I was shopping for an 8" variable speed grinder and settled on this one. Before I pushed the "buy" button I wanted to see some reviews - this was the first video review that comes up on the search. So I bought it! Thanks Dave
It was the lesser of the evils but you will have to balance the grinding wheels which I figured how to do and show in a video some time later. You have to drill holes in the wheel to compensate for density changes.
This grinder will be for sharpening wood lathe gouges. I'll be buying "CBN" sharpening wheels $150 a pop but they last forever I'm told. They are fundamentally steel discs and are supposedly precision. I'm hoping I have no big vibe issues....
The CBN wheels are fantastic. They run very true. I use them to sharpen wood lathe tools primarily. They put crazy sharp edge on quickly. These wheels don't wear like aluminum oxide so I don't have to dress them. I'll probably do a short video on them here soon.
Dave, I have the same model but I have opened mine up looking for a minor vibration on the left side. Nice construction inside, even includes a wavy washer for preloading the motor ball bearings. However, at the start of manufacturing when the motor shaft was centered drilled, one end was drilled 0.006” eccentric, and unfortunately, they did not take a cleanup pass down the length of the shaft. A small motor vibration included with every purchase. Easy fix with a lathe if I had one. Anyway, I ground the shaft round sitting in Vee blocks using my older bench grinder. A small heads up on removing the grinder wheels, they are shimmed using epoxy in some factory jig I would guess. This is a two-edge sword. The washers are stuck to the wheel and the wheel is stuck to the shaft but they spin mostly true. The washer is a 0.120” stamped plate with a punched shaft hole resulting in a 0.015” crater pushing against a 0.050” motor shaft shoulder that positions the washer/wheel. I milled off 0.015” from the washer in two gentle passes, stoned the surface, flipped the washer over, and removed 0.004” from the surface pressing against the wheel. The washer surfaces are now flat and parallel. Now for a kick in the pants bit, to eliminate all side to side wheel wobble I still had to rotate the washer/wheel (index with respect to the motor shaft) and fully mount the wheel several times to find that epoxy shim sweet spot again. In hind sight the liberal use of a felt pen at the beginning would have been a good idea. Vibration has become low enough that at a few different RPM parts stay put sitting on the tool rest. Cheers Peter
I have this grinder. No. 1 Problem is garbage stones that were 3/4" but they were reduced with a crumbling rock compound to meet 5/8". These bad stone centers are combined with those punched steel washers which are not straight unless you're lucky. The third problem is the arbor which on mine when it was turned the tool chattered leaving a less than ideal surface. Basically if you have a lathe, you'll need to make new washers and stone sleeve inserts. The inserts allow you to knock out the rock filling in the center and use the 3/4 hole instead. From there forward you buy stones with 3/4" arbor holes. I shrink fit my sleeves to the arbor of the motor.
I was told by a shop teacher to never stand in front of a grinder when you start it up, especially a new one. Always a chance of the wheel exploding and you getting hit with shrapnel.
Dave True the wheels with a diamond to eliminate radial vibration (caused by the wheels being out of round). Axial vibration is usually caused by crappy metal washers on both sides of the wheel causing the wheel to wobble left/right as you look at it from the front. You might try to buy or fabricate accurate metal washers or perhaps true those supplied with the grinder. Whatever vibration remains is caused by the inherent Imbalance of the rotor or the grinding wheels themselves. My experience is that wheels supplied with new grinders are usually rock bottom quality. You can find out how much the rotor is out of balance by removing wheels, washers and nuts from the axle and running the grinder bare, any vibration is due to the rotor. If you want a smooth grinder: 1. Purchase new high quality wheels and true them with a diamond. 2. True, fabricate or buy high quality washers for the wheels. 3. Purchase a wheel balancing kit from Oneway.com Hope this helps Paul
Keith Fenner bought a moderately priced grinder for doing carbide tools from MSC... and he had to rebuild the bushings and attachment hardware at the end of the shafts to get something which is balanced, such that the grinder no longer tries to walk off of the workbench. So, in addition to the stock wheels being the cheapest junk on the market, even a relatively decent grinder these days can leave the factory with sub-par parts. And, anything which you can find in a big-box home improvement store is not really machinist quality, at least not without some fettling on the end-user's part.
Paul, I've got the same bench grinder and it sounds a lot like in this minute 12:15 it's exactly the same sound. So, do you think I should true the wheels or return it before do anything?
@@Anuxr Try removing both wheels and run the grinder without them. If it still vibrates that tells you the rotor is the problem. If it is I would return it. My experience is that its probably the wheels.
