn't see paying more for the 1/2 hp Jet that ran at half the speed and half the power.

[Bruce Wilson]

+1 to what Reed said. I too debated this and his comments on my post swayed me to the 1HP model. I have zero complaints about it other than the light is useless. Mine did not have the base issue, it sits flat and level.
My advice is to get the 1HP one, remove rubber feet, and raise the bases instead of grinner for Wolverine jig.