# Do they  make bench grinders that don't vibrate so much?



## Ken from ontario (Mar 2, 2018)

I just hate using my King(HF quality) bench grinder , It vibrates way way too much,if I don't clamp that thing ,it'll walk itself off the bench in a minute.
When I worked in a metal/machine shop many years ago we used to have this small bench grinder that was so well balanced and ever so quiet, that you'd have to feel it to see if it was running,I often forget to turn it off  and hours later was still in the same spot ,still humming away, also had two beefy tool rests. that bench grinder and it's whisper quiet motor has been the only one that I liked and compare all others with.
I don't think I'll ever find one like it in the used market.


----------



## dlane (Mar 2, 2018)

Dose it run smooth with the wheels removed ?.


----------



## kvt (Mar 2, 2018)

I hat to say it but quality on a lot of stuff is gone.   Tray running it with the wheels off.   See how bad it is.  May need to balance the internals.
if it runs smooth with wheels off,  Need to balance the wheels.   Most wheels I have seen that were not older wheels need balancing in some way.  I would swear that they use to come from the dealer more balanced than you get now days.


----------



## Downwindtracker2 (Mar 2, 2018)

First off, see if you can true up the wheels. I don't mean dress them.  That might help. You need to do that with new wheels any way. I also hate chasing grinders around the shop. The problem  could be the quality of the wheels or the balance of the motor. If it's the latter , you have boat anchor.

I bumped in to Roy, at a trade show. He had been my millwright partner when we built the Gold River paper mill.  An exhibitor offered a free draw for bench grinder. I said no thanks, Roy was more to the point, "If I won, what would I do with it?" 

I picked up used a Wissota 7" and Baldor 8", both took bearings and new wheels. . But my favourite  is Veil 1"x42" sander/grinder I got from Lee Valley.


----------



## benmychree (Mar 2, 2018)

I am sure that "they" do, but not in China; I got one second hand, and yes it shook something awful. First, I bought new American made wheels, better, but it still shook; the cause was determined to be the wheels wobbling due to the inner washers having no bearing on the shaft to speak of, just seating on a narrow step in the shaft (the vibration was caused by the wheels wobbling on the shaft side to side).  I made new flanges with a long bearing on the shaft, and seating against the motor's bearings; this effected a considerable improvement, but still not nearly as good as my Delta pedestal grinder, which runs perfectly smooth.  You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.


----------



## Ken from ontario (Mar 2, 2018)

The problem my grinder has is ,it was cheaply built,believe me I've tried everything, like running it without wheels, different better quality wheels, buffing pads,it's just one of those "built on friday afternoon "cases, do you guys remember the late 60s and 70s  Sears craftsman grinders? they weren't that expensive then but they were much quieter/ better balanced than what you pay for $75/ to $100 nowadays.


----------



## C-Bag (Mar 2, 2018)

If you google this there are pages and pages of people going through the same thing. I also had old grinders in all the shops I was ever in and never seemed to notice this. But they all had wheels on them that were probably original.

Sorry you seem to have a dud. I thought my new 8" Ryobi was a dud and impossible to get to run right too. Part of it were the pressed badly hubs, so I made new ones on the lathe and got rid of the slight wobble. Helped a little. Went to Norton wheels, but they were just as bad as the ones that came with it. Out of round and out of balance. Was just about to go off the deep end and then found this:
https://www.amazon.com/Oneway-2272-...007RPOE4E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

 Yeah, at $80 it's about what I paid for the grinder, but better the devil I know, so I went for it. Ended up doing some mod's like soaking the bearings on the balancing stand to take most of the grease out of them so there was next to no resistance. And one wheel(the fine grit) was so out of balance I added another washer. But voilà! runs smooth as silk and has stayed that way now for almost 2yrs! I'm a happy camper. NFI, but I wish I'd come up with it as its a very nice rig.


----------



## kvt (Mar 2, 2018)

Ken from ontario said:


> Sears craftsman grinders


  I have a Craftsman, and it is smooth,   Have another type and it was bad, took wheels off and use it for light buffing, and when I put the buffing wheels on it also ran smooth.   but not as smooth as the craftsman that came from my father in law after he passed.    Have a couple of others that I have not even looked at yet,  Then have a HF,  do not know why.


----------



## johnnyc14 (Mar 2, 2018)

I made an inner washer and outer 4" diameter balancer for both ends. Outer has 20 .375" holes aound the outside And I use bolts to acheive balance. Shown here with the wheel covers removed. With a little trial and error the grinder is smooth as can be.


