Going to buy a bench grinder and am looking for advice on whether to get a 6" or 8"? Going to be using it for just general use, nothing specific. Are there more accessories (polishing wheels, wire wheels) for one size than the other? Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

I have a couple 6" that I have used for years and am happy with them. If you go larger, be sure to go for horsepower - Nothing worse than a grinding wheel that is constantly stalling. Most are OK, just don't go too cheap and get burned w/ too small a motor. I made a polishing wheel from a 3hp, 3600rpm swimming pool pump motor. Can run 10" buffs on it and HP is not too much - any less and I would be stalling all the time. Also, surface speed of the larger wheel will be higher so can burn cutting blades easier and things get ripped out of your hands more violently and thrown farther than with a 6".

Here is what Harbor Freight offers. Wide range of sizes. HPs look ok. Smaller ones are 3600 rpm, 10" is 1750 rpm.

I would suggest you also spring for a full faceshield. The kind you can flip up. You can get them pretty cheap. Don't trust safety glasses! Those little wires off the brush can be quite painful when they fly off and find a home in your eyeball. Been there! And yes, I had on safety glasses.

best thing to get is 8" and the strongest motor u can fine.
those small hp motors just suck when you put force onto the grinding stones

Another thing to think about is how are you going to use it? Is it going to be a dedicated grinder, or are you also going to use it for a wire brush and/or buffer? Power requirements can make a big difference in these cases because a dedicated wire brush (i.e. two different brushes on one machine) will be easier to stall than a grinder because the grinder wheel(s) acts as a flywheel(s).

I've got an 8" variable speed Delta grinder that does what I need it to, but when I was using it with just the wire wheels I had to have a light touch or I could stop it dead. Now what I have is one side is a dedicated grinder, while the other side is the wire brush or buffer - much better and easier to use. I don't have to worry about stalling it like I used to.

Face shield is a must as well. Nothing like feeling the *wham* of some piece of grit hitting you *just* below the eye, only to find out later that it was a piece of wire from the brush and it is now embedded in the skin like a spear.