Anyone know anything about grinders?

fulloflead

fulloflead

Joined
May 3, 2002
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Someone in my family wants a grinder for X-mas.

I don't know anything about them except that I've used one from time to time.

He does a lot of his own automotive work and some home improvement.

What should I know before I go buy him one? Are there different powers? Different grits? What should I spend? Sears? Home Depot?

Someone please fill me in so I can make an educated purchase.

Thanks.
 
Call up the folks ar Tru Grit and order up a 2 horsepower variable speed 2"x72" Hard Core grinder. If he's not absolutely thrilled, call me and I'll give you a couple hundred bucks for it so you still will have money to buy him something nice.

Seriously, you might post this in shoptalk.

How hardcore is the guy? How much do you want to spend? Sears has a pretty well built 8" bench grinder for around $100.00. They make a 2x42 belt grinder that can actually be used in knife making from what I hear (you wouldn't know it from my output so far) and has a 9" disk grinder attached for about $200.00. The belt/disk combo seems way more useful to me and he can get a variety of different abrasives for it. It's a bit of a pain to change belts on, but it will grind about anything. The bench grinder might be a better choice if all he needs to do is modify a tool occasionally or sharpen the lawnmower blade.

If he's a schmuck, but you have to buy him something to keep your wife happy, head to harbor freight and get him the $39.00 6" bench grinder special. It's actually a useful grinder but isn't near deluxe status.

jmx
 
First off, what kind of grinder does he want. There are alot.

Die
Angle
Bench
Belt
Disk

If he is really into automotive he may not be talking about a belt grinder at all. Need more info before we can suggest anything.
 
My post was very broad brushed. Angle and Die grinders are also a usefull idea. You say he's into automotive stuff. A die grinder or a 4-5" disk grinder might be real useful if he's a hot rodder.

Then again, there's the tool everyone needs, if they don't already have one, is the venerable Dremel Multi-tool. Legendary in their versatility, everyone ought to have one, including my wife who wants a cordless model to grind sown the callouses on her feet!

jmx
 
Really gotta get more information from him on type of grinder before you can really decide. For disc/angle grinders, I love the Dewalt corded stuff, and in time I worked in hardware dept. at sears never had one returned. Have a friend who has been using one for 5 yeras now doing automotive work(with greater or less success on the cars, but tha'ts his fualt, not the grinders. ;) )

If just wants a normal bench grinder, little 6" from sears or home depot will work just fine. If he wants belt grinder, yeah, pick up a 2x72, but they aren't cheap. I'm finally getting myself one this next month, and can't wait. :)
 
A bench grinder. I'm thinking a stone on one side and a brush on the other.
Looking to spend about $150.
He's not really die-hard. I think he just thinks it would be a good thing to have around.
 
$150 should do really good for a bench grinder, so long as he isn't expecting a baldor industrial bench grinder ;)

First and foremost, get an 8". The 6" grinders are good for alot of general work, but they lack the clearance between the wheel and the motor for alot of things. And you can wear the 8" down farther because its got more clearance to begin with. 8" wheels are wider too, much nicer to work with if you ask me.

I have a craftsmen 8" professional that came with a set of really nice work rests, a light mounted on top, a drill sharpening guide (that doesn't seem to work, I get better results free hand :confused: ) dressing tool for the wheels, and a little tool tray. All for less than $150. I use it to make knives, and have been very happy with it.Plenty of power, and it runs reasonably smooth after dressing the wheels. Have to say it was the roughest chattering SOB I ever used out of the box, but the wheels were out of round. A few minutes with the dressing tool and it was all set.

So take a look at one of those. I had lost faith in craftsmen and swore I would never buy another power tool from them again, but I got this one as a gift and its been a good tool.

Also look at Delta, they have an 8" similar to the craftsmen. I think it may have a bigger motor, about the same price range. They look really nice. I would probably give it a try over the craftsmen. All my other tools are delta and I've been very happy with them. The craftsmen is a good machine though.

Most will come with a coarse and a fine grit wheel already mounted. If you want to buy a wire wheel to go with it that would probably be nice, doing automotive stuff it might come in handy. You can check out some higher quality wheels, and also more grinders here: www.woodcraft.com
 
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