"Don Young" writes:

I wonder how someone could make such a simple and basic design in a way that
would cause it not to work well? Do the wheels not rotate freely or is there
something unusual about the design or material of the wheels themselves?

It might be the wheel. In the woodworking forums, people use the
Oneway products for grinding lathe tools. Oneway makes a wheel
balancer kit. It's extremely expensive ($63), and frankly if the wheel is
not balanced, I'd return thw wheel.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Sharpening___Grinders___Wheels___Oneway_Wheel_Bala ncing_System___oneway_balancer