Subject: Which Grinder (bench or pedestal)

From: [email-masked] (Roger Hoover)
Date: 31 Oct 1995 16:06:46 GMT

I'd like to buy a bench or pedestal grinder.  I'd love to have
one of the cast iron beasts, but the few that I have found
advertised new cost too much ($1000 and up), and all the ones
that I find at auctions seem to be 3 phase.

Delta makes a 10" hobby/trade 1hp model (23-980) that Tools On Sale
has for $239.

- Is this a quality machine?  Where is it made?  Do you like it?

- Anyone sell this machine for less?

- What other grinders (brands/models) should I look at?

roger
[email-masked]

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From: Mike Rehmus <[email-masked]>
Date: 3 Nov 1995 02:52:03 GMT

I cannot make a comment on the 10" but given the choice,
I'd go for an old, heavy, grungy 3-phase 220 machine
that could run big wheels.

The difference between modern grinders (never tried the
$1,000 variety, mind you) and the big old stuff is
light years when you are trying to grind a tool bit
and the D--- thing is vibrating so much that your 
fingers start tingling after a while.

According to a local machine tool rebuilder, new motors
vibrate much more than the 'old' stuff and they always
have problems with vibration when they replace old motors
with new.  We found out about that when a friend of mine
who is *restoring* a lathe got done and when he started
cutting metal, found marks in the surface of the parts.
The brand new 2hp Baldor was vibrating.  Everything in
the lathe including the Baldor rotor had been super-
balanced at a local shop.  Still no joy.

Now he has rebuilt the 3-phase original motor and had it
balanced.  No more surface finish problems.

Now this guy may be picky but he is the only guy I know
with a perfect Polyurethane metalic gray paint job on his
near-perfect Bridgeport.  Even the vice (which he had
ground to within a tenth) is metalic gray.  It certainly
is easy to clean up when done for the day.

Best regards,

Mike Rehmus

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From: [email-masked] (J. Kimberlin)
Date: 2 Nov 1995 17:04:33 -0800

In article <[email-masked]>,
>- What other grinders (brands/models) should I look at?

One standard of the industry is Baldor.  A 10" grinder is a biiggg 
machine, IMHO suitable for grinding the sprue off smaller cast iron 
castings.  The smaller workshop can easily get away with a 6" or 8" 
grinder.  Travers Tool has the Baldor 6" delux for $249 and the 8" for 
$546 both in 115/230 v single phase.  Three phase is cheaper, of course.

JerryK

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From: [email-masked] (Stephen LaMantia)
Date: 3 Nov 1995 13:41:20 GMT

[email-masked] (Jerry Kimberlin) writes:

 > One standard of the industry is Baldor. 

I'll second that.  My experience with Baldor is with a 1950s 7" bench
grinder I scored at the flea market a few months back.  Out of curiosity
for the identity of my find, I ended up speaking with a corporate guy for
Baldor at the Portland office.  He dug up the info for me and identified
my machine, and while we were chatting on the phone, he confessed that he
wished their machines were just a little less well-built and didn't last
so darn long, because he gets a dozen calls a week from folks who've come
into Baldor grinders and other electric motors that are 30, 40, 50 years
old and they're constantly having to dig through factory archives looking
up information for curious folks like myself.  (They don't really mind, he
just thought it was funny it happens so much.)

Makes one wonder: how many of *today's* manufacturers will be jokingly 
airing the same "complaint" decades from now?

As for my own personal Baldor, I had tested the runout on the shafts, and
it was less than .0015 on one end and nothing that I could tell on the
other.  According to the Baldor rep I had on the phone, this baby was
still within factory tolerances!  This on a machine that spent at least
the last 20 years of its life getting heavy use in a car repair shop. 

I've spoken with several people here in town who also own Baldor
equipment.  Same experiences, same impressions.  One motorhead I met at an
electric-motor setup at the market told me to bow my head when I say that
name.  He was smiling when he said that, but his point was serious.

Bottom line: Baldor is among that ever-dwindling host of equipment makers
whose products will likely still be running when your grandkids are
laughing at your hairstyle in those old family photos, and for whose
purchase nobody ever got fired for. 

-- Steve LaMantia
   Seattle, WA

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From: [email-masked] (JPErdman)
Date: 3 Nov 1995 19:36:19 -0500

Stay away from Dayton grinders. I've been thru 3 of 'em in my shop in one
year's time. We use them for shapening brazed carbide turning tools.  They
look nice and the price is right but the bearings just don't hold up.
Replacing the bearings cost us maintenance dollars but also the
replacement bearings didn't last very long either. I think the Dayton
grinders are simply under-engineered!

I bit the bullet an purchased the an 8" Baldor (from Grainger). I can't
remember the price but I'm pretty sure it was under $300. Certainly NOT
$500. We love it. Has given us  NO TROUBLE AT ALL. The extra $ was well
worth it. Of course we're running a commercial shop that uses the grinders
all the time. You may not have the same needs in a home shop, but it turns
out that there were other costs.....

Turns out that we also had spent quite alot on (expensive) carbide
grinding wheels with the Daytons because the bad bearings would cause them
to get out of round VERY quickly. The constant dressing of the wheels wore
them down very quickly. Until I checked the records I was unaware of how
much those CHEAP grinders really cost us. I guess that just proves once
again what my Dad taught me about the value of cheap tools!! 
John Erdman
Greenfield Machine Works     
Costigan, Maine
207-827-5557