5.0 out of 5 stars Was Nervous Because of Reviews I was nervous because of other reviews but I needed a slow speed grinder for grinding and polishing. I bought it anyways. I was shocked. It's super quiet. Easy to assemble. Highly recommend!

5.0 out of 5 stars Good grinder, bad tool rest I was pleased with the grinder and it was a great value for the price. I have having much better results with the new rikon that with my old grinder of 20 years. The wheels wobble slightly, but easily fixed with the nice included diamond wheel dresser. Other than the mild wobble, the wheels work well. My main complaint is that the tool rest on the left wheel is designed for drill bit sharpening, The groove makes the left wheel virtually unusable for chisels, etc. I will have to improvise something to replace it.

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok - Excessive Vibration Good value when purchased on sale but my unit has excessive vibration due to an unbalanced wheel. Hours of tinkering couldn't solve the issue so I just removed the wheel from one side and it works better.

5.0 out of 5 stars this is great This is the best product right now!

4.0 out of 5 stars well made great price runs smooth balanced good very pleased

5.0 out of 5 stars A bargain for a very good grinder Like most people who will buy this grinder, I use it to sharpen HSS turning tools. It's by far the best value on the market for this application. As a number of viewers have noted, the relatively inexpensive wheels supplied with this grinder are not perfect, but users with access to a web browser can find very good, clear instructions about grinder set up to remove almost all of the imbalance from most wheels. Mine runs with no discernible vibration at speed. In most casese of excessive vibration on any grinder, it's a set-up problem and a wheel problem and has nothing to do with the grinder per se.

2.0 out of 5 stars not the best value vibrates too much have tried all the tricks to take wobble out Should have spent more and bought a better brand.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great deal on this grinder I bought this grinder earlier this year on a similar sale when I was setting up my turning shop, and it's a great deal. Just having the friable grinding wheels on it makes it worth the cost. It's quiet, there's minimal wobble, and it does a great job of sharpening and re-profiling lathe tools.

3.0 out of 5 stars So so grinder, Ok Value I use this grinder to sharpen lathe tools. It's the least expensive slow speed ginder I could find. Biggest issue is both wheells have a noticeable wobble and cause the grinder to vibrate. I've spent hours trying to get them to run true. I think if I had it to do over again I'd spend more for a better machine.

4.0 out of 5 stars Best bench grinder for the price. works well. Best you can get for the price. I have sharpened chisels, plane blades and I'm a wood turner too, so it gets used quite a bit.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good grinder but could be better. I use a grinder primarily to sharpen lathe tools. I bought this to replace my old 8" high speed grinder, and it certainly does. The slower speed gives me much greater control over the tools, the temperature is lower and more manageable, and the grinder comes with white wheels of two different grits. The tool rests are adequate, and the left-hand one has a slot for sharpening drill bits. I have installed, though, an aftermarket platform (larger) and a support for a "Vari-Grind" jig for sharpening lathe gouges. The grinder even comes with a diamond dresser. There are two problems with this grinder. First and most obvious, it has no light. That's not a big deal for me because I already have a magnetic shop light that I attach to the side, but for someone who doesn't already have one, it's an extra cost. And you really need a light while sharpening. Second, there's a noticable side-to-side wobble in both wheels. You can dress the wheels to take out the problem along the rim, but there's still a vibration that is irritating and makes it a bit harder to keep control while sharpening. I'll take the wheels off in the near future to see if I can shim them, but it shouldn't be necessary to do this. Fix these two problems, and you'd have an excellent sharpener.

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Value The unit I received is smooth and quiet. I use a Wolverine Sharpening System so I never installed the tool rests. Wheels are adequate for now and when they wear down I will replace them with Norton wheels. All and all a good buying experience and a great value.

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressed I bought this grinder to sharpen my lathe tools.Right out of the box it was quite and the wheels turned true with no wobble or vibration.Combined with the wolverine jig,this was a great choice.

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a low speed grinder! As stated above, a slow speed grinder runs at or below 500 rpm, not 1750 rpm. This grinder will easily take the temper out of tools if you're not careful.

4.0 out of 5 stars So far, I'm impressed I started turning pens, and quickly found out 2 things. 1) I have to keep the tools sharp or bad things happen, 2) My old 6 inch grinder sometimes does more damage than good. I took advantage of a sale price on this grinder, and am very happy with it. You can overheat tools when sharpening, but you have to work at it,and it leaves a very smooth finish. When I got the grinder, it was missing the knobs to tighten the tool rests. I emailed Rikon, and after they verified the part number, I got 2 knobs in the mail, no hassles. Slight side to side wobble on the wheels, but the cutting edge was perfect.

