Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Professional grade 8" grinder, December 13, 2004
Because my prior [high-speed] grinders too easily overheated metal parts, I now prefer slower speed machines. Wheels turning at a slower speed are less likely to disintegrate since there's less centrifugal force, so this machine should be somewhat safer than a 3450-RPM grinder. All things being equal, a 3450 RPM grinder will remove material faster, but the motor on this 1725 RPM grinder is so powerful, to remove material faster, just press harder.
The 23-725 is big and heavy. In spite of Amazon and Delta claiming this is a 100 lb. device, the box it came in weighed "only" 82 pounds - so the machine probably weighs about 79 pounds. That's still plenty heavy. The wheels are 15.75" from wheel center to wheel center; it's 10.75" to the top of the motor housing; 19" wide not counting the eye shields, 12" to the top of the wheel housing; 11.4" deep without the water tray, and 12.75" deep with the water tray.
The cast iron motor frame, tool rests & tool-rest brackets, plus the four large rubber feet, keeps vibration within the acceptable range, and gives the tool a look and feel of quality and heft. The tool-rests are rock-solid.
The toggle switch is protected, so it's unlikely you'll accidentally turn it on, a good safety feature. The lift-off water tray is amply sized. The fitted lamp is quite nice and the gooseneck section is about the right length. At the rear of each wheel's housing is an inward facing 1 3/4" dust port for a vacuum hook-up. As an alternative, a rubber-banded sock over each port seems to catch most of the grit. The grinder comes with a wheel-dressing tool.
The box said Made in Taiwan. Many years ago that might have been an indication of lower quality, but it seems to me that this tool looks good enough to have said Made in the USA.
As a point of reference, the Sears Craftsman 8" professional grinder (model # 21158, Internet or catalog only) looks nearly identical but costs slightly more (not counting tax & shipping), is a 3450 rpm machine, and doesn't come with an aluminum oxide wheel.
If you already own a grinder, consider retrofitting your old machine with wire wheels and/or buffing wheels.
This Delta is a professional grade grinding machine. I've had the 10" version of this grinder (Delta 23-735, now discontinued) for a couple of years, and have used it countless times. Perhaps that's the ultimate accolade; I liked the 10" model so much, I bought this one for my son.
|
|
|
41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Made in China--Quit after three days, May 8, 2001
I too was looking for a better quality grinder than the "cheapy" at Woodcraft, but not in the price range of a Baldor. The Delta 23-725 seemed like just the ticket. My version of this grinder, however, wasn't even made in Taiwan; the nameplate says "Made in China", so there may be two versions of it out there. It also has an 80 grit (as opposed to 60 reported earlier) gray wheel and a 120 grit white wheel. At first look and feel, it looked very good; I was impressed. Bushings on the wheels were metal (not plastic), but both wheels were very out of round--ended up taking off a lot to get them trued up. White wheel chipped badly on edges even using a very fine diamond wheel dresser. Both not uncommon problems on wheels provided with inexpensive grinders and I had expected to replace the wheels anyway. Biggest problem though, after three days of moderate use (about 1-2 hours per day) it refused to start unless given a boost by hand. Probably just a start capacitor, but a pain nevertheless. I'd given up on Delta about three years ago due to quality and customer service problems; (glad I'm dealing with Amzon on this rather than Delta) doesn't look like the quality issue has improved.
|
|
|
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An industrial sized grinder priced for the home hobbiest, March 5, 2005
My first impression of this grinder was that it is HUGE and HEAVY. It is no wonder that the cardboard box and styrofoam packaging arrived in pretty bad shape. Nothing damaged though and it went together in just a few minutes. The lamp comes without a light bulb but I found that the recommended 40 watt reflector track light bulb works well.
I am a woodturner so I am interested in smooth running wheels that leave a good cutting edge on my high speed steel tools. The grinding wheels that come with this unit are of reasonable quality and produce good results with proper dressing. The dressser that comes with the grinder is OK for truing the wheel but leaves the surface a little too rough for my liking so I use a diamond dresser.
The tool rests are strong and solid but if you need to make frequent adjustments to the rest, as I do, you should think about replacing the supplied bolts with rachet knobs for easier adjustment.
I think that Delta should have connected the two grinder exhaust ports together, as they face each other, and provided a single vacuum connection. The side facing exhaust portrs make connecting an exhaust hose awkward.
The grinder I received runs very quiet with almost no vibration once that the wheels trued up. It takes up a lot more space on my work bench than the old sears grinder it replaced but the extra clearance between the wheels and motor housing makes grinding curved surfaces much easier. All in all, I am very pleased with this unit and I am sure that I will get many years of good service from it. For the price it is hard to beat.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
