Bench Grinder 6" or 8"

[fortee9er]

I am looking for a bench grinder, for my hobby car repair shop. What size would be appropriate for my purposes 6 or 8 inch?
Most of the ones I see on CL are 6" but I saw that HF has an 8" for $54 which surely is cheap.

 

[1982fxr]

It's more about the machine itself than the wheel size IMHO.

Try to find an American made grinder, they are all better than all newer China garbage.

Lots of old Craftsman grinders out there, have you looked at those at all?

 

[matt_i]

Hard to say for sure. How often do you go use it? Once a month or more I'd get the 8". Less than that the 6". I find a 2" wide belt sander a lot more versatile than a grinding wheel, so 98% of the time the bench grinder is used for sharpening tig tungstens.

 

[Skin]

Buy a quality brand regardless of size. I guarantee you a HF 8" is going to have less power than a 20-30 year old 6". The extra size is useless if you can stall the thing out.

 

[PelicanPines]

Buy a quality brand regardless of size. I guarantee you a HF 8" is going to have less power than a 20-30 year old 6". The extra size is useless if you can stall the thing out.

This... ^^^^

 

[fatfillup]

I have had great luck with Craftsman 1/2 hp block grinders. Use one daily. Find them at auctions often. Beware, don't buy the plactic craftsman blockish looking grinder, I have burned 2 of those up.

Also, baldor, dayton and Wissota are great grinders but I always sell those as they will bring a good price.

6 inch should work fine inless you are doing a lot of fab work but I agree with Skin on older US made

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Depends on what you need to grind. On an 8” the wheels are larger than the motor so you have a little better access for getting awkward things in the right position. On a 6”, the motor can get in the way if you need to work on something wide.

 

[exmaxima1]

If you plan of grinding ferrous metals, the 6-inch wheel at 3450 rpm offers the ideal surface speed. The larger 8" wheels (assuming the same rpm) are less efficient and much easier to ruin the temper in tooling. If the grinder is 1750 rpm, 8-inch (and even 10-inch) wheels are running too slow for optimum grinding but they are easier to control overheating of the work. An added feature of the smaller wheels is that they tend to run much smoother since any wobbles in the wheels are less pronounced.

 

[sberry]

China,,, USA,,, work the same if they are the same size for the most part and normally a homebody uses it very little,,, heck, I use mine only a little and mostly on occasion to clean a bolt with wire wheel. I am so used to hand held grinders. Nick a drill bit once in a while with the stone.

 

[Davefr]

Look for running amps and ignore HP ratings because they all lie. You want lots of amps especially if you ever plan on using wire wheels.

Approx. 1 amp per 1" of wheel size is a good rule of thumb.

6" seems fine for grinding but 8" is better for using buffs or wire wheels.

 

[bpjr]

I have 2 with 6" wheels, 1 converted for buffing and the other for wire wheeling and grinding. Normal use is wheeling rust off small parts and sharpening mower blades. 1/4hp x 4.5 amps does the job but can be stalled if you want.

A couple things that make a big difference for me is having a good secure rest that adjusts and good eye protection. One of mine had small plastic "flaps" that hinged up for protection and light duty rests to hold part on. The other has safety glass with metal frame and heavy duty rests. The plactics lasted a yr or two and the safety glass one is still working (I bough it in 1975!). Neither of mine have lights but I would put that one the list if buying new.

 

[fortee9er]

Thank you guys. I have been looking on CL for a vintage American machine but they don't come up often and when they do they go very fast. I'll keep looking.
A couple of weeks ago I got lucky and got a 16" ToolKraft radial drill press ('70s vintage) in working condition for $40 and the guy threw in a vintage Skill scroll saw for free.
Those are the deals I love.