Budget Bench Grinders

[LexDevil]

I'm looking to buy a low end bench grinder for lock pick production. I have never made picks before but have wanted to for a long time and do not think that it is something that I will get bored of quickly. I know nothing about grinders and am willing to spend up to £50 for one (I'm based in the UK).

Could somebody please recommend some good, low end machines that will work well for picks? I intend to use hacksaw/winshield wiper blades.

This is one that I found on amazon.com. It is very cheap (£18). Has anyone experiance with this particular machine? Is it any good or would I be better going for a more expensive grinder?

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalo ... IMBEPMCMAA

Thanks all.

[dls]

you can get any number of bench grinders for half nothing but if you have the cash get a better one consider a used one and get a good quality set of stones for it, cheap ones will create more dust than picks.
we ues an old black and deker its probably forty years old has lots of power and just keeps on going some of the old black and decker stuff was ok before they went plastic.

[Taemyks]

You can make a very nice, cheep grinder with a spare motor with pulley, a couple pillow blocks, an appropriate axle with pulley and a belt. Bolt it together on a sheet of plywood. Fab the rests really solid, that counts more than a good wheel imho.

If you want production, I would recommend downloading a free CAD program like sketchup and finding the nearest fab shop with a flat laser that stocks the sheet that you want to work with.

For ~100$ US you could have a sheet 3X3 feet of spring steel cut up any way you want. So think like hundreds of picks any shape and size. A proper shop will nest them for you so you get the most metal and least drops...

This is what I plan to do when I get my hands on a professional pick set, just get the basics then you can program the rest/spares, even carve your name/phone in them etc in a metal I spec...

[LexDevil]

You can make a very nice, cheep grinder with a spare motor with pulley, a couple pillow blocks, an appropriate axle with pulley and a belt. Bolt it together on a sheet of plywood. Fab the rests really solid, that counts more than a good wheel imho.

That sounds a little dangerous and a bit too advanced for me! Good advice (I think!) for someone who knows what they are doing, but not for me.

By production, I don't mean mass production, more of a hobby. Something that I can enjoy, take time over and look at the end result with pride.

Thanks for the reply though.