Bench Grinder

For many years I used a home built 6" grinder made from a belt driven arbor holding the wheels and a 1940 era wringer washing machine motor.  The motor and arbor were bolted to 2x10 and it had a wood tool rest.  The rubberized motor cord was cracked and frayed.  I always plugged it carefully never sure if I would get electrocuted.   I tried to relace the cord but found it easier to purchase a new grinder.  

All tool retailers sell several types of grinders.  I was looking for a general purpose grinder that would sharpen mower blades and grind steel.  I remember using an 8" grinder to sharpen tools for a metal lathe for my shop class.  I stated to look for 8" grinders.  After viewing several Youtube videos, I narrowed my search to a WEN 8" Bench Grinder because it seemed to fit my needs and less than $100 price range.  

The WEN 8" Bench Grinder has a 4.8-Amp Single Speed Motor.  The motor reaches  speeds of up to 3,450 RPM.  The grinder comes with a 60 and 36 git wheels.  It has adjustable tool rests and eye guards with built-in LED lights.  

Work-arounds for Vibration.

Known vibration problems of less expensive grinders were also expressed with the Wen 8" grinder.

My gut feeling is the grinding wheels are out of round and cause the vibration.  The 5/8 inch arbors of the grinder ran smooth so it was a wheel balancing problem.  Ideally purchasing new wheels or trying to rebalance them would have been the perfect solution.  The task finding the perfectly balanced wheel was beyond my budget and rebalancing was outside my skill set.  Past experience showed me if I could get the weight of one out of round wheel to counterbalance the other out of round wheel it should run smoother.  My solution was to turn one wheel 1/8 increments until vibration was reduce.  Not a perfect solution but I did not need to buy new wheels.  

The grinder still had some vibration so my next fix was to bolt down the grinder to the bench.  It still vibrates but can be used to sharpen mower blades and larger tools.  I have also used it to grind metal for welding and brazing.  I tried to sharpen drill bits with the grinder, but found in my youth, I was not any good sharpening them in shop class and did not improve as I got older.  

Thoughts and Hacks

• The few times a year I use a bench grinding wheel the Wen 8" grinder meets my needs.  No plans to replace.

• Purchase a wheel dresser to removed groves in the grinding wheel.  Several are available for under $20.

• If you plan to spent hours per day grinding then I advise getting a professional bench grinder.  Sometimes you need to pay for quality.