Surface Grinder from Harbor Freight, is it any good?

Lynn,
I have had one up and running for the past years and a half, with no complaints at all. Phil Wilson also has the same thing in his shop, and has told me it works great.
I talked about this a while back, but heres the scoop. All of the 6x12 surface grinders imported into the US are made in the same plant. The only differece is that once they hit the US port, some are unpacked and painted for different companies. Some blue (J&L), some green (Grizzly), and some black (Jet). The ones sold through Harbor Freight are never unpacked and painted, just forwarded to them. At the time I purchased mine the prices ranged from $2300 for the J&L to $995 for the Harbor Freight. I couldn't see paying an additional $1300 for a paint job. I used the saved expense to put a good set of contact wheels and mag chuck on mine. The wheels are reasonable, but mag chucks get a little pricey! I finally settled on a 4X10 fine pole chuck which was a little over $400. If you get one, don't screw around with a standard pole chuck, they just won't hold the small parts we usually work with.

Take Care
http://www.mtn-webtech.com/~caffrey

------------------
Ed Caffrey
"The Montana Bladesmith"


 
Lynn
They are fine . We donated one to the ABS school and it works fine. Also John Smith of Ill has one. Give him or Ed a call and find out the details. John says he can hold .0002
in 12 inches..
Thats good enough.. for G work IMHO

Please do some wheel research also that will make a real difference in you outcome..


------------------
Web Site At www.infinet.com/~browzer/bldesmth.html
Take a look!!!




 
Thanks for the responses. I went ahead and ordered the one from Harbor Freight. It is supposed to be here in 2-4 weeks. I will let you all know how it works out. Ysva, from the forum here has offered to give me advise using it, which is great because he use to be a tool and die maker.

Thanks again,

------------------
Lynn Griffith-Knifemaker

My website
GriffithKN@aol.com


 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top