I buy grinders based of what material im grinding and what type im looking to do.

The last shop I worked in had some 1950's era heavy duty 12" grinders that would clean up 3/8" plate in a few passes - but also had a few 8" grinders for light plate work and making small bevels.

In my shop at home I have a Delta GR275 - works great for sharpening baldes, cleaning tools, removing rust etc... fantastic little unit but it is limited in its abilities. im not about to take a piece of plate and clean up a cut.

what type of work do you want to do?
what type of material are you working with?
do you plan to use it frequently or only from time to time?
what power do you have access to? (our big 12" ran on 220 and were machines!!)

 

Thanks for the reply. I will be doing some fab up of dog kennel boxes for vehicles. Some aluminum some steel,no bigger than 1/8 angle,square stock and maybe a dedicated wheel for tungsten clean up?

 

depending on how big the pieces are, you might want to look into a good 9amp dewalt hand held for the sheets, much easier to handle a grinder than try to man-handle the sheet of aluminum. a 9 amp is small enough to be light in the hands, but still beefy enough to take off a good amount of material.

you could pickup a good 4-5" craftsman bench grinder for the tungstens fairly inexpensive, maybe pay $150 for both if you can get a good deal

 

I bought a 6" or 8" (can't remember now), from The Wharehouse Club back in the mid 90's. It sat outdoors, uncovered, behind my brothers garage for 10 years. I finally picked it up and for the heck of it I plugged it in. The light bulb worked and it tried to move, so I tured it off, gave it a spin and turned it on again, and it's still working just fine today!!! I obviously put on new wheels. I think the brand was Allied, and I think it cost either $40.00 or $60.00 new. So, if I had to buy another, I don't think I would worry too much about brand.:laugh:

 

I got a Dayton, and even though it says "China" on a tiny sticker on the back, it performs very well, lots of power and ball bearings, it will coast for a long time. In contrast I have an old Harbor Freight that is and always has been weak, bogs down at the slightest pressure, is loud and pretty much useless except for maybe polishing with a wire brush or cleaning bolt threads.

 

I settled on a Ryobi 8" grinder after going to HD,Lowes,Sears,HF,Amazon,Tool Crib,and the local shop.
HF had to be the bottom of the barrel as far as quality goes. The Ryobi has a 2yr warranty so with no great reviews on the Delta or Dewalt I threw in the towel. I was looking for US made for under $300 and could not find it anywhere.

My 5 inch Hilti DEG 500-D 5 " Angle Grinder is the type of quality I shop for in my tools. I hate settling

 

How much you got? $700 gets you an American made Baldor grinder that will never let you down.

 

i picked up an 8" Sioux that is probably from the 50-60's for 45$ that is so smooth you can set a dime on it, turn it on and it will run up to speed and never move the dime. you don't need to bolt it down or wear ear plugs to run it either. i got a couple Taiwan grinders from the 70's that are almost as smooth and still hangin in there. i bought a HF grinder awhile back that if you set a dime on it and turned it on you better duck or wear it. the Delta's and Jets i have tried at the local schools are not much smoother than the HF i bought. if you have the bucks the Baldor is the way to go for new.

 

I got a 3/4 hp Baldor Three-Phase unit at home. I run it off a VFD so I can actually control the speed of it. I got a few bigger ones at the shop, I think they're 3 hp with a 14x3" wheel. I also really prefer a belt sander if the option is there. I prefer the 6x48" belt size and anything NOT Kalamazoo branded.

 

I always watch Craigslist for old grinders. You can get old Baldors and Deltas cheap.

 

A mlx of steel and aluminum grinder dust will ignite.Dont try grinding aluminum unless you know how to dress a clogged wheel.Most grinders a imports now and the wheels are junk.

 

The balance of the wheels decide how smooth a grinder runs

 

The only thing I find bench grinders are good for is sharpening blades and for wire wheels.
Hand held and beltsanders for me.

 

Oh, and for a home shop Delta isn't too bad.

 

Got an 8" Ohio Forge from HD many years ago. It does great and will wind down for what seems like forever. I don't think they're available any more and if they are, probably aren't up to that quality.

Papa

 

harbor freight

 

The Harbor Freight grinders are good for sharpening tungsten and that's about it. They're seriously lacking in power and will bog down easily. If you're going to be grinding anything heavy duty, shop elsewhere.

 

Just to be clear you're talking a bench mount disc/belt sander? A bench grinder to me is a motor with grinding stone wheels on either side of it.

If you're talking sanders, I picked up a harbor freight combo about a year ago, in a pinch. Very shaky, the stand was too short (boosted it up on 4x4s and it's perfect), and the damn on/off switch is on the back. But for the price, it works just fine and got me what I needed out of it. I picked up some better quality abrasives and it really works fine.

As for getting old stuff, I just picked up some oldies that haven't been used since at least 1987. Just gonna need a little tuning up and use and they should be great. In other words, if you have the time, wait and scour craigslist to find something nice, and in your price range. You can broaden your search by using a website like searchtempest.com, which searches all craigslist areas within a specified distance. It's a big time-saver.

 

I used to work on a Baldor 1022W a fair amount. Bada$$ grinder, but you gotta have all your pennies in one spot to own it.

 

my next bench grinder would be a grizzly made in taiwan
but after buying my sander i dont use my grinder much

 

Ryobi 8" primary job for me is sharpening drill bits and plane blades. from Home Depot $75-85 last year to replace my handed down hand me down bench grinder.

 

I picked up an older USA made craftsman industrial for $40 last night , craigslist.
Ball bearings, fully sealed, 1/3 hp, looks brand new and was not in use. He claimed it had the original wheels.

Super smooth, quiet, I am happy. Watch for deals on used stuff, just don't buy the stuff I want.:gunsfirin

Remember the Office Space scene with the printer? I'm tempted to do that with my harbor freight unit. But maybe I can use it as a paint shaker, just set the can on top. Actually it will probably become be dedicated tungsten grinder but even that will probably bog the sucker down. (rated same power as the old craftsman, bah!)