A Massive Disappointment

"MM54" (mm54mk2)
06/03/2018 at 18:40 • Filed to: GARAGELOPNIK

I got a new Delta bench grinder for Christmas - took until today for the stars to align to put it together. What a mistake that was - nothing ruins a Sunday like absurdly low quality tools.

Here’s a summary of the problems encountered with this brand new factory-sealed product (Delta 23-196), in order encountered during assembly:

It comes with stones, which wobble a lot when you turn it. This will be brutal when spinning with the motor running, not sure what’s so far out of whack but for factory-installed stones, this is unacceptable.

The guards aren’t clocked the same - see above how the one on the right has the opening ‘higher’ than the one on the left. Not sure if adjustable but again unacceptable out-of-the-box.

One of the threaded holes for the spark guard (which also holds the clear shield) on the left side was stripped. From the factory. This means that part is wobbly and will be bouncing off the stone in no time.

The spark guards are not square to... anything. Cheap stamped parts.

There are carriage bolts that hold the clear plastic shields on. Their square bit is longer than the bracket is thick, so it fouls on the part you’re attaching. I had to get a washer with an ID larger than the square bit to be a spacer (barely visible above, silver washer to the left of the upper left blue knob).

Since these clear shields bolt to the spark guards (which are bent all wonky) they are also not square with... anything.

You’ll have to remove the workpiece holder (the big flat bit you rest whatever you’re grinding on) to change the stone, more of a design than quality issue - and one is notched at a 45 degree angle (not pictured), so screw you if you wanted to hold something square to both stones. They don’t aren’t meant to interchange side-to-side.

The plastic-handled bolts (lower blue knobs in above picture) thread into a welded nut on the lower bracket. One of them has such awful threads, it won’t even go in, thus the one is missing in the above picture. No idea what size thread this is supposed to be.

That’s right - I couldn’t even finish putting the stupid thing together. This is sub-harbor freight quality from a name brand. If it weren’t a gift purchased over 6 months ago it would already be back in the box to get sent back.

Bonus picture of the “threads” mentioned in the last bullet above:

The other one wasn’t much prettier, but at least it fit the nut. This one gets about 1 turn in and stops, probably because the threads have a step in them...

DISCUSSION (8)

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > MM54
06/03/2018 at 18:58

Well that’s a downer. I bought a royobi from home cheapo and it works great.

MM54 > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
06/03/2018 at 19:01

I’ve used harbor freight junk better than this. I really don’t know what I’m going to do at this point, zero faith this thing is going to last very long at all, if I can even figure out the hardware to put it the rest of the way together, get the stones to spin straight, etc.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > MM54
06/03/2018 at 19:26

Fairly typical standard these days for a volume branded product. Prices and margins are maintained by cheapening out the product rather than letting the growth economy take its natural course.

The motor will probably run for a million years but everything else is junk. Sure it isn’t a GM malaise era period piece?

MM54 > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
06/03/2018 at 20:12

For lack of being able to do much else with it, it looks like I’ll have to go pick up some hardware to make the loose bits stop with the flopping around and be able to finish putting it together at least, not to mention figuring out why the stones wobble an easy 1/8" when you spin it.

The motor may run forever but it’s got the “variable speed” circuitry that I’m sure will let the smoke out before too long.

Urambo Tauro > MM54
06/03/2018 at 20:19

Friggin’ Delta too now? Damn, I just double-checked reviews on Amazon, and a lot of them are confirming the same issues that you’re experiencing. (BTW, double-check your model number. 23-126 isn’t coming up, and Kinja won’t let me zoom in on your pic.)

MM54 > Urambo Tauro
06/03/2018 at 21:11

It seems they’ve got to shit as well, I’m afraid. It’s 23-196 - thanks, corrected above. I left an amazon review around the same time I posted here.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > MM54
06/03/2018 at 23:52

I would start with new stones and work up from there. It’s probably the same as cheap bicycles and drop saws which are much improved by replacing the supplied wheels or blades...

MM54 > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
06/04/2018 at 19:07

New stones won’t remedy the “it doesn’t even go together” issue. One will be replaced with a wire wheel anyways.