I just opened one of these today, actually, mine is the 6" model, and it has the same problem. As long as the motor is gaining or losing speed, it purrs like a kitten. As soon as it reaches the speed you select, the vibration/screech is almost more than one can bear. The sound to me is more of a screech. As soon as the switch is turned off, the noise immediately ceases. At full speed, it is very quiet. There is some vibration, but not excessive. It certainly doesn't walk around on the bench. As someone said below, other than this, I was really impressed with the weight, finish, accessories, everything. But I don't know if I can tolerate the racket. I bought it for its variable speed capability, and would really like to have the machine otherwise. I was wondering if anyone has come up with a solution to this. I've written Delta but haven't heard back yet.
Mine does have a noise at any speed but its more just a hum which by no means is intolerable. Just annoying to me in the beginning. Sounds like you should swap it out. I love the thing. If you email me I can do a private video for you on it.
@@TheMiniMachineShop I have the same problem and it sounds exactly like yours in 12:15 minute Did you solve the problem? Do I just have to make the wheels true?
Hope this grinder is still serving you well. Just Order the same one and its coming this week. $195.00 Amazon CND . we always pay more up here.. lol . Thanks for the review!
I've thought about getting a horizontal saw but I'm stingy with my square footage, so I've been using a handheld HF cutoff tool that amazingly cost me about $14 or so with coupon. I've used it nearly daily for at least two years and cut up to 1 1/2" round stock. It gives a rough cut, but I just clean up the cut surface on my Kalamazoo belt sander then true on the lathe if necessary. Look forward to your thoughts on the saw. My buddy has a Jet and used it to saw a piece of train track - it took several hours but did a nice job.
Project idea: I'm making a mandrel that will hold a grinding wheel on my mini lathe. 6" long x 1" diameter with stops to hold the wheel approx in the middle. It'll be held between the chuck and a live center in the tailstock. Going to mount bits at the proper angles on the tool post and use the cross feed to touch them to the wheel. It won't replace a bench grinder entirely, but it should do some precise sharpening on small items. Cost: less than $20.00 (depending on the grindstone used). What do you think?
I know some viewers would kill you for even thinking that idea but would love to hear if you can hold the wheel straight and in balance. Also cover the ways and everything else as grinding wheel particles will be all over. I bought a very small extremely fine wheel for the same idea and haven't tried yet. Might be mounted on the mill instead.
I would love to see someone change out a grinding wheel, with say a wire wheel brush wheel, and get the nuts re-tightened properly without wondering if the damn thing will fly apart.... each end is threaded opposite of the other... so you have to wedge something in someplace to keep the frickin' rotating shaft from moving... why didn't Delta add some sort of locking mechanism to properly do this ?
Just FYI, if your talking “top of the line” grinders, then your talking about stuff like Baldor Grinders - which are like $500+. Just sayin...the Delta might be a fine cheaper grinder, but I wouldn’t go calling it “top of the line”.
The term "Top of the line" is relevant to ones level of experience. That being said. To this guy, this grinder could very well be "top of the line" ...
That’s that new woke lefty “this is my truth” mentality. There are objective truths and subjective truths. You’re dealing in the subjective. Yes, to this guy, it might be a “top of the line”. I’m speaking in the objective, in that this is NOT a top of the line machine (it might be a decent budget version), compared to the rest of the market of available grinders. “Top of the line” in general is an objective statement. It implies comparison to the rest of the “line” of grinders. If he only said “this is the best grinder I ever used/owned”, then your comment would make sense.
I see you have no idea what I just said earlier. Not everything is subjective, and if he would have made a subjective statement I wouldn’t care. However he made an objective one, and that’s why I said something.
Don't stand in front of a grinder esp a new one. They come with cracked wheels from China. This is not a review. You don't know what you are doing. Chatting for 20 mins about mostly BS is not a review.
I was shopping for an 8" variable speed grinder and settled on this one. Before I pushed the "buy" button I wanted to see some reviews - this was the first video review that comes up on the search. So I bought it! Thanks Dave
It was the lesser of the evils but you will have to balance the grinding wheels which I figured how to do and show in a video some time later. You have to drill holes in the wheel to compensate for density changes.
This grinder will be for sharpening wood lathe gouges. I'll be buying "CBN" sharpening wheels $150 a pop but they last forever I'm told. They are fundamentally steel discs and are supposedly precision. I'm hoping I have no big vibe issues....
How did the new wheels go?
The CBN wheels are fantastic. They run very true. I use them to sharpen wood lathe tools primarily. They put crazy sharp edge on quickly. These wheels don't wear like aluminum oxide so I don't have to dress them. I'll probably do a short video on them here soon.
