Dewalt 6 Inch Bench Grinder Notes and Lamp Installation

[jjr2001]

I like my bench grinders to have a lamp to illuminate the work and it also
helps to keep track of my fingers!. Why do many of these grinders not have
a built in lamp. Funny thing is Harbor Freight has several grinders with lamps but
their horsepower seems a bit on the low side.

So I bought this 6" Dewalt bench grinder and then at Home Depot I found a nice
stainless steel based goose neck lamp designed for the new LED bulbs. Link to the Lamp:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-...8197/202742928

Removed the lamp "shade" and reduced it's size to just enough to shade the lamp from my eyes when
the lamp is pointed to the wheel. Removed it from the SS base, made a bracket from steel
channel (had to heat it and bend it a bit for the angle on the grinder base). Wiring is to the
output side or load side of the DPDT switch in the grinder base. All wire joints are soldered and
heat shrink tubing was installed. Nice, now I have a nice bright light on my new bench grinder.
That worked out so well I am going to eliminate my bench lamp I am using for my 8" delta grinder
and replace that in the same manner.

That should be the end of the story however the Taiwan made grinder should have been called
a Dewalt Walker. Turned the thing on and it rotated itself on the bench and made my tools bounce!

Balanced the very unbalanced wheels and that helped a lot but I noticed the wobble of both wheels.
Found that to be caused by the extreme torque applied to the arbors made the clamping washers bend!

Put it back together and now it is soooo much better. Not perfect but useable. Now I have another project.
I will make a combination washer/arbor bushing for the inside washer replacement and a proper thick washer
for the outside wheel clamp. I think that will bring it up to a very good grinder.

Cheers, JR

[DIYer]

Thanks jjr2001! We've added your Bench Grinder Lamp to our Lighting category,
as well as to your builder page: jjr2001's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Bench Grinder Lamp by jjr2001

tags: grinder, LED

[Paul Jones]

JR,

I like your lamp improvement and the use of a frosted plastic visor-type lamp for providing more light around the grinder area.

Thanks,
Paul

[jjr2001]

Thanks Paul, that $16.00 lamp was made just to modify it and put it on a grinder!
The new LED Reflector lamps (R20 in this case) are perfect for focusing the light
where it is needed. The modified "shade" keeps the bright bulb out of my eyes.

Cheers, JR