Quick Overview
FEATURES
QUALITY
PRICE
Pros
- Decent motor for home use
- Generally well constructed
Cons
- Grinding wheel position is poor
- Tool rests aren’t great
- Wheels can wobble
If you do lots of tinkering at home, then your tools are bound to get dull eventually, regardless whether you used them correctly and took proper care of them. The edges of chisels, knives, and blades will get blunt with lots of use, so how do you regain their sharpness?
It is the duty of the bench grinder to tackle all that sharpening and honing. The bench grinder specializes in those procedures and more. Corrosion is also something we see on tools and the bench grinder can take care of this issue as well.
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If you are on the hunt for a good bench grinder, you can start by reading reviews on the precision tools site about the different products out there. Check out our review of the RIKON Power Tools 80-805 8-inch Bench Grinder.
Features of the RIKON Power Tools 80-805 8″ Slow Speed Bench Grinder
- Comes with rubber feet and cast iron base to minimize vibration during use
- Has wheels that are surrounded by sturdy spark arrestors
- Comes with separately adjustable eye shields for safety
- Has dual tool rests so you can work at various angles
- Left-hand tool rest includes a V-groove for honing drill bits
- Comes with diamond wheel dresses for wheel maintenance
- Weighs 36.9 lbs.
- Measures 16.4 x 10.8 x 11.2 inches
- Has 5-year warranty
Advantages
There are some factors you need to mull over first before buying a bench grinder. You have to consider where you are going to use the item since this particular power tool has lots of applications—it can be used to sharpen cutting devices, even out mower blades, and adjust faulty parts that require resizing. It can also recondition corroded parts. The RIKON Power Tools 80-805 is intended to be used as a sharpening device for your cutting tools and as wheel maintenance too.
One of the main parts of a bench grinder is the wheel. It is primarily used for grinding on varying tasks. It is important that you take into account the kind of wheel the grinder has and it should be something that will work for your planned projects or tasks that you frequently do. For instance, you can opt for a model like the 80-805 if you do lots of sharpening and smoothing.
Furthermore, you have to factor in the size of the motor too, plus the measurement of the wheel. Bigger motors mean bigger grinding power, so if you want to tackle more heavy-duty tasks you can opt for a model that comes with a sizable motor. As for wheels, this model is the 8-inch slow speed type so this means it is sufficient enough for home workshops and a good deal of tasks.
The 80-805 operates well and while it does produce a bit of vibration, it does not do the whole thing too badly. It can perform what it is supposed to accomplish. It was also pretty easy to set up; all you need to do is get the item out of its box, add some tiny bits to complete the unit, and you are good to go.
It has decent balance overall. As you switch the unit off, the wheel will continue to spin for a few minutes before it finally stops. Overall, this is a good, well-constructed unit. It comes with a diamond dresses plus friable wheels, but it is encumbered by some major disadvantages, which we are going to discuss next.
Disadvantages
The issue with the RIKON Power Tools 80-805 is that its grinding wheel is positioned in place by a stamped disk instead of the machine type. This disk often lies against the motor shaft’s shoulder cut to sustain a straighter wheel. However, this shoulder is a bit short for such a bigger disk to rest against, so it ends up only pressing on the hole’s edge in the disk and does not give lots of metal/metal contact that can act as support for the disk.
The tool rests were also a bother to adjust and are not that sturdy, but at least there are options when it comes to aftermarket replacements.
You can also choose to make your own, but if you do not want to be bothered, just go for another bench grinder model with all the features and the design elements you need. Another issue about the product is that both wheels, unfortunately, produce a lot of radial and lateral wobble.
This radial wobble can be solved by dressing the wheels, but the lateral wobble is going to be a persistent problem. As mentioned earlier, this unit does produce vibration and this vibration takes place whenever the grinder’s speed comes out and it stabilizes.
Verdict
The RIKON Power Tools 80-805 8-inch Bench Grinder is a well-made product, but it displayed lots of drawbacks in terms of design. This design problem could have been solved but it appears the company did not try to do anything with those issues. It can still be improved on though. Just get another bench grinder instead from other brands.
