On Wed, 10 Jan 2018 21:01:10 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 10 Jan 2018 15:37:12 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:


On 1/10/2018 2:45 AM, wrote:
I personally don't have a belt grinder, but I'm considering getting
one. By luck, I was recently going through the Grizzly Industrial
Catalog and saw their belt grinder that appears to be worth trying. Then
I googled and found a review on it along with other grinders -
https://mechanicguides.com/best-belt-grinders/ .

Has anyone on here used the Grizzly? If so, could you describe the
quality?

I don't have their grinder, but I do have 3 Griz WW machines and love
them. Finish is good, fit can be iffy, but if you have a file and
reamer as you put it together, they're fine machines for a lower
price. Griz (China and Taiwan origins) does a much better QC job than
HFT does.



I would have agreed once upon a time, but my recent experience with
both has changed my opinion.

I've purchased 11 Grizzly self centering vises
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Prec...ing-Vise/H7576
over the past 5 years. I make various adjustable v-rests for a
customer by replacing the stock jaws with with purpose-made jaws. At
about $150 each, the vises in the first batch I purchased were
remarkably nice quality. The vises in each subsequent order have
declined in quality as the price has increased. The last two batches
were completely unusable as delivered.

I complained once and was offered an exchange. Having already reworked
the vises, I declined, explaining that I'd rather have some assurance
that Grizzly would try to make sure the next batch was better. But the
most recent 2 vises were the worst to date. After fixing them, and
recieving a request to submit a review, I wrote what I thought was an
objective review -- no rant, just my opinion supported by numbers. The
review didn't show up on the vises' page. I inquired about this, and
after wasting my time responding to requests to resubmit the review,
etc., I received the following,

"We are happy to assist you. Thank you for taking the time to
re-submit your review. We appreciate all your comments however, there
is no guarantee how long it can take to be reviewed. We feel customer
input is a valuable source of information as we continually strive to
improve the quality of our equipment and service. Please note that
your review has been forwarded to the proper personnel. Once it has
been reviewed, we may choose to post it online. Once again, we value
your opinion and thank you for your time."

If you compare the reviews on Grizzly's web site to the recent
comments on their Facebook page it's pretty clear what's going on.

At least HF lets you read about all the warts on their stuff before
you buy.

--
Ned Simmons