Hello all

A little while ago I asked members of their experiences with cheap diamond grinder wheels on a bench grinder. I had a few replies but no-one who actually had one so I decided to go ahead and buy one.

Despite warnings not to buy a cheap chinese one, I did exactly that and bought an 8″ wheel from Temu for £34. It arrived in 3 days, all nicely packed. My first impression was ‘very heavy’. This is a solid steel (plated) item with diamond dust impregnated on the surface.

When I went to fit it I found that it was a light press fit on the shaft. This is not desirable as I might want to change the wheels and tapping it on and off is not an option for me anyway. It also seemed like the bore had a very slight taper as it went part way on one way and would not fit the other. I eased the bore slightly with an expanding reamer so that I could fit by hand.

On switching it on it was slightly hesitant to get going due to the weight of the wheel. My grinder is 500 watt brushless and is probably the minimum power you will need to spin this thing up. Before anyone comments on the dangers of it catching fire and  my insurance not paying, I am happy with that neither of these things are issues….

Once running it runs true and very smooth. The flywheel effect ensures that, it just hums quietly.

For grinding tools it is amazing. It removes steel, hss and carbide at an alarming rate. Quickly and efficiently. It removes metal so quickly it doesn’t seem to have time to get hot! It’s great for grinding drills as well as it is so smooth and vibration free.

A great cheap addition to the workshop. I will add – this is only for grinding tools and nothing else.