Rikon 80-808 Bench Grinder Review

[Randall Mack]

I ordered a Rikon 80-808 1hp grinder at the end of November 2022 while there was a 10% off promotion from a local dealer. At the time the grinder was back ordered to February 2023. I actually picked it up when the dealer received sometime near the end of April 2023. During the wait I thought about canceling the order and another sale had discounted it to 15%. It was packaged well with a lot of styrofoam padding. The grinder comes completely assembled. Out of the box there were fine pieces of the wheels present as the wheel arbor holes were damaged. I would have expected the wheels to be left off during shipment to protect them. My purpose for the grinder is for sharpening turning tools with CBN wheels so the wheels it came with are not needed. I removed the wheel guards since they get in the way of the 1-1/2” wide CBN wheels I use. With 2 aluminum bodied CBN wheels installed I tested the grinder. At first it seem to have an issue reaching full speed. The light would be dim and after 15 seconds it would speed up and the light would brighten. You could hear the internal centrifugal switch click within a few seconds of turning it on which I would expect. Thinking maybe CBN wheels are too heavy, not that I really believed that, I removed the CBN wheels and tested a few more times. I tried a 5 minute run and it overheated at about 4 minutes and tripped a breaker. The case reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit using an IR thermometer. I emailed Rikon support. I tried a few more tests the next day while waiting for Rikon to respond. The grinder operation was not consistent. Sometimes it jumped to full speed and ran cool and after a couple days it seemed to do that consistently. I communicated this to Rikon and they suggested I just go ahead and use it. The grinder got no use for the rest of the year since we had been planning to move. I got the grinder back out this past month and discovered it was still having issues. I never figured it would be magically fixed but without being able to convince Rikon I was stuck. I got smart and clamped an amp meter on the hot line feeding the circuit in which I plugged in the grinder. It measured about 25 amps. A 20 amp circuit breaker won’t trip immediately at this amount but seems like a fire hazard to me. I contacted Rikon via email and requested a replacement. They suggested the start capacitor was bad and sent a replacement. I installed it but it made no difference. They then asked me to remove the LED bulb and retest. Hmm, 12v LED bulb drawing about 2000 watts, I don’t think so. It made no difference. Then shortly after that last test I turned on the grinder again and noticed fine wisps of smoke coming out both ends of the grinder. It’s cooked. I communicated this to Rikon and they responded that if I ship the 40 lb motor portion to them they will ship me a replacement. That would cost around $70 dollars to ship and I risk getting another bad one and start the email chain all over.


So in the end I bought a boat anchor.

Also if you own a Rikon grinder be careful touching the nameplate. The serial number is printed with ordinary ink and fades with heat and can get wiped off easily with your fingers. Of course this assumes it is useful for anything.

[Randy Heinemann]

I bought my Rikon 1/2 HP grinder from Woodturners Wonders with 2 CBN wheels installed by them. It works great and have not had any problems. If your grinder is within the Rikon warranty it should be replaced. Where did you buy it? I’d take it to them. They have an interest in resolving the problem. If it was Amazon they may still provide a solution.

[Robert Hayward]

I have had my Rikon 1hp grinder for a few years with no trouble at all. My grinder has metal nameplate with the serial number stamped into the metal.

[Tom M King]

Since you picked it up from a dealer, they should take care of it and do any shipping. Surely if they tell Rikon it's fried that they wouldn't expect shipping back. Something doesn't sound right about that nameplate.

[Randall Mack]

The name plate on mine looks like a vinyl sticker.
IMG_1734.jpeg
In this earlier pic I edited and blocked out the serial number. If I took a picture today it would be totally blank since it totally rubbed off. I guess this was a cost cutting change, no serial number no warranty.

[Randall Mack]

I talked to a sales person earlier in the week but needed to talk to the manager since they interact with Rikon. I don’t think the dealer should be responsible for replacing the grinder or need to pay any part of freight. This really should have been done by Rikon the first time the circuit breaker tripped last May.

[Tom M King]

I don't think either you or the dealer should pay for shipping back, but I thought maybe Rikon would more likely take their word for it that it was fried. Two CBN wheels are no bother to a 1hp grinder. I'm pretty surprised they didn't take care of this better. I won't be buying anything from them.

[Randall Mack]

If all they wanted was proof I was not trying to pull a fast one on them, I would be fine with taking a hacksaw and cutting off the motor shaft ends and send them. I sent photos of the reading on the amp meter and a wisp of smoke. Unfortunately so much stuff is made so it is not repairable these days so it would only end up in a dumpster anyway. I will talk to the dealer’s manager next week and see what they suggest before I take it to the local recycle center.

[Tom M King]

Companies are sure different about replacements. We bought a couple of paddleboards for a rental house. One had a very slow leak and every time I contacted the company they replied almost immediately with something to try. After trying the different things, it still lost a pound and a half psi every couple of days. They told me to slice it down the middle and send them a picture. The replacement board showed up two days later. They were nothing but pleasant and quick to respond every time. These were just cheap ones off Amazon, but their quality and performance was just fine. That's the way it should work. If they sell something that is defective, it's on them.

[lou Brava]

Something doesn't make sense, if you bought it at a "dealer" and it broke without abuse or misuse they will take it back there are consumer laws they can't sell defective equipment. It's not your responsibility to try & fix/repair a brand new tool in any way shape or form.

[Randall Mack]

For small items I would agree. But consider this was a special order for the dealer. If this was old Sears I would not hesitate to return it but that was a simple drive to the mall. Here we are talking about a made in China tool that is mass produced by a third party for another company. For this I expect many dealers think that once you take possession it is up to the manufacturer to support it after sale if at all. I use the term “manufacturer” loosely since very few companies marketing tools to us make anything. It’s too costly for the dealer to send back and the same for the buyer. I’ll talk to the manager at the store this week and maybe they know someone at Rikon who can make a replacement happen but I don’t expect the dealer to pay the bill and I won’t either.

[Randall Mack]

I missed your last comment: ”It's not your responsibility to try & fix/repair a brand new tool in any way shape or form”. I wish that was the case assuming a tool just came out of the box.

[Randall Mack]

I wanted to make a follow up post. It’s been over a month since talking to the dealer. So far nothing. The manager said he sent emails and left voice messages and no one responds from Rikon. I don’t know what to think. I know I will never consider a Rikon product again. I am not sure about the dealer either although until this I never had any problems.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Thank you for the follow up.
I had planned on picking up a Rikon 80-805 tomorrow.
Woodcraft has them on sale for $129 ($70 off)

Life's too short and I'm too old and fat to take a chance.

[roger wiegand]

Hate to say it, but it makes buying from Amazon sound like a much better option, they'd take it back, (almost) no questions asked. Between the two turning clubs I'm in there are probably 30-40 of these grinders, I've never heard of anyone having a problem with them. Mine's been going strong for the better part of a decade, just bought a second one at the local Rockler closing sale so I don't have to swap wheels. Among turners these are pretty widely regarded as the best grinders for the money that you can find. Sorry you got a dud, and even sorrier you're getting a runaround. Any chance it's a fake? There's a lot of that out there, never heard of it for this product, but who knows.