Tom King Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 DON'T BUY a Dewalt! I'm trying to get a grinder that runs smooth enough to spin the D-Way CBN wheels with no noticeable wobble. I ordered an 8" Dewalt from CPO. One shaft of the Dewalt was good, but the other side was a major fail. One shaft was a little bit bent, but I didn't bother to measure the runout since it was noticeable. Not only was the shaft bent on one side in spite of being well packed, but the bearings were unimpressive too. It's on it's way back to CPO. I decided to try a Metabo, and have it on the way. At first, I thought I might try the Jet, but it's made in China too, and was not many dollars cheaper than the Metabo, so I went with the German brand. I'll let you know. The CBN wheels are great, and maybe even the first major step forward for woodworking since self-releasing router collets. I ran them on an old Baldor to play with the wheel some, but I'm keeping that grinder in the metal shop. I hope to find a motor to spin them as smoothly as the Baldor, without having to spend at Baldor level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted January 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 This post was added in response to another posters reply that he deleted, so it doesn't really apply to anything much now, but I'm leaving it to prevent any further confusion to anyone who was reading this thread. I have a 1x42 Baldor belt sander. I mainly use it on golf clubs. I have all the belts that Lee Valley sells for that size, but I don't like it for sharpening irons and chisels. Some people like a belt sander for sharpening, but it puts too much heat in the steel for me, and doesn't cut anywhere nearly as fast as the CBN wheel. It takes about 3 seconds to regrind a beat up chisel edge on the CBN wheel, and it doesn't put any heat in the metal to amount to anything. My helpers will have a hard time ruining the temper in anything with it. I've used a water grinder for a long time, but it's painfully slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 The Metabo came today. Man!! is that a nice piece. The first thing I noticed was that the box was a lot heavier than the Dewalt. I plugged it in with the wheels on it, just like it came. Dayam dat ting is smooth. It's round on top of the motor, and I didn't have a nickel in my pocket, but I stood my chapstick on top of the round motor, and it didn't move. I looked around for something else, and the first thing I saw was a hand forged nail with a flat head. I put the nail beside the chapstick, standing on its head, and it stayed there for probably 10 seconds. In taking the wheels and covers off, every piece was a well made, well designed piece, down to the washers and larger spindle for the large centers of the grinding wheels. At first I thought I might sell that stuff on ebay, but I may just keep it for some later use-maybe even on the Baldor grinder. I need some bushings to space the CBN wheel out from motor just because of the way it's designed, so I still can't use it yet, but I'm glad the Dewalt did have a bent shaft, because this was a good extra hundred bucks spent. Later, as this saga continues.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 This thread might seem a little strange so far. The guy that my second and third posts were responding to evidently deleted his posts in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjeff70 Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi Tom, And I thought you were beginning to talk to yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrdie Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 His posts were deleted for him and it's my understanding he's been invited not to contribute any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Melton Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 They seemed like legit posts (not that I can quote them from memory or anything). I take it he decided to be a jerk elsewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan S Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Tom, have use used the D-Way wheels yet, if so how do you like them? Have you used them for shaping hss lathe bits in the metal shop?I'm considering picking up a vfd in the spring and building a tormek style grinder with cbn wheels, but I'm unsure how the cbn wheels would stand up to sharpening metal lathe bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 ==>DeWalt 8" bench grinder/ now Metabo ==>DON'T BUY ONE! I've been down that road myself... Got a box store grinder for my garden equipment shed... Just needed something simple for mower blades, wire-wheeling rust, etc -- nothing fancy/special... Even at that low-level expectation, I was disappointed... The thing just didn't run smooth at all... I wasn't expecting Baldor, but I wasn't expecting noticeable vibration either... For quite a few garden blades (scythes, mulching blades, hammer mill blades, etc) you need to run the grinder without guards -- the vibration made me a bit nervous ---holding 3' of sharpened steel against a vibrating grinder tends to do that to me I ended-up returning it... ==>I decided to try a Metabo How's that working? I've read differing opinions on them... ==>D-Way wheels I've read great things about them on Ron Hock's blog... How are they working? I'm not about to change my dry-grinding kit, but a review would certainly help other WTO members... