Gryphon Gryphette Glass Grinder

Yeah, I'm in love with this. Lets me get nice, tight fittings between my glass pieces on my mosaics. It works well. There is splatter; the guards do a pretty good job of catching it but not all. The tray underneath holds quite a bit of water so you can work for several hours of project time and not have to be constantly putting in water. Comes with sponges, and they're fit to shape but I have yet to master getting the sponge cut down/fit to just the right position. It keeps wanting to fold over in the direction of the rotation. But I will figure it out (cut a little off to make it shorter?). My unit has a bit of an odd deal where the on/off rocker switch doesn't always switch on the first time I push it, but it does turn on. Doesn't seem like the switch will fail, just ... I don't know. Can be a bit of a nuisance when you have everything in position and you want it to start. There is a waterproof shield over the switch and I wonder if it's getting hung up on that somehow. The grinder bit it comes with is a good multi-purpose bit for general use and it is easy to adjust and easy to replace. Sure wish the replacement bits were cheaper, but I start it off with the bit just up high enough to catch the edge of a typical piece of glass (3 mm) and then when that area is too worn to work effectively I adjust the bit up by another 3 mm and that way I get 4 or 5 "fresh" bits out of one. I product a piece every month or so, so this gets probably about 1 hour of use a month (of actual grinding time) and I am just now having to move the bit up for the first time after I would say between 2-3 hours of grinding time. So, this bit should last me almost a year unless I get really ambitious. The grinder is a nice size, nice weight, doesn't scoot around on the counter when I'm using it; easy to clean and store away. At this point I can't believe I ever lived without it. I posted an image to show how I can now get such a nice fit between my pieces of glass so that I can minimize grout lines for a cleaner look.

I bought a no-name brand first and got nervous so I returned it and bought this one. The store I’ve taken stained glass classes at sells it too so I knew it would be good. It works very well, not too loud and maybe it’s the way I have the sponges set up but it does make a lot of water spray. No big deal and certainly not an issue. Cleaning is standard, everything comes together and apart quickly. I’ve swapped out the grinder bit for different sizes and that worked good as well.

This thing is a work horse. It's small in size so it doesn't take up a lot of space. I grind plates and dishes of all thicknesses and materials. I turned the sponge at an angle behind the grinding but like I read in other reviews which helps keep it wet. Changing the bit is simple and I think it's pretty universal so the one they sell at Hobby lobby may work to replace. It definitely has a noise when running but not bad imo. I was listening to the hold music on my phone the other night while I grinded pieces & I could easily hear the music. Quite happy with this purchase and shipping was fairly quick.

Gryphon gryphette diamond grinder or sander is used to smooth glass and tile. The unit was 110V and not clear about this except from reviews, but I though maybe the company would send a 220V unit as it was to go to Israel which only has 220V like Europe. However, I also purchased from another company a 220V to 110V converted of 200W for about $35 and this worked to run the diamond grinder perfectly. The grinder runs quietly and grinds down tile and glass rapidly with a gentle pressure. There are copies of the grinder from China (1 year warranty) but we wanted the original that has 5 year warranty as this indicates quality and trust in their product. Also the Gryphon company has a good reputation among mosaic groups in Israel. The price was best in USA while more for a 220V unit in Israel (and actually the Chinese copy looked identical and we almost did not notice "made in China" before we decided to not buy it and look to USA/Amazon).

This product could use some upgrades. First off, the instruction book is a bit vague (especially to newbies trying to learn a new craft and are somwhat intimidated with the idea of using tools and equipment that require much caution and safety, etc.). When I first turned it on and started using it, it was working fine for a short period and then I was grinding metal on metal. My husband and I looked over the bit and actually removed it from the base to observe it further. In doing this, we realized that I had somewhat stripped the hole where the alen wrench needed to fit into to remove the bit. We had a very difficult time taking off the bit because of this; but what we also determined was that the bit was resting too low on the stem when I first turned it on and began using it. After taking the bit to Home Depot and thinking I needed to buy a new piece of sandpaper type stuff to go around the bit, the nice man at the store also determined that the hole in the bit was stripped and that there is no place for sandpaper like on a dremel. So after much discussion and confusion as to what the heck to do with this piece, I brought it back home and my husband and i worked on getting the bit back on the base and then using a very tiny tool, he was able to open the stripped hole enough to get the alen wrench into the hole, from that, we were able to adjust the bit onto the base stem where it needs to be for me to be able to grind my pieces of mosaics, etc. It now works well and I am happy to say, I am using it now without too much of a problem, but we were not happy initially with the mishap in the beginning. We think that if the book could have better instructions and perhaps more detailed pictures showing what is what and what goes where, etc. the consumer would be much happier with using this product.