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't beat this grinder I am a wood turner and needed to replace my grinding wheels for my 6 inch grinder. I had wanted to upgrade my grinder to an 8 inch and this grinder was just came on the market. The $99 price was about $20 more than the price of two new wheels so I bought this model because it is larger AND it came with the wheels I was looking for. GREAT deal and flawless performance.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Grinder and Super Customer Service I got this grinder to sharpen lathe tools and hand tools for woodworking. I had been doing some research on slow speed 8" grinders when this one came up for sale so I decided to get one. I was very impressed with the weight of the grinder, how quiet it runs and that it has all metal parts. It comes with rubber feet attached so it can just set on your bench or you can remove them and mount it. I'd read about grinders vibrating so bad that they danced across the bench so I was pleasently surprised when I turned this one on and it ran relatively smooth. Just a little vibration in the left side wheel which should dress out. I will probably not even mount this to a bench. One thing I was surprised to get was a wheel dressing tool. The write-up didn't mention one was included so that was a plus. The only negative was that my grinder came with two right-side tool rests and no left-side rest (which is the one with the drill bit guide). I emailed Rikon Customer Service telling them about it. Within 4 minutes I had an email back from them telling me I had a new left-side tool rest on the way. You can't ask for any better service than that.

4.0 out of 5 stars great value I purchased this grinder to sharpen my lathe tools. It runs very quiet and quite smooth. The left tool rest is grooved to guide the sharpening of drill bits. This, not being flat, makes sharpening of lathe tools rather difficult. I'm looking at options to change this. It is a great value for a slower speed grinder with decent wheels.

5.0 out of 5 stars Quality Grinder I waited until this grinder was put on sale before purchasing. It comes with two white wheels and the slow speed is great for sharpening lathe tools. I owned a Delta variable speed grinder but the rheostat went bad. If a new part had been available, it would have cost as much as a new grinder. This machine runs smoothly and should serve my needs for many years...I use a grinder almost exclusively to sharpen lathe tools.

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit disappointed The left-hand tool rest is grooved for sharpening drill bits against the finer grit wheel. However this tool rest cannot be used for a chisel because there is no flat surface to rest the chisel on. Would only recommend with caveat that you will have to purchase and setup your own tool rest.

5.0 out of 5 stars You can't beat the price I walked into the store and saw this grider on sale. I've been eyeballing it for months. I use it to sharpen lathe tools and wood chisels. The wheels run smooth. Very quite and powerful. I love the wheels.

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid and well done It's a nice machine with quality wheels on it. I'd recommend bolting/clamping it down to minimize vibration. I checked the arbor with a dial indicator and there was no runout. You will need to true the wheels to minimize side-to-side movement (Don't skip this step!). That's not a knock on Rikon. It's very common for grinding wheels to be slightly out of round (my $250 Tormek wheel needed the same truing).

5.0 out of 5 stars do not pass this up!!! this is one nice grinder for the price i know there is better out there but you can not beat this deal it has been over 15 years since we got our last grinder and it was a junker back then i know this will last for a very long time it comes with two weel's and a dresser now the dresser is a get you by kinda thing but it is nice to see that they tossed that in

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Product Picked one of these up from my local store. Great price for what it is, considering other companies with comparable products go for over $100 more. Runs quiet and when bolted down produces minimal vibration to the workbench. Comes with aluminum oxide wheels which tend to stay pretty cool. Only problem is the arbors bend pretty easily. With careful use it shouldn't be a problem. But when your buddy comes to the shop- be sure to hide this one. Or else you might be like me, bent outta shape over a broken grinder.

4.0 out of 5 stars patternmaker Great grinder really like the slower speed does not burn tools as easily as my other grinder good build quality.I would like 2 flat tool rests instead of onemade to sharpenddrill bit. .

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit disappointed The left-hand tool rest is grooved for sharpening drill bits against the finer grit wheel. However this tool rest cannot be used for a chisel because there is no flat surface to rest the chisel on.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great product I use it to sharpen lathe tools.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Grinder Purchased this grinder for sharpening my lathe tools. Woodcraft has been out of stock for months, my understanding is the older model had some problem and was discontinued. Ordered as soon as I saw they were in stock and on sale. Very happy with the performance, using with Wolverine Grinding Jig and Fingernail jig. Excellent results.

4.0 out of 5 stars Well done I bought the slow speed grinder on sale to sharpen lathe tools. It looks good and is made well enough. It runs smooth and is very quiet. I'm very happy with it except it had black greasy finger prints on both white oxide wheels. I guess it won't hurt them, but it looks terrible. Bummer!

4.0 out of 5 stars Can keep using chisels as screwdrivers Chisels are great to remove softened bronze fasteners. A blue wheel shop grinder makes a mess when soluble oil is used to prevent overheating. Now I only deal with dust before returning the chipped chisel to its intended maintenance routine of water stone sharpening. Included manual is great and is honest about the shortcomings of this imported tool. Examples are: addressing cleanup of factory cosmoline and adjusting tolerance of stamped wheel clamps (out of box, wheels were true, though).

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY SMOOTH! Very quiet and very smooth right out of the box! The stones seem like they are decent quality as well. It also comes with a wheel dressing tool. Highly Recomended!