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 The Metabo needs a spacing bushing, because the inner shoulder on the shaft is up inside the motor casting. We're working on it, and I'll post back when I get it set up. The Metabo seems pretty amazingly smooth and stoutly built. I like it. See the other thread about me testing the D-way wheel. I haven't set it up with a good grinding rest yet. I'll have to get the bushing situation fixed first. I have a couple of the Lee Valley grinding stands, that I used on another grinder, that I'm going to hook up with this one. I like them a lot. Probably will also put a Tormek shaft on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted January 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 I had found and ordered some bronze bushings that work with the setup on the Metabo with the D-way wheels. They're 5/8" id and 7/8" od. buck forty-eight a piece, and they came today. The setup is ABSOLUTELY AMAZINGLY SMOOTH!!! But I haven't had time to even put the grinder on a base yet to mount the LV grinding stands, so the final setup pictures are a ways off yet. This is one of several, or maybe I should say many, projects in the works. I did order the Corian for the shooting board though............. just need to find some radiused T-track. No plans written down anywhere for anything. Also found a good piece of Granite for the sharpening bench......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted February 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 I got around to mounting the grinder on a plywood base along with the Veritas grinder stand that I had previously on another wet grinder. The Epihanes still hadn't dried hard, so you may notice that the nuts to hold the grinder down aren't tightened down yet. I took some pictures. It's unbelievably smooth. With it running, I placed a machine screw on top of the motor on the flat head. Then I thought that was too easy so turned the screw on the other end. I found a hand forged nail nearby, and placed it on its head while the motor was still running. Looking for something else, I found a nickel in my pocket. You may be able to tell in those pictures that the wheel is spinning, so the motor is running. Yes, that's a round top on the motor. It's probably at least 50 times faster than a Tormek, doesn't need water (cuts so fast that it doesn't put heat in the steel), and the wheel will always stay the same diameter. The Stuart Batty gauge in the picture does a perfect job of showing you how to set the stand to grind common cutter angles the first time on an 8" diameter wheel. http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2084638/38159/stuart-batty-tools-angle-gauge-one.aspx Since the wheel will always be an 8" diameter, it was worth its cost for this rig. At this point, I don't know that I need to spend another $175 for the coarse wheel for the right side of this grinder, but have left enough room for a stand on that side of the base in case I decide to get it. The Veritas stands are easily adjustable, but still completely rigid. It does exactly what I hoped it would. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arminius Posted February 1, 2014 Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 Have to say, this looks sort of tempting. Expensive, but a one-time solution compared to troubleshooting, wheel-balancing, adjusting stands, etc. Didn't realize Metabo made bench grinders, so I appreciate the review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted February 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 I had never even heard of Metabo. I just happened to see it on CPO's website, and saw that it was German made when I looked the company up on the web. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted March 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 I finally had the need to use this today. We needed to use the Scrub plane, so it was the first real test. You may have seen how blunt the iron was in my "scrub plane" thread on these forums. In short, AMAZINGLY FAST. No heat in the iron. Two passes and I went right to the 8,000 stone to see what it would do. After that, a few strops on the Diamond Lapping Film, and it would shave hair very easily. This was blunt, blunt iron to super sharp in well less than a minute. It took longer to set the stand to 35 degrees, than it did start to finish grinding through honed-first time using the Batty gauge so I'll be more efficient with it next time. I like the Batty gauge a lot too. It cuts so fast that I see absolutely no need for a coarser wheel than this fine one. After that, I decided to see what it would take to burn some metal, so I pulled out an old beater chisel. You have to try to burn something with it. I can see that if one was to dilly-dally on the corners of something that it would be possible to overheat some, but with a little practice in getting used to how quick you can be, it's 100 times easier not to overheat than on a normal abrasive wheel. I have so many planes and chisels, and we haven't been doing rough work for a while, that I haven't really needed to grind anything in a good while. This thing is NICE! No more water wheel for me. I think the hard part will be learning not to take too much off of anything, since it cuts so fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atl_beekeeper Posted June 12, 2019 Report Share Posted June 12, 2019 Tom: Where did you buy the bushing for the Metabo grinder from? Was it flanged or straight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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