wingless' Jet IBG-8 8" Industrial Grinder

wingless · August 21

Looong ago I had a nice 6" electric bench grinder, but have been "making do" w/o this important tool for a long time.

The Jet IBG-8 8" 1HP 3,600 RPM bench grinder was selected / purchased (Jet IBG-8 Operating Instructions). The Jet JPS-2A pedestal stand and the Jet 3W LED lamp were also purchased to maximize utility of this tool.

My initial impression is that all this stuff is very well-made and is heavy duty. The manufacturer recommends handling / setup as a two-person operation, even though it is possible to be completed by one person.

The tool / stand MUST be bolted down, either onto a bench (w/o the stand), or onto the floor. I selected floor mounting, at the corner near the entrance door and garage door, up close to the wall and to the power receptacle. It was placed close enough to the garage door rail to permit removing the wheel cover, so the wheel could be swapped w/o having to move the setup. One thing I discovered is that one of the five cover screws was obstructed by the garage door rail, so I just drilled an appropriately placed hole in the rail to permit tool access to that fastener, now all is good.

The tool comes w/ a coarse and a fine vitrified 8" grinding wheel already installed, one on each side. My expected primary usage is for the fine wheel and a wire wheel, so I replaced the coarse (left) wheel w/ a DeWALT DW4907 8" wire wheel. One thing I discovered is that the original wheel has a paper label and that paper wheel label bonds to the retention hubs making the swap more difficult. In my case the paper wheel label bonded itself to those wheel retention hubs, so I scraped those paper labels off the hubs and then glued them back in place, onto the grinding wheel. The DeWALT wire wheel has a galvanized metal hub, so there will be no issue during replacement.

As expected, the grinder has an adjustable tool rest for each wheel and each also has a clear plastic safety shield. The grinder also includes a single vacuum suction connection w/ a clever duct to share vacuum extraction on both shrouded wheels. The large on/off paddle switch has the typical removable central safety key.

The motor has a very nice start up / shut down and is rock solid during operation.

The tool includes a very nice hand held wheel dressing tool. The dressing tool wheels are pushed against the operating grinding wheel face. Usage of this tool shoots out a large stream of sparks as it works to flatten the exterior wheel circumference.

The JPS-2A pedestal stand includes a nice shelf, secured to the post w/ a pinch bolt, permitting shelf rotational and height adjustment based on preferences. Half of that adjustable shelf has a large hole for the large / heavy duty quench bucket, the other half has a flat shelf w/ a perimeter lip for handy storage during usage. The pedestal was bolted to the floor using ½-13 Grade 8 bolts and lag shield split concrete anchors. One thing I discovered is that it was IMPOSSIBLE to get this concrete lag shield hardware to work until I coated the exterior of the lag shield w/ some caulk, then it was EASY.

The 3W LED light integrates VERY nicely w/ the tool. There are Amazon reviews stating that the grinder does not include mounting points for the light. My guess is that older IBG-8 grinders did not have mounting points, leading some people to post those reviews. My brand new grinder included the P/N IBG8-50 curved mounting bracket, already bolted onto the motor exterior. The LED lamp included screws for easy attachment to the motor bracket, placing the infinitly adjustable lamp base mount attached at exactly the correct place. I'm sooo glad I got this lamp, it is VERY handy / useful.

I'm very happy w/ this tool collection and wouldn't hesitate recommending it to others. The negatives are: price, the tool and accessories are costly, but appears worth it to me; VERY not happy w/ the paper hub label that makes swapping wheels a butt pain and lastly I think the hand held wheel dressing tool should include a handle hole so it may be hung on a hook. I'm going to modify my wheel dressing tool to add that handle hole. The tool and the stand did not include bolts for attaching these parts together. I used ½-13 Grade 8 bolts.

Of course I did the obligatory lawn mower blade sharpening. It was easy w/ great results.

My new white PVC fence gate included a thick stainless strike pin and I needed to decrease the diameter at the tip so it could also grab a different latch, used to hold the spring-loaded gate open for the landscaper and his large machine. This tool was PERFECT for that modification.

The tool and lamp consume two receptacles. The tool was installed near an existing GFI protected wall receptacle. This was / is THE most frequently used receptacle in the garage, so I changed it from one duplex to two duplex receptacles, also changing from an incorrect 15A receptacle to the correct 20A receptacles. That change permits returning to having two empty receptacles for convenience usage. This is a short term solution until I add more interior receptacles lower, plus add an exterior weather protected duplex receptacle.

Installed Jet IBG-8 Grinder Kit