Awesome good to hear
Dave, I have the same model but I have opened mine up looking for a minor vibration on the left side. Nice construction inside, even includes a wavy washer for preloading the motor ball bearings. However, at the start of manufacturing when the motor shaft was centered drilled, one end was drilled 0.006” eccentric, and unfortunately, they did not take a cleanup pass down the length of the shaft. A small motor vibration included with every purchase. Easy fix with a lathe if I had one. Anyway, I ground the shaft round sitting in Vee blocks using my older bench grinder.
A small heads up on removing the grinder wheels, they are shimmed using epoxy in some factory jig I would guess. This is a two-edge sword. The washers are stuck to the wheel and the wheel is stuck to the shaft but they spin mostly true. The washer is a 0.120” stamped plate with a punched shaft hole resulting in a 0.015” crater pushing against a 0.050” motor shaft shoulder that positions the washer/wheel. I milled off 0.015” from the washer in two gentle passes, stoned the surface, flipped the washer over, and removed 0.004” from the surface pressing against the wheel. The washer surfaces are now flat and parallel. Now for a kick in the pants bit, to eliminate all side to side wheel wobble I still had to rotate the washer/wheel (index with respect to the motor shaft) and fully mount the wheel several times to find that epoxy shim sweet spot again. In hind sight the liberal use of a felt pen at the beginning would have been a good idea.
Vibration has become low enough that at a few different RPM parts stay put sitting on the tool rest.
Cheers Peter
I have this grinder. No. 1 Problem is garbage stones that were 3/4" but they were reduced with a crumbling rock compound to meet 5/8". These bad stone centers are combined with those punched steel washers which are not straight unless you're lucky. The third problem is the arbor which on mine when it was turned the tool chattered leaving a less than ideal surface. Basically if you have a lathe, you'll need to make new washers and stone sleeve inserts. The inserts allow you to knock out the rock filling in the center and use the 3/4 hole instead. From there forward you buy stones with 3/4" arbor holes. I shrink fit my sleeves to the arbor of the motor.
I was told by a shop teacher to never stand in front of a grinder when you start it up, especially a new one. Always a chance of the wheel exploding and you getting hit with shrapnel.
Dave
True the wheels with a diamond to eliminate radial vibration (caused by the wheels being out of round). Axial vibration is usually caused by crappy metal washers on both sides of the wheel causing the wheel to wobble left/right as you look at it from the front. You might try to buy or fabricate accurate metal washers or perhaps true those supplied with the grinder. Whatever vibration remains is caused by the inherent Imbalance of the rotor or the grinding wheels themselves. My experience is that wheels supplied with new grinders are usually rock bottom quality. You can find out how much the rotor is out of balance by removing wheels, washers and nuts from the axle and running the grinder bare, any vibration is due to the rotor.
If you want a smooth grinder:
1. Purchase new high quality wheels and true them with a diamond.
2. True, fabricate or buy high quality washers for the wheels.
3. Purchase a wheel balancing kit from Oneway.com
Hope this helps
Paul
Keith Fenner bought a moderately priced grinder for doing carbide tools from MSC... and he had to rebuild the bushings and attachment hardware at the end of the shafts to get something which is balanced, such that the grinder no longer tries to walk off of the workbench.
So, in addition to the stock wheels being the cheapest junk on the market, even a relatively decent grinder these days can leave the factory with sub-par parts. And, anything which you can find in a big-box home improvement store is not really machinist quality, at least not without some fettling on the end-user's part.
Paul, I've got the same bench grinder and it sounds a lot like in this minute 12:15 it's exactly the same sound. So, do you think I should true the wheels or return it before do anything?
@@Anuxr Try removing both wheels and run the grinder without them. If it still vibrates that tells you the rotor is the problem. If it is I would return it. My experience is that its probably the wheels.
Where can I get better washers? The wheel wobbles. I need to grind right on the edge so the wobble makes it a deal breaker I can fix it cheap.
As far as I know better isn't around but you can push on the high spot and the wheel will move and stay.
Mine makes that same noise, and I can’t figure out what’s doing that. It also wobbles and is loud. I must be doing something wrong.
I just opened one of these today, actually, mine is the 6" model, and it has the same problem. As long as the motor is gaining or losing speed, it purrs like a kitten. As soon as it reaches the speed you select, the vibration/screech is almost more than one can bear. The sound to me is more of a screech. As soon as the switch is turned off, the noise immediately ceases. At full speed, it is very quiet. There is some vibration, but not excessive. It certainly doesn't walk around on the bench.
