Quick Overview
FEATURES
QUALITY
PRICE
Pros
- Relatively quiet
- Comes with lights
- Portable
- Easy to assemble
- Durable
- 3 year warranty
Cons
- Pressing too hard slows the wheel
- Light is under eye guards
- Motor could be more powerful
Most DIY vets will tell you to get a moderately priced grinding machine when you buy one, as you get what you pay for. A good bench grinder can prove itself quite useful in a wide variety of DIY projects.
But what if you’re not really a true DIY fanatic and you simply want a grinding machine for light projects? If that’s the case, then perhaps the SKIL 3380-01 6-Inch Bench Grinder is for you.
CHECK LATEST PRICE ON AMAZON.COM
Features of the SKIL 3380-01 6-Inch Bench Grinder
This is not an industrial grade workshop power tool. If its price didn’t clue you in yet, it’s an entry-level bench grinder designed for the light stuff like sharpening knives and lawn mower blades and knocking out rust from some metal tools. Yet, it does have a nice set of features:
- Its 2.1-amp motor is powerful enough to rotate the wheels up to 3,450 RPM. That’s enough grinding power for most newbie grinding tasks, like sharpening cutting tools.
- This comes with two 6-inch wheels. One is a coarse wheel for quicker results when you grind away, while the other is amedium wheel for general use.
- It comes with clear eye guards that keep debris and sparks off your face. Even with these, however, you’re still welladvised to use goggles.
- It has work lights, too. Unlike other models that come with a lamp, with this model the lights are already built in with the face guards. So, it’s already there right where you need them.
- The tool rests are also present and they’re adjustable as well. You have a dial on each inner side of the tool rests to make your adjustments.
- It comes with a cast iron base and it also has rubber feet at the bottom for a solid placement on your worktable.
- It comes with a three-year warranty. However, you will be required to register it first.
- It’s quite portable and easy to carry from one spot to another, or to a friend’s house. It only weighs 20.8 pounds and it measures 15.4 by 10.8 by 8.5 inches.
[easyazon_image align=”center” height=”405″ identifier=”B003LSSS20″ locale=”US” src=”https://theprecisiontools.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/41CXPyy5TGL.jpg” tag=”precisiontools02-20″ width=”500″]
Pros
- With just a 2.1-amp motor, it isn’t very noisy at all. So, you can work without bothering other people.
- Its relatively quiet operation doesn’t mean it can’t turn very fast. It does reach 3,450 RPM, and that’s sufficient for many kinds of sharpening and grinding projects.
- It’s extremely portable. It’s easy enough to bring over to your buddy’s house, and the compact size and light weight really help. You also don’t have that overhanging lamp that can make it awkward to store away or to bring along with you.
- It has lights, too. While you can’t adjust these lights, they’re already on the eye guards so they’re optimally placed where they can shed light on your work.
- It doesn’t have all that many complicated parts, and the assembly is quite simple and quick.
- This is extremely durable as long as you get the items in good condition when it’s delivered. With its three-year warranty, you’re covered for quite a long while.
Cons
- You do have to be careful that you don’t press down on the wheel too much. That can really slow down the revolution of the wheel so that the work may grind down to a halt.
- The problem with the light is that you’ll need to keep your workpiece under the eye guard to see it clearly. That’s why many grinders with lights use a lamp design for the light in the first place.
Summary
SKIL 3380-01 6-Inch Bench Grinder excels in producing extremely affordable items that offer lots of nice features and excellent durability. You’d think that at this price point you’d end up with a cheap-quality bench grinder. But that’s not really the case with the [easyazon_link identifier=”B003LSSS20″ locale=”US” tag=”precisiontools02-20″]SKIL 3380-01 6-Inch Bench Grinder[/easyazon_link].
With this, you get ample power that’s enough for light tasks. This means you can gather up all your scissors, knives, and lawn mower blades, and you can give them a go with this machine. A single day of work on these cutting tools will immediately save you a lot of money, because it’s likely that having a pro sharpen all your cutting tools will cost you more than the price of this grinder.
That you get your money’s worth right away is a big deal, so it’s gratifying to note that SKIL still offers many kinds of bonus features that you don’t often see in many budget models. It has the lights, for example. It’s just a small addition to the machine, but it makes the work so much easier and more accurate.
This is also the item you need to get when you tend to bring your power tools to other homes. It’s very lightweight, and the compact design makes it easy to carry and to store away. Get this if you have cutting tools to sharpen, and you’ll end up saving money in the bargain. It’s also so fun to use that you may even like to be more serious with DIY projects in the future.
