I bought a 1981 or 2ish bench grinder from Habitat a few months ago. I disassembled and cleaned it, then gave it a few coats of Rust-Oleum Hammered in silver. The guards would have looked tacky in silver, so satin black it was.
I've been reading up on balancing and truing the stones. It's dizzying watching the "hold my beer" methods and the expensive ones.
I keyed the lead inside two of the washers with a dozen 1/16" drill divots and some 50 grit sandpaper. I even had some 1960s solder in a can, plus the correct flux for steel. I must be living right
Anyway, I set my beer down and soldered dom weight inside the cups. One stone down....... purrs like a babys butt.
The second stone is farther out of balance, so I might replace it with a white stone, hopefully better balanced from the get go.
I think the grinder was $25. Two cans of paint, $18.
A new rocker switch, $10
A new 6" wheel.... $14?
........ cheap grinders can start getting expensive.
As that old commercial went,
...........enjoy the ride.........
I used Penny's taped to the wheel to balance them, then used a gram scale to guestimate the amount of lead required. Perfection on the first try