Thread: 8 inch wheels and buffs on 6 inch grinder

Originally Posted by qwertyu

Curious if its ok to use 8 inch grinding wheels and bufffers on 6 inch grinder by propping it up for clearance on the bottom to fit the larger wheels?

What you will find is that using 8" wheels on a 6" grinder will cause the grinder to stall more easily even when using a relatively light touch. Every time the motor approaches a stall that means the motor is seriously heating up. If the grinder has a thermal overload switch, repeated near stalls may cause the the motor to trip out, and long term will damage the motor. You should be able to keep the motor from stalling by using a extra light touch but then you won't be grinding/polishing much so you will just get frustrated. If you are lucky you will get about as much grinding/polishing done as with using the 6" wheels so you are basically treading water.

Something to be aware of is that even most 8" (single phase) grinders are only just up to using 8" wheels. This is because a realistic/practical HP rating for using 8" wheels is 1HP+ "Output" power. Most grinders only show "input" power on the motor name plate, which is often considerably more than their "output power" which is why 1HP rate3d single phase grounders only have about 2/3rds HP output power.