Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

These slow-speed grinders are sold primarily to people who want them to sharpen high speed steel tools such as chisels, drill bits, and wood lathe tools. The slow speed limits heat buildup that can damage temper of the steel. For this application, a grinding wheel needs to run true, with little wobble and run-out. This WEN grinder isn't adequate for that application. Out of the box, the stock grinding wheels are poor quality, with oversize bores. The right wheel wobbled about 1/8 of an inch, and the left wheel about 1/16 of an inch. On removing the wheels, I found that the arbor ends were rusty and pitted, which is pretty un-excusable in a brand new grinder. I also found that the arbor shoulder that is intended to support and align the wheel, through the flange washers, was a shoulder that is only about 15 thousandths of an inch tall. This is way, way too small to do it's intended function of providing a true perpendicular surface to align the wheel. The flange nuts are cheap stamped steel. They have no place on a bench grinder. I proceeded to attempt to get the wheels to run true by laboriously rotating the flange nuts, one at a time in small increments, to attempt to find an orientation that would remove the wobble. This did not help the problem. But, I really didn't care about the stock wheels, because I had two brand new CBN wheels to install. These are a pair of precision wheels. Each one costs more than the grinder. When I installed those wheels, they ran better, but the lack of any significant bearing shoulder on the arbor resulted in un-acceptable wobble and vibration. I give this grinder two stars only because it will probably work for things like sharpening lawn mower blades, but for that kind of general garage use, a person would be better to buy a 3600 RPM grinder because there is more selection and easier to find good value. After a day of messing with it, I'm sending this grinder back to Amazon. Thank goodness for Amazon's painless return policies - they are the only reason I decided to give this grinder a try. I know that the Chinese machine shops can produce some outstanding machines, but I conclude that this grinder is evidence that one probably cannot expect a high-quality grinder at this price point,even with the economies of Chinese manufacturing.