Bought a grinder

[washman]

at Harbor Freight. A wing ding el cheapo "Central Machinery" 39.98 unit so I have something to sharpen the 3 blades on the Husky rider.

Still need to secure a wire wheel to clean things up, it came with a coarse and fine wheel that, amazingly, were pretty true and no vibrations noted.

I don't have it bolted down so I don't know how much it can take before the motor slows down.

I priced out USA made Baldors, golly they sure are nice but just a tad outside of my budget.

Let's see......a Chinese bench grinder to sharpen USA made blades on a mower that is made by a company based in Sweden.

Globalization..................gotta love it.

 

[glomain]

same page

between Rural King & Harbor Freight looks like were on the same page,if i need a tool for a job (that I dont have), get one there add it in to the total bill & if it still runs after the job,its a win win.

 

[tolivac]

If you sharpen a lot of mower blades-a blade grinder is a good thing to have.Lawn services use these-and sharpening shops-but for the home-a bench grinder is OK.I use a vice and one of my handheld grinders-actually more powerful than many bench machines,less expensive and files the blades faster!Higher wheel speeds.

 

[washman]

the thing does not have a start capacitor

so it takes a bit to wind up to full chat of 3450 RPM

 

[cfz2882]

I have accumulated a few bench grinders over the years: a nice ~1947 vintage one,a 1974 craftsman (made in USA back then,motor parts by Emerson)a few '70s/early '80s cheapie shaded pole Black&Decker and McGraw Edison,A couple early Taiwans,and a 1995 Black&Decker Taiwanese.The Taiwan grinders started to appear in the US ~1977 and those early ones,up to ~1982,seem to have used salvaged hermetic compressor stator core and rotor-you can see cut out marks on the stator iron,where the rotor has been bored for the grinder shaft,the stator O.D. turned down,a G.E. emblem is often seen on the rotor end rings.I can imagine a sweatshop scene in 1970s Taiwan with suitable matched salvaged stator cores and rotors piled up by the lathes

 

[tolivac]

Sweatshop scenes like that common today-they salvage electronic-electrical parts from older machines-and put them in new ones-The REAL CHEAP bargain priced tools sold today have such parts.
Bench grinders don't need a lot of torque to start them-so a perm split phase motor is fine.However if you are "Hogging" a lot of metal-then the grinder slows down.Such motors don't have as much torque.If you are grinding lightly -OK For HEAVY grinding the cap start and multiphase motors are best.For lawnmower blade grinders-you can see them on the Oregon Products websites.On those the wheel and motor are above the grinder table-you can adjust the wheel height for the thickness of the blade you want to grind and the rest is adjustable for angle of the grind.these machines can grind standard blades to bush hog blades.And these machines have higher power cap start motors.You need the high power motors on these if you grind the tractor mower blades-they can be half-to 3/4 in thick!

 

[washman]

Well as expected, it was weak

It will do the job touching up the blades but no more. Pathetic torque. I can grab the wheel with a gloved hand and bring it to a full stop. Easy.

I will do what I can in the meantime I will look for a USA made baldor on Ebay or craigslist.

 

[dartman]

We've used all kinds of 4.5 grinders at work and I have a craftsman I probably bought 15 years ago in a bench grinder.
It has worked fine but lately I use one of the leftover DeWalt hand grinders from work as it's easier to quickly touch up the blade on the mower rather then yanking it and it gets just as sharp.
The newest DeWalt hand grinders we use seem to be harder to repair and don't last any longer. Only claim to fame seems to be assembled in USA of world sourced parts and the new push button shroud adjustment that means the guard will move on its own rather then being locked in place which can be dangerous when it does it and catches a finger.

 

[kb0nes]

We bought a Chinese grinder about 2 years ago. Course this one was a good test for our 2-ton forklift when we pulled it off the truck. Overall it has been a great machine and it was a pretty good value too, about 1/2 the cost of the Japanese equal. US made grinders really don't exist anymore.

All our bench grinders are either old Baldor's or a couple Craftsman's. Not one of them is newer then 25 years old... We have one smaller long nose Baldor that wears a pair of Scotch-Brite EXL deburring wheels. That machine tends to be turned on and it runs for hours non-stop. May have to do bearings in it one day, but then it will go another 40 years

All in all I'm not convinced that country of manufacturer is a good indicator of ultimate quality. Every country makes junk. Years ago you wouldn't own a micrometer that wasn't a US made Starrett, today you couldn't pay me to buy Starrett, the Japanese Mitutoyo brand is so much better. There is a lot of very fine stuff coming from China now too but it is more hit and miss. You will have to pay money for it and it won't be a Harbor Freight...