As someone said below, other than this, I was really impressed with the weight, finish, accessories, everything. But I don't know if I can tolerate the racket. I bought it for its variable speed capability, and would really like to have the machine otherwise.
I was wondering if anyone has come up with a solution to this. I've written Delta but haven't heard back yet.
Mine does have a noise at any speed but its more just a hum which by no means is intolerable. Just annoying to me in the beginning. Sounds like you should swap it out. I love the thing. If you email me I can do a private video for you on it.
@@TheMiniMachineShop OK. Is your email address on this page?
splash screen at the video end...
@@TheMiniMachineShop I have the same problem and it sounds exactly like yours in 12:15 minute Did you solve the problem? Do I just have to make the wheels true?
Hope this grinder is still serving you well. Just Order the same one and its coming this week. $195.00 Amazon CND . we always pay more up here.. lol . Thanks for the review!
Still working great but the hum from it can get annoying sometimes..
I've thought about getting a horizontal saw but I'm stingy with my square footage, so I've been using a handheld HF cutoff tool that amazingly cost me about $14 or so with coupon. I've used it nearly daily for at least two years and cut up to 1 1/2" round stock. It gives a rough cut, but I just clean up the cut surface on my Kalamazoo belt sander then true on the lathe if necessary. Look forward to your thoughts on the saw. My buddy has a Jet and used it to saw a piece of train track - it took several hours but did a nice job.
What is the horsepower on this Delta gR450.
Who knows the label doesn't say but probably 3/4 hp from the way it acts grinding and the size.
Project idea: I'm making a mandrel that will hold a grinding wheel on my mini lathe. 6" long x 1" diameter with stops to hold the wheel approx in the middle. It'll be held between the chuck and a live center in the tailstock. Going to mount bits at the proper angles on the tool post and use the cross feed to touch them to the wheel. It won't replace a bench grinder entirely, but it should do some precise sharpening on small items. Cost: less than $20.00 (depending on the grindstone used). What do you think?
I know some viewers would kill you for even thinking that idea but would love to hear if you can hold the wheel straight and in balance. Also cover the ways and everything else as grinding wheel particles will be all over. I bought a very small extremely fine wheel for the same idea and haven't tried yet. Might be mounted on the mill instead.
Thanks! I'll let you know.
I would love to see someone change out a grinding wheel, with say a wire wheel brush wheel, and get the nuts re-tightened properly without wondering if the damn thing will fly apart.... each end is threaded opposite of the other... so you have to wedge something in someplace to keep the frickin' rotating shaft from moving... why didn't Delta add some sort of locking mechanism to properly do this ?
great review, how long is the power cord though? looks like 6 foot from your video. thank you...
Yep 6' had to undo the tie to measure it... a later video I made a balancing fixture and show balancing grinding wheels. Non of them are balanced....
Just FYI, if your talking “top of the line” grinders, then your talking about stuff like Baldor Grinders - which are like $500+.
Just sayin...the Delta might be a fine cheaper grinder, but I wouldn’t go calling it “top of the line”.
The term "Top of the line" is relevant to ones level of experience. That being said. To this guy, this grinder could very well be "top of the line" ...
That’s that new woke lefty “this is my truth” mentality.
There are objective truths and subjective truths. You’re dealing in the subjective. Yes, to this guy, it might be a “top of the line”. I’m speaking in the objective, in that this is NOT a top of the line machine (it might be a decent budget version), compared to the rest of the market of available grinders.
“Top of the line” in general is an objective statement. It implies comparison to the rest of the “line” of grinders.
If he only said “this is the best grinder I ever used/owned”, then your comment would make sense.
@@BigBear-- Perspective is Reality know matter how you look at it... You're projecting your Perspective onto him... O.o
I see you have no idea what I just said earlier. Not everything is subjective, and if he would have made a subjective statement I wouldn’t care. However he made an objective one, and that’s why I said something.
@@BigBear-- There you go projecting again...smh
Subjective and Objective is a matter of individual perspective / perception.
Ok whats with the bad 70s porno music?
I own this grinder. It is barely usable. The biggest problem are the useless tool rests.. the vibration rattles them apart.
A 22 second intro. Why?
3rd video, this fool also refuses to show the assembly
Don't stand in front of a grinder esp a new one. They come with cracked wheels from China.
This is not a review. You don't know what you are doing. Chatting for 20 mins about mostly BS is not a review.
Thank you! BTW the video isn't 20 min long.
USELESS............... NUM NUTS