# Baldor 8" 1800 Rpm Grinder Review.



## Dan_S (Dec 24, 2015)

I've suffered with a cheap no name 6" big box special for 10+ years, and since I'm starting to getting into wood turning, I needed something better. When I found a smoking deal on this i decided to pull the trigger on it, in spite of the cost. I've heard very few negative comments about Baldors, and the ones I have are nothing compared to what I've heard about some of the competition.

*Specs*
model : 8100W
hp : 0.75
phase: 1
volts : 115
amps : 4.6
rpm : 1800 (beneficial for grinding woodworking tools)

*Delivery*
I think if you get it delivered any time of the year except the holidays like I did, the grinder will arrive just fine. It's double boxed, and has have 3/8" thick flake board in the bottom. Mine arrived with a broken rest as shown bellow, but I attribute that to FedEx doing a substandard job during the holidays, because the box was be all to he**.  







*The Bad*
All my issue with the unit are cosmetic. Given the cost, I think Baldor could have done a better job.

They painted it after it was fully assembled, so every thing has paint on it including the fasteners. Even the one wheel has a little over spray on it. Since it was fully assembled, some parts have sections with just the primer on them.

The wheel housings still have some casting flashing visible in spots, and look like they where at-least partially machined with a bandsaw.




The end caps on my unit where not completely flat, yielding a gap in the exhaust port area. To me, it looks like the end caps where cast, band sawed to shape, tapped and then painted. The definitely could have done a better job in this regard. I think a few seconds on a large disc sander would have been all that was needed to get the seam close enough.







*The Good*
Right of the top, I need to say their is a lot of nice things about this machine.

Some of the simple stuff:
1. every part has a part number cast into it.
2. the wiring diagram makes sense
3. the parts list makes sense
4. it uses decent sized fasteners, not little tiny annoying ones.


It comes with 2 really nice Norton wheels.
1. 36 grit A36N5V10
2. 60 grit A60N6V10




The shaft is substantial at 3/4" I had to go buy another Crescent wrench just so I could get the wheels off to properly inspect them. Run-out on the shafts was 0.0015"




The shaft has nicely machined shoulders for the flange washers to register against. Run-out on the shoulders was 0.0002" & 0.0004". The 4 tenths side, was  because of a small scuff. You might even be able to assign a tenth or so bearing float, because I was able to get about 6 thousands of axial play when i pushed on the arbor.




While the flange washers are cast aluminum, that i might machine to get a better face on, they are still 10 time better than the punched steel ones I've seen on some machines. They are pretty large as well, 3-1/4" in diameter.




It's a big beast, 99 lbs, just shy of 2 feet wide, 13 inches tall, and 10-1/2 inches deep.




I ran the nickle test on it, and the nickel barely moved, in spite of the fact that the wheels haven't been shimmed or trued.


*To Do:*
1. I'll probably take the eye shields off, as I've never really liked them, and i wear safety glasses anyway.
2. I need to true, and potentially shim the wheels.
3. I need to make some custom tool rests for it that will wrap around the wheels.
4. I'll probably need to make a better stand for it, because I think its to much machine for the HF stand I have now.


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## coolidge (Dec 24, 2015)

Welcome to the Baldor club and congrats! I have a Baldor grinder and buffer and agree even with the cosmetic flaws its a Ferrari compared to made in China.

I recommend this cast iron Baldor GA20 stand its drilled and tapped for your grinder base. Its the first grinder stand I considered putting on casters  my Baldor buffer and this stand weighs over 200 lbs. Best price I have found is at Grizzly $469. Enco is smoking crack on their $813 price.

GA20


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## coolidge (Dec 24, 2015)

On a side note my brother used to sharpen his wood lathe tools with a belt sander of some type, they looked polished and you could shave hair off your arm with them.


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## planeflyer21 (Dec 24, 2015)

Good write up.  What is the country of origin on this Baldor?

That is a pricey base!  Beginning to understand why Dad had so many home-shopped stands/bases.


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## woodtickgreg (Dec 24, 2015)

Excellent wright up Dan! I love baldor stuff but can't ever seem to really afford them as I use the money for other tools, lol. I did score a old baldor tool grinder with the stand a while back. I keep waiting to find the smoking deal on a used baldor grinder .


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## Firestopper (Dec 24, 2015)

Nothing like a smooth running pedestal grinder!


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## Dan_S (Dec 24, 2015)

coolidge said:


> Best price I have found is at Grizzly $469. Enco is smoking crack on their $813 price.



It should be gold plated for that kind of price. What i will probably end up doing, is welding up a simmilar looking one from steel, that I can then fill with sand. I've seen a few people do something simillar.





coolidge said:


> On a side note my brother used to sharpen his wood lathe tools with a belt sander of some type, they looked polished and you could shave hair off your arm with them.



