- Joined
- Aug 26, 2013
- Messages
- 1,060
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.
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.
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.
