RIKON Professional Power Tools, 80-805, 8†Slow Speed Bench Grinder, Powerful Shop Table Tool, Perfect for Sharpening, With Anti-Vibration Rubber Feet

I rarely write the review, but this worth mention it. I started sharpening my own tools (normally sent out) and I got Rikon, because of its slow speed and good price for my use. When I received the grinder, which has been opened and lost some of parts. the internal packing material has been damaged and I was not sure of what else has been damaged. So I sent email via Amazon to Yellowhammer Tool Works. Very next day, they replied by sending out a replacement unit, no question asked. Two days later, I received the replacement (the original order tool a week for shipment). Everything is in order. Assembled and test ran. There were a lot of comments relating wobbly wheel. The left wheel has a light wobble, which is acceptable for my use. however, the right wheel wobbles noticeably. I cleaned and sand-papered the flange faces, which reduced wobble, but I was not concern. I replaced it with a CBN wheel, but without the flanges or washer, I ran out of thread. So I purchase a machined washer and self -aligning spherical washer. With those washers, the wheel runs straight, no vibration, noice, wobbles. I am very happy with that. very quiet. Highly recommend this grinder.

I am a wood turner and don't use the supplied tool rests as I use the Wolverine system for sharpening my tools. As i use 1 1 1/2" D-way CBN wheels I also don't keep the wheel covers or the "eye guards". My previous grinder was a Delta VS 8", but it died after about 4 years. I bought a replacement "off the shelf" at a local Lowes, but it was faulty (motor noise). I then researched the web and came up with the Wen and the Rikon. The specs and the reviews on Amazon are similar but I chose the Rikon for a bit more money as one of my correspondents (Dave Schweizer of D-way) had good experience with Rikon. First a comment on VS versus slow speed. I think the part of my Delta that died was the rheostat for varying the speed - were I younger and in a larger shop I might have taken it apart and replaced the rheostat. It was nice to be able to go to 3600 rpm and use my coarser CBN wheel to make major regrinds on tools, but if it shortened the life of my grinder it wasn't worth it. I can go to my belt sander and rough shape the tool by hand. At 1725 my 80 grit CBN allows me to make any radical reshaping I want of a tool in about a half hour, and minor reshapings in 10 minutes. I think the slow speed is the better choice for wood turning tools as the electronics are less complicated and should last longer. Now which slow speed? The CBN wheels are heavier than the composite "stone" wheels so one might think they need more power. This 1/2 HP Rikon brings them up to speed in about six seconds with no motor noise that might indicate strain (that was the fault in my faulty Delta VS). I lose no wheel speed and hear no motor strain when grinding heavily on my course wheel in reshaping with the half horse, I think the 1 horse is an unnecessary expense for my application. May I add that a couple of days ago I had been touching up a tool and then went to test it on the piece I was turning without turning off the Rikon. I was distracted and left my bedroom shop to take care of other things. I came back about three hours later and found the grinder still spinning. I felt the motor cover and the heat wasn't excessive, it had been running the heavy wheels but wasn't straining. BTW, I neglected to turn it off as the free running sound from the grinder is zero (and I have good ears). One caveat, obey the instructions to remove the rubber feet if you are bolting it down. I spent hours setting it up to duplicate the exact height of the wheels above my Wolverine base that I had with the Delta so I could use my home made gauges for my gouges. I made shims under the feet, but it never came out right. OOPS, I made one little error, I forgot that when I tightened down the grinder on the base platform the rubber feet would compress and change the height unevenly. I can't tell you how long this grinder will last, but I can give a pretty good guess that it will be a long time as the lack of motor noise, or change in motor noise under load, suggests a long life. It may not be the best for general grinding, given the negative reviews on the tool rests and such, but it is excellent for my purpose - which is regular use to touch up or regrind wood turning tools. The 1 1/2 CBN wheels fit the arbor, although witn no room to spare. The bolts holding my wheels aren't fully used, but it only about 1/16" shy which is plenty of grip on the wheel. Best, Jon

Previously, I've had a Craftsman grinder purchased in the '70's, and it works as well as the day I bought it. A champ. I will still use it -- but for the tasks it excels at. Metal, not wood. I have a 22" plane purchased in the 70's also, with a block, jack and spokeshave. They have been sitting for years, since I never knew how to keep them sharp. Now I use them always -- almost replacing sandpaper. Thank Google. Well, anyway, I now have razor-sharp, beautiful chisels, card scrapers, plane blades, and cabinet scraper blades. This grinder works well. I have one suggestion -- make a better tool rest! It's not so hard! I purchased a Wolverine product -- they make a good one. It s/b an easy thing to make one like their basic stand. (if you do, please make it compatible with their extensions -- wow!) I am very happy that I purchased this.

It was time to replace my old grinder. I have used Rikon tools before so I felt confident the grinder would be a high quality and was right. If makes sharpening a breeze. I am confident that it will outlast me.

Overall, a very nice unit, and worth every penny. Amazingly smooth and quiet, and the wheels that were supplied with it ran perfectly true right out of the box. The slenderness of the motor will help a lot in dealing with oddly shaped objects. Just one negative note - I’ve always had smaller 6” diameter bench grinders, so what I don’t like about this unit may be a characteristic inherent to all 8” grinders - this thing takes FOREVER to get up to operating speed, and I’m talking about 7 seconds from the time you turn it on until it hits 1750 RPM. I assume the slow spool-up is typical of 8” grinders because of the bigger heavier wheels, but it drives me a little nuts to stand there and wait for what feels like an eternity for it to get up to speed. Just wasn’t expecting that. But again, mine doesn’t vibrate at all, is very quiet, and the wheels spin perfectly true with no adjustments needed.

This is the second grinder of this model I have purchased. I bought my first when they were first introduced and it has performed flawlessly and continues to perform flawlessly. Wheels are of very good quality, were perfectly balanced and have sharpened many tools over the years. The grinder runs smoothly and quietly and has all the power I have ever needed. I use my grinder principally for grinding lathe tools, so it gets a lot of use. I have other Rikon tools and have been very pleased with all of them. I have had failures a couple of times, and I'm not at all certain that they weren't my fault. When I contacted Rikon's support the response has been immediate and more than satisfactory. In my experience Rikon's customer support has been second to none and is one reason I now favor Rikon tools over those of perhaps better known brands.

Combined with the wolverine jig this is a great deal on a quality bench grinder to keep your woodturning tools sharp.

i got this one to replace POWERTEC BGSS801. It's like the powetech is class B version of the same product. No vibration, and overall much better quality, but its essentially the same machine/manufacture

The item was missing a tool support. I sent an email to Rikon about a month ago and haven't heard from them yet. Other then that I am very satisfied with the grinder. It is very quiet and does the job.

Runs smooth & no vibration once I dressed the wheels has been doing a good job of sharpening my lathe tools. I'd say the tool rests are mickey mouse plastic and not micro adjustable.

So far so good. A little slow starting up and runs quiet and smooth one it gets up to speed. Much easier when shapening my turning tools.