----------



## Ken from ontario (Mar 2, 2018)

C-Bag said:


> I thought my new 8" Ryobi was a dud and impossible to get to run right too. Part of it were the pressed badly hubs, so I made new ones on the lathe and got rid of the slight wobble.





johnnyc14 said:


> I made an inner washer and outer 4" diameter balancer for both ends.


Maybe I should spend a little more  time with my grinder like you guys, have to say I never rebuild the hub or tried to balance the wheels so thanks for the encouragement.


----------



## johnnyc14 (Mar 2, 2018)

I did it out of necessity. The darn thing vibrated so bad I realoy couldn't use it.


----------



## C-Bag (Mar 2, 2018)

I don't like any machine vibrating and this thing was so scary I was afraid of it. I have it mounted on an old 3drawer roll away as a rolling tool center with a benchtop drill press, 6"grinder with a wire wheel and a multi tool belt and disk sander along with my angle grinder etc. When I'd try to run the silly thing the cabinet and tools would shake so bad stuff would start falling off! Now all is quiet, smooth and I'm not afraid it's going explode or something.


----------



## ACHiPo (Mar 2, 2018)

C-Bag said:


> If you google this there are pages and pages of people going through the same thing. I also had old grinders in all the shops I was ever in and never seemed to notice this. But they all had wheels on them that were probably original.
> 
> Sorry you seem to have a dud. I thought my new 8" Ryobi was a dud and impossible to get to run right too. Part of it were the pressed badly hubs, so I made new ones on the lathe and got rid of the slight wobble. Helped a little. Went to Norton wheels, but they were just as bad as the ones that came with it. Out of round and out of balance. Was just about to go off the deep end and then found this:
> https://www.amazon.com/Oneway-2272-...007RPOE4E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
> ...


Another happy Oneway grinder balancing customer.  Get it.  You won't be sorry.


----------



## HBilly1022 (Mar 2, 2018)

If you don't want to buy a Oneway balancer you can make something similar on your own. I did and the before and after difference is astounding. Before balancing the wheels my grinder would shake so bad I thought it would walk out of my shop and go for a run around the block. After balancing the wheels I am still amazed every time I turn the grinder on. Should have done this years ago. I followed the principle presented in this video. Give it a try. Personally I thing the oneway would be a good way to go. But I am a cheap SOB and why buy something you can make, lol.


----------



## C-Bag (Mar 3, 2018)

I am also cheap, but after all the time I spent and still couldn't use that grinder I was done. Not only did I make new hubs, I also made a mandrel for putting the wheels on my mill and using a diamond to true those goofy wheels. I got them round and true and they still would rattle your teeth. I saw a vid on how to balance a grinding wheel for surface grinder that had basically the same kind of hubs as the Oneway and that's what got me on to the Oneway. You'll laugh when you see the sheetmetal balancing stand after you've seen like the other guy's in vids with the really nice balancing stands, but it works and gets the job done. If I could have machined that kind of hub like the Oneway I guess it would have been worth a try but I was really close to chucking the damn grinder in the trash. It was worth it to me, YMMV.


----------



## Ken from ontario (Mar 3, 2018)

I found a heavy duty bench grinder I'll be looking at this weekend, if it's worth the much higher price, I'll bring it home and leave the older one with the buffing/wire brush on for that type of work.
I can't bring myself to throw good money at the bad, that old grinder was really designed for light duty work and it's best to leave it  alone.
What's lacking with cheaper grinders like mine is(copy & paste from Metabo Grinder description)

*Dynamically balanced rotors and sealed bearings to minimize vibration and ensure smooth running.*


----------



## T Bredehoft (Mar 3, 2018)

I purchased a Harbor Freight type used grinder. Most of the use it got was taking it out of the box, the wheels still had sharp edges on them. However, I wanted good wheels, bought some, put them on. I was amazed  how much torque it took to keep them from slipping when the motor was started. I must have dressed them four or five times before I realized what was happening.  Now they are really torqued down, I've dressed them enough that they don't bounce the grinder up and down any more. Next time I put new wheels on, I'll snug them down and verify that they are true to the shaft before I start dressing them. Its the grinding wheels either out of round or wobbling that makes the vibrations, the motor just hums when the wheels are off.


