harbor freight (chinese) tool grinder feedback

[rolfinator2002]

Wanted to avoid purchasing the baldor type offhand tool grinder shown below since I knew that a darex e90 grinder was in my future; however, I needed controlled angle carbide grinding NOW to support my biax and hand scraper efforts, budget precludes darex purchase, and no longer have access to baldor at work.

$160 is a great deal for the harbor freight unit but I wanted to share some things that I found, which may be helpful to you.
1) Both aluminum mounting plates had >0.015" runout . Worthless if you are mounting diamond cup wheels since they are not dressed as are stone wheels. I had to turn them down to get <0.0005" lateral runout. Very much worth it for me.
2) Poor balance; however, mine was not bad enough to warrant wheel removal and component balance using my harley davidson crank balancer. The imbalance was notable, but once the motor ran up, the heavy cast iron mass damped out much of it.
3) Radial runout of both mounting plates was about 0.005", contributing to imbalance; if you plan on using diamond edge wheels or similar, this may be a show stopper for you unless you turn new mounting plates or re-center existing plates (on new mounting holes).
4) Comes with 2 80 grit stones, very poor description in paperwork. Doubt that they are "green" wheels, hard to tell since they were painted greenish-grey, so you may need to purchase a new wheel if you intend to use it to rough-in carbide tools.
5) If you purchase a diamond or cbn cup wheel (shars.com has good prices and selection), you'll need to obtain 4 countersunk screws (M6X1.0-12mm). The supplied screws only mount stone wheels meant for for shouldered screws.
6) The water cup is can rotate and grind up the plastic nozzle; needs some restraint; clip made of music made would work fine.
7) Check all fasteners; some of mine were loose, including the water valve handle.

Hope this arms you with enough knowledge to avoid returning to the store.
Rolfinator

[MrWild]

My experience was different. No run out and no noticeable balance issues. My green wheels are unpainted and indeed green, and I found a steal of a deal for a diamond wheel. My only complaint is that I bought it off the floor for $120, and it was missing documentation, and the tool fence. Also, the green wheels wear down quite fast when roughing in cemented carbide lathe bits. While I was there, I also bought a grinder pedestal. Didn't want to bench mount it as I like to get at it from all sides.

[rolfinator2002]

Did you put a dialtest or indicator for a measurement?
My measurements are directly from a dialtest, since diamond wheels cannot be dressed, I need essentially zero runout.

[rolfinator2002]

Mr Wild,
They wear a little faster than aluminum oxide against HSS but not like you describe. My harbor freight grinder does NOT have frangible silicon carbide (green wheel) after dressing the stone to remove the paint, then trying it out on carbide to be sure. They are more expensive to produce than al oxide, so it is likely that we both have the same type of wheels and HF chose the cheaper type... Al oxide.
I bought a 3/4" green wheel for my 6" pedestal grinder a few years ago to grind lathe bits and I haven't worn much over 1/4" off the diameter doing carbide bits and non-ferrous utility grinding.

[diecutter]

I tried green wheels but they wore down fast as MrWild stated. Switched to a Greenlee electroplated diamond wheel and have used it lightly for years and it still looks and performs like new. It is an epoxy wheel with embedded metal mesh that has diamond grains electroplated to it with nickel. Needs no truing of course.

Luckily I bought it years ago for $87 IIRC; looked it up today and the price rocked me back. $233. I highly recommend it for carbide.

[rolfinator2002]

I decided to keep one wheel for HSS bits and I purchased a diamond wheel from shars for $40 for my finish carbide work. It's only impregnated to 1/16" and 3/4" wide. I use the other grinder with a green wheel for rough-in on carbide.

Appreciate the feedback on your greenwheel experience.