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Here is my new low budget 1X42 grinder. I have been looking at Wayne Goddard’s $50 Knife Shop book, where he talks about home made grinders. I bought the motor at a garage sale and used castor wheels for the pulleys. I turned down a wheel on my wood lathe and installed bearings to make the contact wheel. I put it together and tried it out today, it is not bad for a grinder mostly made of scrap.
Charlie
Here are pics of the left and right side of the blade that I sanded on. It is not perfect but it is a good start.
Charlie
The 42 in grinder/sander is my want list..the whole list.
You did a terrific job of making that STUFF come together into a great tool.
Thanks for sharing this
Grinder looks great man!!! I bought a 1x30" real cheap a while back. Making one looked kinda tough.
that is awesome charlie, what grit is that paper?
vgod
It is a 40 micron belt, it made pretty quick work of the rust.
Charlie
Perfect Charlie.... absolutely brilliant
That's got to be better than hours of rubbing by hand... the finish looks a million bucks too.
Greg Frazer
Got that book....now to find me some spare parts.
Very interesting.
How do you keep the belt from running off the wheel?
Are the wheels shaped, or did you spend a lot of time aligning them?
Nice grinder, Charlie. That Wayne Goddard book is great.
Bruno,
From what I've read, it's fairly simple to keep belts tracking smoothly. If the wheels weren't shaped to begin with, I'd probably turn the motor on with the drive wheel mounted, then use sandpaper to put a slight crown on it as it spins. I shaped my big 8" contact wheel this way. Another option is to just build up the center of the drive wheel with electrical tape or something similar. Apparently this works pretty well and lasts a long time.
Josh
A friend of mine has a home built table saw. This reminds me of the way that works. Very similar
The Drive wheel has a slight crown, the contact wheel is flat. The belt tracking was not a big issue. I just tapped (left-right) the arm around with a hammer til I found then sweet spot the tighted the big wing nut.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
I have found that if I press hard and lose tension the belt will slip off, but if I use a light touch it works fine.
I will have to make more contact wheels and think about building version 2 now that I know the idea works.
Charlie
What size is your motor, and what is the rpm?
Your tension issue could be solved by adding a third, fixed, wheel as the contact point then your current one becomes just a tension arm that might allow you to use a little more pressure if you want to.
It is a 1725rpm motor, I think it is a 1/4 horse but I am not sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyle76
Charlie
That's awesome! One day when I have the room...:rolleyes:
-Pary
That is what I will do on the next version, a really good idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildtim
This one was quick and dirty just to see if it would work.
Charlie
Fantastic. I had some wandering curiousity about having my own regrinding setup, but put it off as I really had no idea where to start and not much experience. Now that I can see a nice DIY one, I hope to at some point give 'er a go.
I am taking notes as I type this. A friend had his washing machine go belly up but he assures me that the motor is good. I've got the motor now, and a bit of work ahead of me but your post gives me hope.
Are you also able to convert it to accomodate a buffling wheel?
Forgive my ignorance but just how do you use the belt sander to polish a blade ?
Where on the belt and in what kind of orientations do you hold the blade ?
Cheers
Barney
I used another old motor for the buffer. I bought a taperd spindle and jewlers buffs to do the buffing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tfaust
Wayne Goddard’s $50 Knife Shop book is a great book.
When I build the next version I will use a three wheel set up with only the tensioner wheel moving
Charlie
Here are action shots of the polishing.Quote:
Originally Posted by barneycg
I also put in a pic of my soft contact wheel, it is self adhesive weather strip taped to the wheel. The soft surface makes for a larger contact area it helps when the hollow of the razor and the wheel are not the same diameter. I also have a pic of a wooden contact wheel and my cooling set up (spray bottle). I have nearly been exclusively using the belt wet set when sanding.
Charlie
I would like to thank you, Mr. Spazola, for the inspiration.
I have ordered the Wayne Goddard book and salvaged a 1/3 HP, 1400 rpm motor from an old industrial extractor fan which I had kicking about, so we'll see how I go on.
Very inspiring. Makes me want to get my own sander running ASAP. I've been hand sanding and my fingers are worn out.
Absolutely brilliant work.
I'll have to make one of these out of an old grinder I've got.
where do you get the belts from.