Grinding wheel question

[grhm]

I have a Buffalo B-8CB(L) 8-inch bench grinder, and I'm looking for some (or at least one) new wheel, as the existing wheels are cheapo junk and HORRIBLY unbalanced. The wheels on the thing are 8x3/4 size, which seems to me to be quite uncommon, for 8-inch diameter wheel, 1-inch width seems much more common.

Can I replace these 3/4" wheels with widely-available 8x1 wheels? Is it simply a matter of fitting the wheel inside the guard, with no other considerations?

Lastly, how is the white wheel from HF? For $10 it seems like a screaming deal if it's reasonably good...

 

[hman]

I'm not familiar with that grinder, and don't know where to get wheels. But I do have a couple suggestions regarding 1" vs 3/4" thickness.

(1) Is Buffalo stlll in business, or the user manual available for download? If so, you can check there. My best guess would be that, with 8x1 being "standard," the grinder was probably built for that size.

(2) Look at how much "excess" thread the grinder shaft has outboard of the wheel nut. If it's at least 1/4", you should be OK with a wider wheel.

 

[matthewsx]

I doubt the HF wheels will be much better than what you have now, even Norton isn't that great from what I hear.

John