Bench grinder

[PeeweeParticipant @peewee]

Hi,

i am in the market for a new bench grinder. does anyone know what the Record 6 or 8 inch grinders are like? or alternately any other recommendations.

cheers Ian

[PeeweeParticipant @peewee]

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Creusen are superb, a bit more pricey than the Record but so smooth running, and last for ever[the machine not the wheels]

Regards,

Raymond Anderson.

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Ian,

I second Creusen you will only need to buy one! I bought 2 far eastern grinders before and they were not good, I gave up trying to “improve” them and bought quality which I should have done in the first place.

Tony

[PeeweeParticipant @peewee]

Thank you for the info, much appreciated. I was think of Creusen but thought they may bee a bit flash. if its to be Creusen would you go for the bigger HP7200 or the smaller HP7150. the difference is half the power and 6″ wheels instead of 8″.

Cheers Ian

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Ian, they are not flash they are properly engineered and manufactured to a decent quality, something of a rarity these days. Size is really up to you, I have a HP7150 and it does everything I need, do you really need a 8″ grinder?

Tony

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Hi Ian,

I have had a Clarke 6″ grinder for many years an dit has served me well however, I have recently acquired a Creusen 8″ grinder and cannot believe the difference. I really thought the Clarke was quite a smooth running machine, and for the price it is!. That said, the Creusen is like moving up from a Ford to a Jag, smoothness is in the eye of the beholder .

 

My Clarke has now been passed o to my Son-in-Law and I now enjoy the luxury of a precision machine.

 

All said, I was able to grind lathe tools with sufficient accuracy to produce acceptable results with the Clarke grinder, providing the wheels were adequately dressed.

 

So it all depends on your requirements. Record are a well respected tool manufacturer. I have one of their woodwrking lathes and have no complaints.

 

It really comes down to a decision on price and expectation.

Sorry if I am, sitting on the fence but so may posts on this forum end up recommending the most expensive solution when the requirement is nowhere near that level of expectation.

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Guys,

Not that I wish to malign a respected company like Record, but a friend bought an 8inch Record grinder a few years back and it as not up to the quality that the name once assured. It did not even have any paper washers under the wheels retaining flanges! Even once that oversight was rectified, no amount of truing the wheels would stop it vibrating excessively.

He bought a Creusen 8 inch as a replacement and is delighted with it.

I hope the Record lack of quality was a one off but with modern manufacturing and marketing practice I fear it may not be. I have a feeling that their grinders are not their own manufacture but “badge engineered”, but I could be wrong on that issue.

 

Quite often the quality of the work rest is an indication of the whole machine, if they are flimsy there is a likelihood that so is the machine.

 

Whatever the make you finally select, try to see the actual machine you want to buy running before parting with your hard earned. It’s a bit of an imposition I know but it is easier to reject something before buying than after.

chriStephens

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Hi Chris, I think the term is badge engineering? I presume Record like many other companies are buying stuff from our Eastern cousins and sticking a “Record” badge on it which I suppose is also not made by Record. Starrett is I believe ruining their reputation in America for this type of practice, you pay their prices but don’t get their quality, a bad deal in my book.

Tony

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Tony,

You are of course perfectly correct, it looked wrong when I typed it, but I let it pass.

It is a shame that the great names find it necessary to follow that path. Getting things made cheaply by a cheap work force is one thing, but then dropping to cheap quality as well is just greed. What ever happened to having pride in your products?

chriStephens

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

This came up on another forum and got me thinking, China, India and the rest can make quality stuff far cheaper than we can for many reasons that I won’t go into but why is much of it such utter rubbish, it can only be corporate greed at the highest level? We are now a throwaway society in an era when we are meant to be preserving our environment / resources etc a definite conflict of interests there. Sorry if I am drifting OT.

Tony

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

Posted by Tony Pratt 1 on 04/04/2011 21:46:08:

China, India and the rest can make quality stuff far cheaper than we can for many reasons that I won’t go into but why is much of it such utter rubbish, it can only be corporate greed at the highest level?

That’s what happens when you let bean-counters run your company. They cost a lot of money…

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

When I was in UK in 1984, Iwas talking to a bloke in a retail tool shop in Sheffield, he was saying that he had been made redundant from Records factory, and that there production had been moved to the East, ie., China think is what he said, he did not seen very happy at all. Ian S C

[CJWParticipant @cjw]

Of course he could have meant Rotherham.

 

Chris

[CJWParticipant @cjw]

Of course he could have meant Rotherham.

 

Chris

[PeeweeParticipant @peewee]

Cheers for the comments, i think it will be a 6″ Creusen.

 

Intresting comments on Record, i have one of their Disk Sanders and not had any issues, they are also one of the few companies to offer a 5 year waranty.

 

Ian

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Ian,

I suspect that their disc and belt sanders are also Oriental, but the issues of vibration and wheel fitting are nothing like as important. Neither belts nor discs have anything like the destructive force of a failed grinding wheel. I have both a large and a small disc/belt sanders (at least 15/20 yrs old) of oriental manufacture, and have not had the slightest problem with them, it’s just the nature of the beast.

Vibration can be a problem for Model Engineers who use their grinders for accurate work using a separate work rest, such as Mr H. Hall’s one. Generally it is best not to have the grinder shimmying all over the bench, while the rest is stationary.

chriStephens

PS on the warranty issue, you are paying more for that, compared to some of the other usual sellers.

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Posted by chris stephens on 05/04/2011 15:29:59:

Hi Ian,

……………. Generally it is best not to have the grinder shimmying all over the bench, while the rest is stationary.

chriStephens

 

 

Hi Chris,

 

I wouldn’t like to use a grinder that is not bolted down, or at least mounted on a board which can be securely clamped, but I shudder at the thought of that even. I remember some of the videos shown to us apprentices when we went on the grindstone mounting course – scary. I think it was at Carborundum, but couldn’t be certain about that after all these years.

 

I had a 6″ (German built) grinder from Aldi which was beautifully balanced once new wheels were fitted.

 

Regards

 

Terry

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Terry,

Notice the smiley face of a wink after the sentence? Its there for a purpose!

 

Of course a grinder should be screwed down, but they often have rubber feet and if you screw them down too tightly the rubber ceases to have a useful effect. This rubber isolation does rather spoil things, if vibration is excessive, when using a separate work rest as opposed to one that is part of the machine. Which was the point I was trying to make.

 

Of my collection of grinders, I have one cheapy that is fitted with a decent quality white Alox wheel that is so smooth that it does not need to be screwed down, although if I ever do get around to using it I shall naturally retain it with screws. I like to test grinders by not screwing them down when truing its wheels, as it gives you a better perspective of how things are running. This truing I usually do with the grinder sitting on the floor, so there is no chance of it wobbling of the bench and hitting the floor.

As I said, I do screw down the ones I do use, so there is no need to try to pick me up on that point.

“that’s all for now folks, back to the asylum”

chriStephens

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