Bench grinder on a variable speed switch?


Spunjin

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McQ...that's some WAY back in the day machines!  Spunjin, on most modern motors, you'll burn something up if you slow it down.  Use it like it is for shaping and rough sharpening and save the nickels and buy a slow speed grinder.  I bought the Grizzly slow speed grinder at about 1/4 the price of the Tormek and it works great.  Capt Eddie Castelin (YouTube wood turner) uses the high speed grinder (with a fine wheel) to sharpen everything.  He just has a good set up and just works fast with a light touch.

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I heard that the Grizzly slow speed wet grinder was had some bad wobble in the wheel due to out of balance drive shaft. That may have been one persons experience but I have 2 Grizzly machines and couldn't be happier with their performance.

Did you have to do any significant truing of the grinding wheel when you got it?

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Overheating a tool on a grinder is more in the hands of the person doing the grinding than in the speed of the grinder.

Yep.....light touch and quick work.  On my slow speed I still only make a couple of passes across an edge because I'm just freshening it up.  If I were shaping something heat sensitive like tool steel with the high speed grinder, it would be a light pass and a dip in the water.  Still the answer Spunjin is "DON'T DO IT!!!" :o But see......MY mind then asks all sorts of questions I can't answer...

"Why can you slow down a router, a ceiling fan, and a blender?" Maybe it's like Don said, they're all motors with brushes. ?????? Someone with more electrical knowledge will have to take a hand off.

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Thanks, Tim. This was just out of curiosity. I bought a router table with lift and it came with a free PC 690 router. I noticed it wasn't a soft start and I had a variable speed control in hand so I installed it into my router cabinet so I could control the speed from the outside. It just had me wondering if it would work on a grinder (which I don't currently have).

I am itching to turn some stuff buy my gouges are super dull (takes dust not shavings) and I don't like the grind on my bowl gouge. I'll just have to save up a bit and buy a quality slow speed grinder with all the jigs.

While on the topic, should I just get a 8" or 10" wet grinder instead so I can sharpen my planer/jointer blades?

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While on the topic, should I just get a 8" or 10" wet grinder instead so I can sharpen my planer/jointer blades?

 

 

You should also think about a scale if you plan on doing your own knives. All multi knife cutter heads need balanced knives and if you have to grind much on one the you take the head off balance. An imbalanced head is a dangerous head.

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Wow I never even thought of that. I may just send out for my blades to be done. Have two sets. One in the cutter head and one out for sharpening/waiting.

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Check your knives even if you send them out. The scale will pay for itself many times over. An archery scale cost very little and is all you need. You should be within 1/10 of a gram.

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