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Bench Grinder....6" Enough?

That will work fine, but I prefer a bench top polishing motor. Harbor freight has one and it has longer shafts that seem better for the 3m wheels.
 
I have an 8” grinder, but that’s just because I use it for other things. The 6” will work fine. The issue I had with my 8” was that the motor housing is nearly as big as a 6” scotch brite wheel (hard to fine 8” scotch brite wheels that have an arbor hole the appropriate size), which doesn’t leave much room for maneuvering parts while deburring. To deal with that I put on an arbor extension that kicks the wheel out a few more inches and gives a lot more room. If I were just buying a new unit purely for scotch brite use, I’d probably go with a buffer because of the long arbors they tend to have.
 
Longer shafts are good. I found that having an electric motor with a diameter less than the wheels' diameter was very useful in working with long, straight pieces of aluminum -- this also helps to keep the wheels' wearing surfaces square.
 
The HF one will go about three years (or half a project) and then it will start going super wobbly and shake everything to death. I've seen 5 of them go this way. It might be worth a few extra dollars to get a delta or better if you are in it for the long run. Otherwise plan to buy a second one at some point (or bolt it securely to the floor not a bench when the bearings loosen up).
 
Personally, I haven't found any need for a bench grinder. I'm building a standard-build RV-3B, which is a more primitive kit than the later ones, so if ever one were necessary, it would be here. I'm fitting the tail now so I'm fairly far along.

Don't have one, don't need one.

Dave
 
Need One??

Ah shucks and here I am thinking one isn't enough. I have three in my hangar. one with real grinding wheels on it, one with a new scotch bright and a grinding wheel, and the other has a quite worn scotch bright wheel
I just guess I'm spoiled.
Can't have enough tools. OH ya I have that upright 2" belt sander gizmo also. Use it a lot.
Art
 
Angled Wheels

Longer shafts are good. I found that having an electric motor with a diameter less than the wheels' diameter was very useful in working with long, straight pieces of aluminum -- this also helps to keep the wheels' wearing surfaces square.

On my second build now, so a handful of Scotchbrite wheels. On this last wheel I purposely wore the wheel at about a 30 degree angle. This does a few things, the parts never run into the motor, it provides a more pointed section of the wheel to get into weird places, finally it provides a wider face to deburr with. BTW, it also has allowed me to run the wheel to a smaller diameter because I am not bumping into the motor. Just my experience - Jason
 
Thanks all for the replies. I think a scotch brite wheel comes with my PlaneTools kit....hopefully :)

I had one fine and one medium. The medium is really useful for removing material when fabricating parts (after using band saw to cut to rough shape).
 
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I had one fine and one medium. The medium is really useful for removing material when fabricating parts (like using band saw to cut to rough shape).

+1 Agree with two. Bob Avery delicately suggested the fine, so I got both to try them out. The literature suggested truing/surfacing for best balance, with the heel of a file. The fine went well, the medium removed material from the file!! Having both are highly recommended.

I have a bench grinder but never used it on a 7 build. The HF cheapest buffer has lasted thousands (many) of starts.
 
I don't have a grinder. I do use a fine #M wheel for deburring sometimes, but I have an arbor adapter that I use in my drill press. I forget where I got it from though.

A general comment on sanding/grinding aluminum. It doesn't take much to sand or grind aluminum. I mostly use my 1" HF belt sander (around $50 now). I also have an 8" disc sander because I thought I would need it. The disc sander is generally too much tool in most cases. I use finer sand paper too on both so I don't remove too much material too quickly. You can experiment with this.
 
I used this one:

https://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/polishers-buffers/6-in-buffer-61557.html

On this stand:

https://www.harborfreight.com/universal-bench-grinder-stand-3184.html

Holes didn't match up but easy to drill some that do and use a couple of bolts to mount.

The longer spindles on the buffer with completely exposed wheels makes it remarkably easier to maneuver parts to work on them.



I used top buffer.
You can hang one end over table for longer parts.
No guards on wheels so safety is very important.

Can raise with 6x6 plywood under grinder.

Boomer
 
There seems to be a lot of variation choices in getting these Scotch Brite wheels. Are these what I should be getting?
 

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