Craftsman Professional  Variable Speed 8'' Bench Grinder (21162)

After owning this thing, with regular use for approximately 18 months, I notice that the shaft slides back & forth through the motor.  On disassembly, I find the left hand bearing is no longer solid on the shaft.  Haven't gotten to a bearing puller to find if it is the bearing or the shaft.

The slack is a little more than 1/16th inch, but it sure causes additional vibration. 

I notice that this thing has a 0ne-year warranty, except when it is used for business or proffessional purposes.  So why is it called a "Professional" grinding station?

First off, I didn't pay full price - I waited for it to go on sale, used some bonus points and membership discounts and wound up paying $89. It arrived on the scheduled day. I opened the box and removed the contents, checking them against the instruction manual, and all the parts were there. I assembled it per the instructions and, because of the reviews saying it had a tendency to dance, clamped it to my bench. I plugged it in and turned it on and noticed a very slight vibration. I used the enclosed dressing wheel on the stone for a couple of seconds and, what little vibration there was, stopped immediately. I removed the clamps and used it, free standing, immediately. I don't have any problem recommending the tool and only wish I'd bought it sooned. Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had a problem with any of the many Craftsman tools I've bought over the last 50+ years I've used them.

out of the box the grinder had a bad vibration,i took off wire wheel and grinder runs smooth,called sears and they sent a new wire wheel,still has a vibration but not as bad but still have to take wire wheel off when you sharpen drill bits because you can not hold bits steady even in the bit holder that came with the grinder.

Mine came with a the following grinding wheel:

8" x 1" x 5/8" 60 grit grinding wheel.

I cannot really determine the availability of other grit wheels.

Any suggestions?

I purchased this grinder for the variable speed capability.  Especially the fact that is has a low end of 1725 RPM.   Not only do you get a low speed grinder, you get all the speeds up to 3450 RPM.  The light is a nice added feature.  The tool rests serve there purpose, but if you are a wood worker, you will find yourself making jigs and larger tool rests for added convenience. The one thing that I was most concerned about was grinding wheel wobble.  It existed right out of the box.  I read a bunch of articles on how to cure it.  The one that worked the best was a simple fix.  Just rotate the wheel and flange, with the shaft held in the same place until the wobble is minimized.  It actually works.  Once the grinder is up to speed, it works great.  Not sure the wire wheel is that valuable.  Purchase a nice 80 grit wheel for some nice sharpening.     

brand new out of the box, the speed control doesnt work. does it matter, not sure how i feel about it, no replacement parts are available yet. the sears by me sucks for returns, oh well.

I bought one of these a few months ago because I was tired of using sandpaper in the shop to clean metal things. And I decided to spend the extra money for the variable speed control model. *wow*. I can see why my grandfather had a bench grinder on his work bench; this thing is exceptionally *useful*. It works well, cleans things with the wire brush, and the grinding wheel is much nicer than sitting around with hand files. The quality of this unit is excellent; made with metal and solid. The speed control is something I use a lot; buy it, you will be amazed at how much you use it. Overall an excellent value and my only regret is I didn't buy one years ago.

Unlike some of the reviews that said this grinder will vibrate badly, I did not experience this. In fact I have it sitting on my metal work bench not bolted down and it ran perfectly smooth. I like the variable speed control and overall I think it is top quality. I have owned a smaller 6 inch craftsman grinder that I took to our lake home and this one stays in my shop. I do a lot of welding and other mechanical jobs and would highly recommend this grinder. I love the drill bit sharping bench that fits on this grinder as well. You don't see this on a lot of the other grinders. A very good product.

This grinder suffers from what I consider one major design flaw and two quality issues which can add up to a whole lot of vibration. The design flaw is insufficient seating area for the flange washers. The difference between the largest diameter (seating area) of the arbor and the wheel mounting area is only 0.046", meaning at *best* there is only 0.023" contact around the circumference of the shaft for the flange washer to seat against. Guys, to put that in perspective, that's less then 6 sheets of paper thick! Add in the washer inside diameter tolerance to make the flange washer fit over the shaft, and any chamfer on the ID of the flange washer, and the contact area goes down from there. To make matters worse, there is a relatively deep and wide (wider than the flange washer is thick) groove cut into the arbor at the seating area that the flange washers 'fall' into. The end result is poor reference between the arbor shaft and the flange washer, which can result in a perpendicularity issue between these parts, creating side-to-side wobble of the grinding or wire wheel. The quality issues stem from stamped flange washers that have wobble issues of their own, and a grinding wheel that also has flatness issues. Add all the tolerances up and it's totally hit or miss if your grinder will come out of the box running smooth or vibrate off the table. I admire the guy that trued up his flange washers on a lathe, but I don't have one. Can you true it up yourself? Maybe. I used a 12-step process (rotating the inner flange washer, the grinding wheel, and then the outer flange washer through each of 4 positions) that proved very repeatable to 'walk' the side-to-side wobble out of the grinding wheel. First the setup. Unplug the grinder. Use a black Sharpie to make an index mark on the end of the arbor. Use a silver sharpie to make index marks every 90 degrees (1, 2, 3, and 4 'tick' marks) on the EDGES of the flange washers and on the outside label for the grinding wheel. Line the single tick marks with the index mark on shaft, and tighten the arbor nut. The chamfered side of the nut should always face the arbor washer. Make sure everything is still lined up with the index mark on the end of the arbor after tightening. Spin the grinding wheel by hand and note the amount of wobble. (Since the wheel is moving so slowly, I placed my thumb on the inner shield and let the grinding wheel come very close, noting how much the gap changed. Loosen the arbor nut, pull the grinding wheel back out, and line up '2' tick mark on the inner flange washer with the index mark on the end of the arbor. All other parts should remain at the '1' tick mark, you only want to change one variable at a time. After repeating this process for all four tick marks on the inner flange washer, return it to whichever of the four positions produce the least wobble and keep it there. The index mark on the arbor shaft is always your reference. Repeat this process for the four positions of the grinding wheel, keeping the inner flange washer at it's best position, and the out washer still at tick mark '1'. Return the grinding wheel to the best of the four positions you tested. Keeping the inner flange washer and the grinding wheel in their best positions, repeat for the outer flange washer. You will probably see little effect with this last component, but it is the easiest one to adjust. Using this method, I can take components with approximately 1/8? of wobble and get it down to about 1/64?, if that. It?s really a shame to have to go through all this trouble though. Sears / Craftsman has always been my ?go-to? company for tools. But their attention to product design and product quality has really declined over the years and I?ve started buying other brands instead. In this case, I kept the Craftsman, but WAKE UP Sears / Craftsman!

I was very surprised that this grinder was so well balanced, even with the stock grinding wheels. I also like the speed control knob, that way you can turn the rpm down to 1750 rpm for use with buffing wheels. The dressing wheel ain't much to speak of though, it sure isn't a "Desmond" dressing wheel.