I don't usually buy machines from HF but they do have good prices on
some motors. I went in the other day to get a 1 HP TEFC motor and
forgot my blinders. On the way to the cashier I spotted a tool grinder
that looks for all the world like the Baldor for $169. Now, as Jimmy
Carter once said, "I have lust in my heart" for this thing.
You can't run machines in the Macon HF so I have a big question as to
the quality. Does the HF tool grinder run quiet and true? Will it last
in a home shop?
--
Glenn Ashmore
I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com
There was a huge thread about this back in June. The subject was "Tool and
Cutter Grinder fm Harbor Freight Tool and Cutter Grinder fm Harbor Freight
". Do a Google Groups search.
Here is one quote from it:
That isn't really a "tool and cutter grinder". A real tool and cutter
grinder
is a very different machine. That thing is mainly useful for touching up
lathe bits and other single point tools. It is not suitable for sharpening
end mills, dovetail cutters, Tee slot cutters, etc.
I bought the one sold by J&L Industrial a couple of years ago (their
price was $159). It is basically a Chinese copy of the Baldor, at about
1/5th the price. It accepts the same plate wheels as the Baldor.
Lane
lane wrote:
> There was a huge thread about this back in June. The subject was
"Tool and
> Cutter Grinder fm Harbor Freight Tool and Cutter Grinder fm Harbor
> Freight ". Do a Google Groups search.
>
> Here is one quote from it: That isn't really a "tool and cutter
> grinder". A real tool and cutter grinder is a very different
> machine. That thing is mainly useful for touching up lathe bits and
> other single point tools. It is not suitable for sharpening end
> mills, dovetail cutters, Tee slot cutters, etc.
I couldn't sharpen an end mill or a dovetail cutter with a $10,000 CNC
grinder. I have hard enough time with my drill doctor. :-) I send
all that stuff out. All I want to do is grind single point turning bits.
> I bought the one sold by J&L Industrial a couple of years ago (their
> price was $159). It is basically a Chinese copy of the Baldor, at
> about 1/5th the price. It accepts the same plate wheels as the
> Baldor.
I sometimes wonder if there is just one set of patterns for each machine
in China and all the foundries share them to make molds. Yours is
probably very close to the HF. How is it working?
1/2 hp 6" tool and carbide grinder 46727 on sale for $129.99?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=46727
Joel. phx
HF has a good return policy, so if you don't like it, you can take it back.
I've got what is probably the identical machine, bought from J&L several
years ago. It is quiet and true, coasts for minutes when you turn it off.
Wheels are the big question mark with the Chinese machines. Some are
Ok, some are crappy. Wheels that fit the Baldor also fit the Chinese
machines.
Gary
> 1/2 hp 6" tool and carbide grinder 46727 on sale for $129.99?
> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=46727
I've had one of these for a few months. It does a fine job sharpening
carbide bits. Runs quiet and true. A great bargain at the price. It
needs several jigs (not included, I made some myself) to hold the bits
properly, depending on what you want to do. And a diamond dresser.
The water drizzler cup is a joke. I suppose you could fix it up to work,
but then you're slinging water all over the room. I use my mist cooler on
a heavy flow.
I have yet to try a diamond wheel in this thing, but I think that would
upgrade it to something quite nice.
The wheel mounting screws are metric shoulder screws of an odd size.
They have allen sockets, and are soft and ill formed. A good fastener
store could not match them with a better grade. I replaced them with
regular metric allen head cap screws, and made (minor lathe job) special
flanged washers to adapt the regular screws to the holes in the grinding
wheels. It's worked out well.
I did find the bolt circle in the HF grinder flanges to be NOT
concentric with the shaft by a small amount. There is enough slop in the
wheel holes that this is not a big problem. The wheels center by means
of their center holes against a shaft hub, so the off center holes do
not affect wheel centering. they DO contribute a to a minor balancing
problem described below.
My grinder had a slight vibration, no worse than an average bench
grinder. I dressed the wheels with no improvement. I traced this to
three problems. The out of center bolt circle described above. The shaft
flanges were out of balance (the back sides were not machined). I
removed these from the spindle and trued them up on my lathe, and then
balanced them. Big improvement. I also find that the steel-backed wheels
were out of balance. I bought a few spares of both Si-Carbide and white
aluminum oxide, one USA made. The new wheels were no better for balance
than the HF ones!
I checked the wheels on a balancer, and determined the light side. The
HF grinder has eight mounting holes for the wheels (two sets of four,
each of differing sizes), only four of which are used. I added screws of
appropriate weight in the holes nearest the light side of the wheel.
Washers under the screw heads can also be used. A little additional
trial and error with the washers also corrected the balance problem from
the bolt circle error. Result ... much improved balance and almost no vibration.
The minor balancing problems, while an irritation, do not seem a big
deal since I don't expect to be changing these wheels very often.
I keep a white aluminum oxide wheel on one side for HSS tools, and a
Si-Carbide wheel on the other for carbide tools.
I am pleased with mine, for what it cost. The same type grinders, even
other asian imports, are usually $230 or more, and I'm not sure they
wouldn't have the same problems. The probably better Baldor version is
around $750.
Dan Mitchell
==========
> My only complaint with it is the miter table slide attachment. It's got
> a stud pressed and swagged from the back side, with a wingnut to adjust
> the angle. If you tighten the wingnut enough to hold the angle, the
> stud starts pulling out of the hole. I haven't figured out how to fix
> that yet, because the part that the stud is pressed into is too thin to
> support any other method of mounting a stud that I can think of.
Yeah, the slide is hardly more than a toy, and doesn't seem to adjust to
the angles you need. A little time with some scraps of aluminum and HDPE
or UHMW plastic should create something much better. The rest of the unit
is worth it.
> My grinder had a slight vibration, no worse than an average bench
> grinder. I dressed the wheels with no improvement. I traced this to
> three problems. The out of center bolt circle described above. The shaft
> flanges were out of balance (the back sides were not machined). I
> removed these from the spindle and trued them up on my lathe, and then
> balanced them. Big improvement. I also find that the steel-backed wheels
> were out of balance.
I think this must vary from unit to unit. Mine was quite good out of the
box. Typical Chinese quality control. Maybe the store will let you fire
up the inventory a pick a good one?
>
>I am pleased with mine, for what it cost. The same type grinders, even
>other asian imports, are usually $230 or more, and I'm not sure they
>wouldn't have the same problems. The probably better Baldor version is
>around $750.
I guess I should mention, that I have the Baldor version, and have
used the HF version in machine shops..and they are virtually identical
in operation.
Gunner
No 220-pound thug can threaten the well-being or dignity of a 110-pound
woman who has two pounds of iron to even things out. Is that evil?
Is that wrong? People who object to weapons aren't abolishing violence,
they're begging for the rule of brute force, when the biggest, strongest
animals among men were always automatically "right". Guns end that,
and social democracy is a hollow farce without an armed populace to make
it work.
- L. Neil Smith
>
>On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 22:16:47 -0600, Richard J Kinch put forth the notion
>that...
>My only complaint with it is the miter table slide attachment. It's got
>a stud pressed and swagged from the back side, with a wingnut to adjust
>the angle. If you tighten the wingnut enough to hold the angle, the
>stud starts pulling out of the hole. I haven't figured out how to fix
>that yet, because the part that the stud is pressed into is too thin to
>support any other method of mounting a stud that I can think of.
Silver solder or a fast braze or a dollop of weld and a bit of stone
work. I had to make my own as my Baldor was missing them when I got
it, and simply silver soldered the studs in after making them from cap
screws with the heads turned off.
Dan Mitchell
==========