Thread: Which 200 mm bench grinder should I buy ?

I have two 200mm grinders. One is a Taiwanese made Toolmec I bought years ago for my father and the other is a Abbott and A shby(light green, not grey). There is little between them as far as I am concerned except the price.

Once you have enough Hp then what you should look for is vibration when the machines are running. Both of mine vibrate very slightly and walk when they are not fixed. I put a rubber mat underneath them both before fixing them in place and the vibration no longer plays a part. Yet I have a little 1/3 Hp 'nothing special' grinder that has no vibration and does not walk. That could well be related to the size of the motor.

Basically what I am saying is that you should have a few started up and run on a bench to see just how well they perform once out of the box. Hope that helps.

I reckon Boban is spot on. That said, I have an Abbot and Ashby and I am happy with it.

I also have an Abbot and Ashby. They all seem to be much of a muchness, but I find the toolrests and plastic guards a bit inferior. You will probably want to upgrade the toolrest by buying aftermarket or making your own to suit.
There are some very cheap but effective stands and wall mounts out there if you cant be bothered making your own. It is worth seeing if they will do you a deal.

I have two of these a 200mm and the 150mm version , had both for quite a while ,neither are fixed to the bench and don't "walk about" when running.
For the price just tools has them for they are a bargain I paid $40.00 more for my 200mm one.

I have had a few Grinders over time so ill "throw-in my 2 Bob's worth".
If you have Three Phase Power then look for a Three Phase Grinder, in my experiance they are a better Grinder. I have had a Waldon Ruest and GMF versions. One had Side Castings to take Cup Wheels which was handy, they just seemed to have a better power in grinding. On ebay you see these Three Phase Grinders comeing up for auction as well as Single Phase units for at times reasonable prices. I am down to Single Phase grinders now as the place where I am has only Single Phase.
When you have selected the Grinder you want some modifications maybe neccessary, if the clamping plates for the Wheel are the pressed metal type they can not hold the Wheel properly so machine up better ones. The Tool Posts also maybe a pressed type bolting onto the Guard, here you may wish to fabricate more rigid ones and even fix them to a base plate that you mount the Grinder on. A base Plate allows you to make other jigs that can make grinding easier such as drill sharpening jigs.
The Norton web site has excellent information on Grinding Wheels there setup and maintenance which is a good read.

Regards,
Keith.

I have an old Skil grinder (from before they went down market) with a linisher attachment on one side which I've thrashed for the last 30 years and can't kill.

In the last year I bought an Abbott & Ashby so I can run extra wheels and not have to change them all the time, it seems to be pretty robust and I expect it to see me out.

I like the fact that it has wider wheel guards so that you should be able to run a wire brush wheel and keep the guard in place should you need to. Haven't tried that yet as I have my own wire brush machine I made about 35 years ago.

If you do decide to go for the A&A bear in mind that they have 2 levels of machinein this size, a cheaper "handyman" machine and an "industrial" machine. Make sure you get the industrial unit, the extra you pay now will be as nothing given given the extra life you should get out of it.

GMF was a an excellent 200mm bench grinder.

In a lot of places I have worked at,the fitters always seemed to have GMF with a white oxide other other green stone which seem to run on for 5 mins or so after being switched off.

May one of them from am an auction or second hand from somewhere.
The new Abbot and Ashby's are not a patch on the older ones.
The wattage of the older 200 mm ones was a lot higher than the pos ones we are seeing now.



Grahame

The new Abbot and Ashby's are not a patch on the older ones.

Mine is about three years old. It is made in Asia, and is of similar quality to other asian grinders. I bought it online, and incorrectly assumed it would be a newer version of the old Aus made ones we used to have in the joinery shop.

Oh well.

Abbot & Ashby by far, but you'll find they are all made in China now. Thankfully I got mine as being the last one in stock at the place I bought it from and is Aussie made.

Always get the industrial quality. I don't know what difference it has made on A&A grinders now that they're made offshore.

Trouble is, everything seems to be made offshore now - it's a sign of the times. So it's come down to trying to find the least worst item available if buying new gear.

Yep, sad but true.

And quality aside, one day the world will see what a bad move it was moving all production off-shore to China and India, as their economies sky rocket ours fall as a result: both in jobs and $.

Mind you I got quite a surprise when I went to buy a 3MT live centre for my lathe and found I could buy a Piper brand, made in Sydney by an Australian company and comes wrapped in a box padded with pages from the Sydney Yellow Pages, for the same price as a Polish or Asian centre.

One small win....

I purchased an 8" GMF around 15 years ago for $40.00 from the trading post.

Replaced the condenser a few weeks ago but you can't kill the thing and yes it does run on for 5 minutes after turning off and there's no vibration.

My kids will use it after I'm gone.

Try and buy a an old one if you can.

Originally Posted by Woodlee

I have two of these a 200mm and the 150mm version , had both for quite a while ,neither are fixed to the bench and don't "walk about" when running.
For the price just tools has them for they are a bargain I paid $40.00 more for my 200mm one.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I saw the Makita that Woodlee shows online but when I go to the hardware and tool suppliers it changes to a different looking Makita model . Similar to the Ryobi ?
They have the Abbot & Ashby at my local Bunnings but only one model no industrial model.
I want to avoid buying online if possible.