Optimum GU18 – low quality grinder

Optimum GU18 – low quality grinder

This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 24 January 2026 at 13:49 by Sonic Escape.

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24 January 2026 at 12:59 #833996
Sonic Escape
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@sonicescape38234
Today I broke my rule “buy only from online shops after reading reviews”. I went to a bazar where last week I saw an ancient bench grinder that was promising an interesting restoration project. But I was no convinced, so in a shopping rage I bought a new one. I paid 167euro for an Optimum GU18. Judging by the price I assumed it should be of average quality, not Lidl style stuff.

When I tuned it on the wheels were visibly unbalanced. Fine, no problem. I want to replace them anyway with white ones and dress them. So I removed them and the result is like this:

I never had a quality grinder, but I think this is horrible! I used to buy old electric motors just for the fun of fixing them and they run quiet and without vibration. Why this guys can’t do the same with a new one?! And the most disturbing to me is the bearing noise after I turned it off. It sounds exactly like the bad bearings I used to replace in old motors. How can this be?

It looks like I still have an ongoing restoration project. Optimum maschinen sucks!
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24 January 2026 at 13:27 #834004
John Haine
Participant
@johnhaine32865
Why would you “restore” it? Just get a refund.
24 January 2026 at 13:38 #834006
Sonic Escape
Participant
@sonicescape38234
With online purchases is easy, you can return it without a reason. But in this case it has to be broken to accept it. I’ll try but I don’t think my water glass test qualifies as proof of problems.
24 January 2026 at 13:38 #834007
Bill Phinn
Participant
@billphinn90025
24 January 2026 at 13:49 #834014
Sonic Escape
Participant
@sonicescape38234
There is one more problem. At this moment the grinder looks like this. I couldn’t help myself 🙂

I think I found an issue. That special washer that is pushing the bearing (wobbling washer?) was not working. Because the bearing was pressed very hard and there was no axial play. I know from experience that this could cause surprisingly strong vibrations. Now I’m fixing it.
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