The Coote is the first real grinder I've got, and so far it's been going several years without a problem. It's well built and produces profesional results. It's probably the best bang for the buck grinder out there. That said I'd love to one day get a KMG, but even then I wouldn't retire my Coote.
Total set-up, you need first and formost a good solid way of mounting it. I built a wood bench with 2" thick white oak for top mounting, and I built the bench hight wise with my prefered grinding hight in mind. Second, a good 1 horse or better, preferably a 1.5 or 2 horse, but I've been running a 1 horse ever since I've had the grinder. A barn door type hing to mount and tension the belt from motor to grinder, I also use a coil spring to keep tension on the belt. And most importantly a set of step pullies, I use 3 steps on each pully and haven't even been tempted to get varible speed. A ceramic platten is money well spent but you can get by for a while without it. The small wheels I used for a long time till I got a horizontal grinder from R. Frink, now I almost never use them, but have never regreted getting them and they show almost no wear.
