I have been planning ("agonising" as someone said in another thread 
) ) exactly what I need for my circumstances, and one of those things appears to be a small bench grinder for sharpening or making HSS tools. Now, I already have an angle grinder and a Dremel which handle (freehanding) gardening tools and blades, and kitchen knives are carefully sharpened on waterstones, but lathe tools (on my reading) need a fixed grinder with a proper rest to set the necessary angles. Other than that I have never felt the need for one.
Do you agree I need a bench grinder, or are there setups I could use by combining what I already have?
Prefacing the next part, it is common to see advice along the lines "buy the biggest you can afford, you will need it" but I won't, for several reasons. Firstly, I have yet to imagine a necessary or desirable piece of work I will be doing where the part will not rest in the palm of my hand, where the entire assembly could most probably be picked up with one hand. My expected working envelope is small. Secondly, in contrast to the massive shops I see pictured around the place, basically everything has to sit on an ordinary desk-sized bench, or be able to be lifted on and off it when needed. This is very much tabletop machining and one table at that. A mill at around 17 Kg will be the only more or less permanent fixture, with everything else lighter than that. Thirdly, money is not the key issue, appropriate-to-needs tools are.
Here are three grinders I have looked at, with my problem explained.
First, we have a chinese Sonic such as this "150" W or this "300" W (1/5 & 2/5 HP)
A 75 mm (3") wheel seems fine, either seems to have the necessary power, but I am rejecting both because they lack protective plexiglass covers for the work area, do not have adjustable rests, and have a rest on only one side anyway. Safety and utility seem the issues here.
Second, there is the Proxxon SP/E which you can read about here.
The 50 mm (2") wheels seem small but adequate for grinding 1/4" tool bits but at 100W (~1/8 HP) is it underpowered for that job? I am recollecting that the Dremel is more powerful than that, and uses smaller grinding stones. In other respects it has the right adjustments and safety shields and its smallness is very appealing.
Thirdly there is a standard Bosch 150 mm (6") 350 W (~1/2 HP) grinder which has and does everything, is an acceptable weight at 10 Kg but rather large (!) at 340 mm (13.5") wide. They also have a 200 mm grinder of course but that would be gross overkill.
It is not as if I currently need a bench grinder for any purpose but these tools. I guess it may find other uses. Still, if the Proxxon is judged adequate for the purpose I would probably get that, even though it is also the most expensive.
What do you think of the options please?
) ) exactly what I need for my circumstances, and one of those things appears to be a small bench grinder for sharpening or making HSS tools. Now, I already have an angle grinder and a Dremel which handle (freehanding) gardening tools and blades, and kitchen knives are carefully sharpened on waterstones, but lathe tools (on my reading) need a fixed grinder with a proper rest to set the necessary angles. Other than that I have never felt the need for one.Do you agree I need a bench grinder, or are there setups I could use by combining what I already have?
Prefacing the next part, it is common to see advice along the lines "buy the biggest you can afford, you will need it" but I won't, for several reasons. Firstly, I have yet to imagine a necessary or desirable piece of work I will be doing where the part will not rest in the palm of my hand, where the entire assembly could most probably be picked up with one hand. My expected working envelope is small. Secondly, in contrast to the massive shops I see pictured around the place, basically everything has to sit on an ordinary desk-sized bench, or be able to be lifted on and off it when needed. This is very much tabletop machining and one table at that. A mill at around 17 Kg will be the only more or less permanent fixture, with everything else lighter than that. Thirdly, money is not the key issue, appropriate-to-needs tools are.
Here are three grinders I have looked at, with my problem explained.
First, we have a chinese Sonic such as this "150" W or this "300" W (1/5 & 2/5 HP)
A 75 mm (3") wheel seems fine, either seems to have the necessary power, but I am rejecting both because they lack protective plexiglass covers for the work area, do not have adjustable rests, and have a rest on only one side anyway. Safety and utility seem the issues here.
Second, there is the Proxxon SP/E which you can read about here.
The 50 mm (2") wheels seem small but adequate for grinding 1/4" tool bits but at 100W (~1/8 HP) is it underpowered for that job? I am recollecting that the Dremel is more powerful than that, and uses smaller grinding stones. In other respects it has the right adjustments and safety shields and its smallness is very appealing.
Thirdly there is a standard Bosch 150 mm (6") 350 W (~1/2 HP) grinder which has and does everything, is an acceptable weight at 10 Kg but rather large (!) at 340 mm (13.5") wide. They also have a 200 mm grinder of course but that would be gross overkill.
It is not as if I currently need a bench grinder for any purpose but these tools. I guess it may find other uses. Still, if the Proxxon is judged adequate for the purpose I would probably get that, even though it is also the most expensive.
What do you think of the options please?
