Thread: Building your own grinder: cheap and easy

I got this one for free. I already had one, but I tried this one first because it was the crappiest of the 2.
I have since converted the other one to a grinder as well, and it still works fine. I now take care not to use it for more than 30 minutes at a time. So far so good.

Our old washing machine is standing in my garage with the idea of hooking it up there. But I am thinking of taking out the vari-speed motor and building myself a real grinder.
The plans for a real grinder are stickied in the Forge, but so far I haven't had the time to really look into it.
Maybe somewhere later this year.

This one is dirt cheap, and you can build it in less than an evening.

I think your grinder was a real grinder. The seven day set you did looked really good. I think that tools used for your avocation need not be the latest and greatest. As long as they make your hobby more enjoyable, that is all that matters. If you were depending on the grinder to earn money and put food on the table it would be a different story. I like to tinker and figure out different ways to get things done with what I have. I like hearing and seeing other people’s ideas and contraptions.

And yes Rube Goldberg is a hero of mine.



Charlie

If there is a harbor frieght near by check em out,they have buffers and grinders under 50$ and there good for the money. I have a buffer I paid 47$ has the extended shafts so your blades and hands arent all in the grinder. For the money its great they have alot of sales thats when to buy. They have a web sight too.http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...ffer&Submit=Go

bruno, you rock dude!! you gave me some inspiration and i have since made something that works similar to what you are doing here. i will come back and try to post up some pics to show you my set up. between you, toxik, spazola, kenrup, i have learned much on making do with what you have. thank you guys for all that you do for us to inspire us.

vgod

That's great! I did a similar thing, but with a drill as the motor & a bit more labour intensive to get similar results.
Firstly i used a router with an adjustable jig to cut perfect circles from ply. The great thing is that you can adjust the size so that they fit the grind of individual razors & keep adding the ply discs till it's as wide as you want.
I fitted a large bolt through the centre & clamped it in place with a nut & washer.
The bolt extends one side to allow it to be fitted into a chuck.
The disc gets wrapped with foamy double sided tape, to provide a cushion & hold the sand paper.
Drill goes in a vice & you're away, at last!
The razor shown was the one that the sander was made to fit & is a bit of a wedge.
Hope this is not classed as a hijack!

Originally Posted by ben.mid

Firstly i used a router with an adjustable jig to cut perfect circles from ply. The great thing is that you can adjust the size so that they fit the grind of individual razors & keep adding the ply discs till it's as wide as you want. That's exactly what I was looking for! A method to cut some perfect circles and have adjustable sizes. I have read of that router device before but it did not come to mind. Now I can use that 1.5 HP router of mine, now to find the device.
I fitted a large bolt through the centre & clamped it in place with a nut & washer. I like the idea of using a variable speed drill.
The bolt extends one side to allow it to be fitted into a chuck.
The disc gets wrapped with foamy double sided tape, to provide a cushion & hold the sand paper.
Drill goes in a vice & you're away, at last!
The razor shown was the one that the sander was made to fit & is a bit of a wedge.
Hope this is not classed as a hijack!

Thanks a bunch for posting this! I need to make more wheels for my grinders and this is a great solution.

Many thanks!

Thanks Randy,
You can make the guide. I used threaded bar that fit's through the channels that hold the fence. I flattened one end & drilled a hole to allow a screw through. You just screw this to the board & it becomes the centre of your circle with the router revolving around that point. With long enough bar you can make virtually any size. It helps if you fix the board you're cutting down, both within & outside the disc to be removed. My drill has a speed sensitive trigger, so i use a zip tie, or rubber band to determine speed. That helps with keeping the heat generated to a minimum.