Dictum DS150L slow-speed grinder

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MarkDennehy

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Hi folks,
My old lidl parkside bench grinder, which was being used for sharpening turning gouges along with everything else decided that immediately after fitting it with a shiny new Tormek jig setup was the perfect time to start letting the wheels come lose and vibrate like a potentially lethal washing machine, so deferring the purchase till later this year is something I'd rather not do now for fear-of-dying-to-flying-rocks reasons.

At the moment Creusen 7500TS slow speed grinders seem to be out of stock everywhere, and most of the places that carry them are in the UK which - for reasons being shouted about elsewhere - is not a viable option for me in the short term (I'm in Ireland). So the lovely red box isn't an option, sadly.

Given all that, has anyone tried Dictum's own brand of low-speed grinder? This one: DICTUM Low-speed Grinder DS 150 L | Grinders / Accessories | Dictum
To me, it looks okay but that's in the pictures on the interwebs rather than "I've seen it and it's a nice bit of kit" which I could say about the Creusen (because they used those in the school where I did my turning course and I learned to make a mess of sharpening gouges on one). So appealing to a wider audience in here, does anyone have one and is it a solid bit of kit or is it a pricier parkside?

Thanks...
 
I have had this Grinder for just over a year now and it is the best I have had, although it looks like the Axminster, and others it is more robust than them.

I ordered it and received it in about 5 days from Germany, mind you that was pre-Brexit.

Richard
 
Dictum stuff is usually excellent, but worth checking if they will ship - Dieter Schmidt has stopped shipping to UK at least for now, due to Brexit problems
 
Axminster do a slow running grinder in their Trade series for £172. Unfortunately, it’s not in stock either.
This pandemic has a lot to answer for.
The Axminister one is lovely but literally won't fit. To say space in my shed is limited is... rather understating the problem I'm afraid. There's enough space for this and it could be about two inches longer but after that I'm into major rework again...
2021-01-14-17.02.18a.jpg
 
It is a chunky boi.

2021-02-01-20.58.12a.jpg


2021-02-01-21.02.42a.jpg


There are minor niggles, like I'd have liked another metre of power cord, and a UK plug, and I really didn't like that the bolts that attach the perspex sparkguards to the housing were so long they prevented the wheel from turning (okay, they might have ground down the bolt in a few seconds but I'm not a huge fan of that whole shove-something-into-the-side-of-a-grinder-wheel idea). But they're minor niggles at worst.
It's solid and runs really quietly and very smoothly and is a massive upgrade. I suppose I really shouldn't complain about the lidl grinder so much because I got five years out of it, but it scared me at the end there so I'm bitter :D If I get five years out of the Dictum, I will be very satisfied.

Before:
2021-01-13-20.04.48a.jpg


After:
2021-02-01-22.03.22a.jpg
 
Have you tried taking the wheels off the Lidl grinder to see if there was play in the arbor Mark?
Was thinking they looked good value for the money.
Did you try balancing the wheels?

Still a very useful tool if you were thinking of turning it into a buffer or for a wire wheel or custom grinder for awkward things like molding plane irons.

Thanks
Tom
 
I've not taken the lidl machine apart yet Ttrees, but I plan to take off the wheels no matter what because I bought them off axminster separately :D
(The grinder came with carbarundum and that was okay for rough-shaping bevels on chisels and planes before going to the stones with them, but for turning it obviously means my tools got shorter faster, so I changed them out).
I'll strip it down and see if the bearings are totally shot or not; if they aren't, wire wheel duty or maybe even buffing might be a good use for it, but because the shed's so small it'll have to go into storage for a while (but that would be nicer than the bin I guess).
 
Thanks Mark
Even if it is the bearings are shot, they wouldn't be expensive to replace, maybe a fiver.
I'm curious about whether its the bearings or whether the housing might be inaccurate for some reason.
I bought ones from bearingsonline.ie for my bandsaw.
Its a good shop and the man is very thorough regarding any query's you may have.

I forgot to mention nice grinder and 'health to wear', as granny used to say. :cool:
The new one looks a proper solid job that will serve you well.
Best of luck with it!

Tom
 

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