----------



## kvt (Mar 3, 2018)

Tom,  one of the other things to check is rather there is extra space in the hole.   If it does, you may need to make a small sleeve,   I have seen some older ones that had a paper sleeve, for various size shafts.   I have seen on the web where some make them out of plastic. etc.   If it is not centered around the shaft it could give an out of balance problem.   How much did you have to take off the wheel to get it to balance out by dressing it.


----------



## T Bredehoft (Mar 3, 2018)

The wheels came with a 1" hole (1/2" arbor) and a bunch of plastic nesting sleeves. Next wheels will have home made clamp plates and sleeves. The new wheels wound up about 5/8 wide.


----------



## MikeWi (Mar 3, 2018)

I had excessive side to side wobble with my Norton wheel, and the stock grey wheels that came with the grinder. I bought a balancing kit that proved that the wheels were indeed way out of balance, but this didn't cure the side to side motion, even though this gets rid of the cheap side washers. by mounting the assembled hub and wheel between centers on the lathe I proved that the wheel its self was _not flat_. Now when I say that the first thing that came to mind was that the center hole was simply not square to the face of the wheel, but the balancing hub fit tightly all the way around. It's just not flat. I dressed the sides (1" thick wheel) and now its vibration free. I can balance a coin on the grinder body.


----------



## savarin (Mar 4, 2018)

I have come to the conclusion that its a total hit and miss affair irrespective of where the product was manufactured.
I have some top range motors that run smooth and some vibrate like hell.
I also have some ultra cheap motors that are as smooth as silk, mind you some of them are impossible to use.
The modern creed of greed has reduced the checking of all items these days to "Can we get away with that" Ah do it any way and we can exchange it if theres a complaint.
The act of complaining is a huge drawn out affair that a lot of people give up in the end.


----------



## Z2V (Mar 4, 2018)

savarin said:


> The modern creed of greed has reduced the checking of all items these days to "Can we get away with that" Ah do it any way and we can exchange it if theres a complaint.
> The act of complaining is a huge drawn out affair that a lot of people give up in the end.



Too sad but true!


----------



## Ken from ontario (Mar 4, 2018)

savarin said:


> *I also have some ultra cheap motors that are as smooth as silk,* mind you some of them are *impossible to use.
> The modern creed of greed has reduced the checking of all items these days to "Can we get away with that"* Ah do it any way and we can exchange it if there's a complaint.


That's the point I was trying to underscore, even the run of the mill grinders of theolerdays that were considered "lower end "  performed smoother and quieter , they also had correctly labeled horsepower. I'm not even sure if we can find a comparable quality or performance for  home /hobby use market ,even at a higher price.


----------



## C-Bag (Mar 4, 2018)

savarin said:


> I have come to the conclusion that its a total hit and miss affair irrespective of where the product was manufactured.
> I have some top range motors that run smooth and some vibrate like hell.
> I also have some ultra cheap motors that are as smooth as silk, mind you some of them are impossible to use.
> The modern creed of greed has reduced the checking of all items these days to "Can we get away with that" Ah do it any way and we can exchange it if theres a complaint.
> The act of complaining is a huge drawn out affair that a lot of people give up in the end.



So true! Ad to this the robo "customer service" lines everybody has and it's just another layer of isolation from the customer that they hope you'll just give up and go away.

I forgot to mention I had taken the first grinder back to Home Depot. They didn't have another and I had to go 45min away to get another. All I could do was spin the wheels and sight along them and it looked better than the one I took back. When I got it home it was a little better, but still totally scary. And it was all the wheels, not the grinders fault.

No difference between the Norton and the Chinese wheels.

I do feel cheezy taking something back. I'd never had to take anything back before. I've had to take a couple of HFTools back recently because their prices have gone up on some stuff as they have crushed the other manufacturers and the more expensive tool was not as advertised.


----------



## Aaron_W (Mar 4, 2018)

I've got a Rikon 8" grinder, I just got it set up last week.

Right out of the box it runs quiet and smooth, just a low hum. I bolted it to the bench but initially could only get the wing nuts on tight enough to hold it down in case of massive failure. Probably a 1/2" of open threads until I ground the ears of the wing nuts down. It made no effort to jump around and I'm pretty sure it would stay put without any assistance. It is solidly built weighing 54lbs. A Dewalt 8" grinder only weighs 39 lbs.

It is this one.

https://www.rikontools.com/product/80-808

Runs around $220 from most vendors, I found one on ebay for $215 with free shipping, but not seeing any on there at the moment. It is made in China but good quality and has a 5 year warranty.

Several here on the site pointed me to this grinder and I think it was an excellent suggestion.


----------

