Thread: Low budget grinder V2 clone....thanks Charlie

Guys, I had been looking around at belt grinders to try my hand at a custom blade or two. I had a very small budget and was dissapointed to see the cost of setting up or purchasing a belt grinder. Then I found Charlie's (Spazola) thread showing his low budget grinder V2. So after many hours pouring over Charlie' pics, and even more hours in the workshop, here is the almost finished product.

I got the motor off an old pool pump that I was given (0.5hp and 3000rpm). The contact wheel is timber and has a alloy hub with two bearings pressed into it. I used a strip of rubber from an old truck tube for the contact wheel, yet to see if it needs more than one layer. The rest is fairly similar to Charlie's with some minor changes made to suit the things I had laying about.

The belt runs nice and true, I have 5 drive wheels of different sizes that yield speed between 2650 sfpm and 675 sfpm.

I have a blade guide made, I just have to make some mods to my work bench to fit that and to clamp the base plate down.

Anyway, a huge thanks to Charlie and his ingenuity and thanks to my mate Al Wolski for turning my contact wheel up for me.

Looking forward to getting a blade made. Have some 6mm RWL34 ready for shaping.

Cheers,
Stu

The grinder looks good to me,

Charlie

Mighty creative
I hope the timber will hold up to the vibrations

That is so cool! You will enjoy using your grinder and the razors you make will give you a sense of satisfaction for many years.
I do have to warn you that this is just the beginning of a very bad AD called HTAD, handmade tool acquisition disorder, and it is far more compulsive than the other AD's.

But....... it is really fun!

Originally Posted by spazola

The grinder looks good to me,

Charlie

Thanks Charlie, your idea mate. Really happy with how it works so far.

Originally Posted by fragalot

Mighty creative
I hope the timber will hold up to the vibrations

Thanks but I can't take credit for any creativity, just copied a good idea. It doesn't vibrate to much, should do even less when I bolt it down.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

That is so cool! You will enjoy using your grinder and the razors you make will give you a sense of satisfaction for many years.
I do have to warn you that this is just the beginning of a very bad AD called HTAD, handmade tool acquisition disorder, and it is far more compulsive than the other AD's.

But....... it is really fun!

Yeah, really looking forward to making my first blade. Very satisfying to make the grinder from scratch I must say.

I HAVE to make one of these. I'm calling my dad tomorrow to see if he has an old motor sitting around and I have to find someone with a lathe to turn my wheels.

Question though......how are the hubs and bearings set up? What did you use for your shaft? How is the rubber held to the contact wheel?

Originally Posted by medicevans

I HAVE to make one of these. I'm calling my dad tomorrow to see if he has an old motor sitting around and I have to find someone with a lathe to turn my wheels.

Question though......how are the hubs and bearings set up? What did you use for your shaft? How is the rubber held to the contact wheel?

The drive hubs just slide onto the motor shaft, which has a threaded end. The contact wheel has an alloy hub epoxyed into the centre of it and there are two high-speed bearings pressed into the alloy hub. There is a small seat in the centre of the alloy hub for the bearings to seat on. The shaft is a socket head cap screw. This screws it into the large block. There is a thread coupler epoxyed into the block, the trick is to make sure it is in square. If you like I can take it to bits and take some pics.

The truck tyre rubber is glued to the contact wheel with contact cement. I added an additional two layers today, was a bit rugged with only one layer and was better with two.

Hope this helps.

Stu

For the wheels smaller than approx 5" you can use a hole saw mounted in a drill press. I used MDF board.

Hope thjs helps,

MDF I have, plywood I have. I would have to source a table saw or router to do the wheels, and buy the bearings, but other than that.......hmmmmmm......

What sizes of contact wheels are best for knife and razor making? What sizes of drive wheels did you make?

A range of contact wheels would be good but I only have the 8" at this stage, which I understand is a good starting point. The drive wheel sizes will depend on the speed of your motor and the surface speeds you want on your belt. If you divide your required sfpm by your motor rpm. This will give you required feet travelled in one revolution. Divide this number by 2π (2 x pi). This will give you the required radius of the drive wheel to yield your required sfpm. Be aware your answer will be in feet, just do the conversion and there you have it. Just repeat the calculation for any speeds you want.

Stu