I just bought the woodcraft 8" slow speed grinder. I am disappointed,
however in the vibraton and weel wobble.

When I turn the rotate the course wheel 360 the edge of the wheel moves back
and forth by just about 1/16 of an inch. The fine wheel has wobble of a
little more than a 1/32. Those 8-in wheels are heary and of course that
resuts in a fair amount vibration.

I removed both wheels and the grinder runs vibration-free for the most part.
I cant detect and any runout, and the low and high (left/right) spots occur
at the same spot on the wheel, even if I re-orient the wheel of the shaft.
based on this, I'm pretty sure it is the wheel and not a bent shaft.

Although I have not attempted dress the wheels, the seem pretty round, that
is a tool dies not bounce on the surface of the wheel.


What is a reasonable expectation of wobble? Vibration?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...26&cat=1,43072 This is
solution is probably effective, but fairly pricey.

The white wheels were slightly smudged with dirt, as if they were installed
by someone with dirty hands. I would think that would not normally happen at
a factory. Not that I care about the smudges, but it seems as though it
might be evidence that this was a lemon unit that someone tried to tune up
and returned.

I inclined to ask Woodcraft to send me new wheels. Should I try dressing the
wheels first?

Thanks,

Steve

"C & S" wrote in message
...
I just bought the woodcraft 8" slow speed grinder. I am disappointed,
however in the vibraton and weel wobble.

When I turn the rotate the course wheel 360 the edge of the wheel moves
back
and forth by just about 1/16 of an inch. The fine wheel has wobble of a
little more than a 1/32. Those 8-in wheels are heary and of course that
resuts in a fair amount vibration.

I removed both wheels and the grinder runs vibration-free for the most
part.
I cant detect and any runout, and the low and high (left/right) spots
occur
at the same spot on the wheel, even if I re-orient the wheel of the shaft.
based on this, I'm pretty sure it is the wheel and not a bent shaft.

Although I have not attempted dress the wheels, the seem pretty round,
that
is a tool dies not bounce on the surface of the wheel.


What is a reasonable expectation of wobble? Vibration?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...26&cat=1,43072 This is
solution is probably effective, but fairly pricey.

The white wheels were slightly smudged with dirt, as if they were
installed
by someone with dirty hands. I would think that would not normally happen
at
a factory. Not that I care about the smudges, but it seems as though it
might be evidence that this was a lemon unit that someone tried to tune up
and returned.

I inclined to ask Woodcraft to send me new wheels. Should I try dressing
the
wheels first?

Thanks,

Steve




You just bought it, right? Why would you not just contact Woodcraft for a
replacement rather than this post? You've done a pretty good job of
identifying the problem, so why not just make that phone call and relay the
same information to Woodcraft? My bet is they'll have you fixed right up
with new wheels in less time than it took to type your post.

--

-Mike-

C & S wrote:

I just bought the woodcraft 8" slow speed grinder. I am disappointed,
however in the vibraton and weel wobble.

When I turn the rotate the course wheel 360 the edge of the wheel moves back
and forth by just about 1/16 of an inch. The fine wheel has wobble of a
little more than a 1/32. Those 8-in wheels are heary and of course that
resuts in a fair amount vibration.

I removed both wheels and the grinder runs vibration-free for the most part.
I cant detect and any runout, and the low and high (left/right) spots occur
at the same spot on the wheel, even if I re-orient the wheel of the shaft.
based on this, I'm pretty sure it is the wheel and not a bent shaft.

Although I have not attempted dress the wheels, the seem pretty round, that
is a tool dies not bounce on the surface of the wheel.


What is a reasonable expectation of wobble? Vibration?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...26&cat=1,43072 This is
solution is probably effective, but fairly pricey.

The white wheels were slightly smudged with dirt, as if they were installed
by someone with dirty hands. I would think that would not normally happen at
a factory. Not that I care about the smudges, but it seems as though it
might be evidence that this was a lemon unit that someone tried to tune up
and returned.

I inclined to ask Woodcraft to send me new wheels. Should I try dressing the
wheels first?

Thanks,

Steve



I've got the same unit. It runs true and has minimal vibration. have
them send you a replacement. why mess around with the wheels? they may
not take to kindly to you working the wheels over and THEN asking for an
exchange.

Dave

I thought that my Woodcraft slow speed grinder ran smooth until I got a
Baldor slow speed grinder. There is always some wobble in the wheels.
Ir you want to get fancy, you can get a wheel balancing kit from
Veritas. The other alternative is to dress the wheen yourself. You have
to have a good steady rest for the dressing wheel, and learn to ease
the dresser into the wheel. It will skip at first, unless the wheel is
perfectly round. Ease the dresser in until it stops skipping, then the
wheel will be round. If the wheel isn't round, and you just push the
dresser in, it will ride the bumps and uneven spots, and the wheel will
stay uneven. This can also be done to the side of the wheel. I did get
some CBN wheels (cubic boric nitride) which are custom made by bonding
3/16 inch of grinding material onto a aluminum wheel. It comes spin
balanced. Over the time that I have had it, it has developed some
bumps. I take it back to the guy that made it, and they trued it up for
me. I do a LOT of turning, and use it for my turning tools. These
wheels will outlast the standard wheels about 10 to 1, but an 8 by 1
inch wheel runs about $300.
robo hippy

robo hippy wrote:

I thought that my Woodcraft slow speed grinder ran smooth until I got a
Baldor slow speed grinder. There is always some wobble in the wheels.
Ir you want to get fancy, you can get a wheel balancing kit from
Veritas. The other alternative is to dress the wheen yourself. You have
to have a good steady rest for the dressing wheel, and learn to ease
the dresser into the wheel. It will skip at first, unless the wheel is
perfectly round. Ease the dresser in until it stops skipping, then the
wheel will be round. If the wheel isn't round, and you just push the
dresser in, it will ride the bumps and uneven spots, and the wheel will
stay uneven. This can also be done to the side of the wheel. I did get
some CBN wheels (cubic boric nitride) which are custom made by bonding
3/16 inch of grinding material onto a aluminum wheel. It comes spin
balanced. Over the time that I have had it, it has developed some
bumps. I take it back to the guy that made it, and they trued it up for
me. I do a LOT of turning, and use it for my turning tools. These
wheels will outlast the standard wheels about 10 to 1, but an 8 by 1
inch wheel runs about $300.
robo hippy

I must have been lucky then (I gotta get lucky some time!), because the
wheels on my run dead true. Wish I could be as lucky with my Delta
equipment. Maybe we better not go there; I'll start whining. g

Dave

I contacted woodcraft. Initially, they acknowledged that the stamped steel
arbor washers were probably the culprit. They suggested that I try
reorienting the washers.

After about 35 minutes of minimal sucess with various permutations of
orientation of the wheel outer washer and inner washer I gave up. They are
sending me a whole new unit. It should be here in a few days.

-Steve