Sounds like the Sorby Proedge, or something very similar.

This thing will see a diverse range of sharpening. The wood & metal lathe tools are HSS, my chisel & hand plane blades are O-1, A-2, Some powdered metallurgy stuff, and I have some nice old high carbon (1095 or similar) blades as well. I'm anal about sharpening, I finish ,my hand tools off with Japanese waterstones.






planeflyer21 said:


> Good write up.  What is the country of origin on this Baldor?



It's supposed to be 100% american made.



woodtickgreg said:


> I did score a old baldor tool grinder with the stand a while back. I keep waiting to find the smoking deal on a used baldor grinder .



That's the next big tool on my list, and thankfully, they seem a lot easier to find used in good condition.


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## Dan_S (Dec 24, 2015)

Since I've got nothing better to do today, i re-did the nickel test.


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## woodtickgreg (Dec 24, 2015)

Dan, that's amazing, and it will only get smoother with more use as it breaks in.


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## Cheeseking (Dec 24, 2015)

Hey congrats on the new grinder Dan!  Looks real nice.   I'm sure the tool rest bracket will get replaced under warranty but yeah, the hassle factor chasing that down stinks.     I picked mine up used one a few years back and it has the same gaps you showed on the wheel shroud.  It's the 10" 1-1/2hp 3ph but looks almost identical to the 8"   Don't pelt me with tomatoes but I paid the guy $150 for it including stand.....


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## Dan_S (Dec 24, 2015)

Cheeseking said:


> It's the 10" 1-1/2hp 3ph but looks almost identical to the 8"   Don't pelt me with tomatoes but I paid the guy $150 for it including stand.....



I haven't seen them go for that cheap, but I've seen them go for about twice that. The 1800 rpm models seem to be a lot harder to find than the 3600 rpm ones. 

In my ideal shop, I'd have this dedicated to woodworking tools, and then 2  Baldor 500s for machining cutters, one for hss & the other for carbide.


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## coolidge (Dec 24, 2015)

Public service announcement...my new Baldor grinder model 762 vibrated so badly it took off across the bench and tried to leap to its death. The shaft had a small shoulder sticking out so instead of the large aluminum washers butting up against the spacer like it was supposed to it butted up against this shoulder out of kilter and the wheel vibrated badly. I turned a small spacer with a relief cut for that shoulder and now its smooth as glass, but thought people should know. Cheeseking dang, that was a smoking deal for $150.


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## joshua43214 (Dec 25, 2015)

Dan_S said:


> This thing will see a diverse range of sharpening. The wood & metal lathe tools are HSS, my chisel & hand plane blades are O-1, A-2, Some powdered metallurgy stuff, and I have some nice old high carbon (1095 or similar) blades as well. I'm anal about sharpening, I finish ,my hand tools off with Japanese waterstones.



I would respectfully suggest that you never grind carbon steel hand tools. About 20 years ago, Fine Woodworking Magazine ran a article with a bunch of micrographs of what grinding does to carbon steel edges. The edge heats instantly when it contacts the wheel causing the steel to slightly expand. When the steel cools, it leaves very fine cracks all along the edge. The heating of the edge is apparently unavoidable because the metal is so thin there, and it requires very little heat to expand the metal enough to crack on shrinkage. I find my plane irons leave a much smoother finish and stay sharp much longer now that I no longer grind nicks out of them, I just use a oil stones to remove nicks, then work up through Japanese water stones.

BTW nice finish on the plane iron. I always say it is not sharp if you can't see your reflection...

If you have been a long term subscriber to Fine Woodworking, the article was published during one of those periods when debate over sharpening methods erupted (yet again). They also ran an article about the same time comparing oil to water to diamond stones and lapping on glass plates with micrographs of each method along with some lab results for smoothness. The article was published before they decided to expand their subscription base away from master craftsmen to project oriented hobbyists if that helps finding it.


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## Dan_S (Dec 28, 2015)

Tonight I finished up a mockup, of something I hope to take care of after the new year. It looks like I can just fit a 1.5 inch wide CBN wheel on the grinder , and still keep the wheel guards on.


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## Ulma Doctor (Dec 28, 2015)

very nice grinder! baldor makes top shelf motors, grinders ,& buffers
great deal @150!!!


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## mattthemuppet2 (Dec 29, 2015)

you could stick some sand paper to the wood blank and it would make a neat little sanding wheel


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## Dan_S (Dec 29, 2015)

mattthemuppet said:


> you could stick some sand paper to the wood blank and it would make a neat little sanding wheel



To much wobble for that, lol!


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