Cousin bought a Wilton Square Wheel back in the 80's. Well built machine, just wasn't that great for knife grinding.
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Cousin bought a Wilton Square Wheel back in the 80's. Well built machine, just wasn't that great for knife grinding.
You see that square horizontal tube? I have a solid stock tube that replaces my "flat platen" that mostly keeps my 8" wheel on it. You can also attach a flat grinding "table" to the tube.
I had fits with this build. Putting together the grinder was a cakewalk. My first motor AND VFD were bad, drove me crazy. The 2 hp motor is a 3phase 1700 rpm (don't remember exact & it's raining out or I would check exact) and I can slow it down to a crawl with the vfd and it still has plenty of torque to profile blades. The drive is 3.5" IIRC.
Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I will take some time and slowly think about which works best for me :)
I've been using a Coote 2x6x48 belt grinder for about 20 years. It is a great heavy duty machine. I simply change pulley sizes to vary the speed. Even though it is "small", I have made everything from bowie knives to small pairing knives to razors with it. They are about $400 plus the motor, shipping and mounting. If you pick up a used motor, you can have everything for under $500.
Coote Belt Grinder