charadeur Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I am making one of the no weld belt grinders form USAKnifmaker.com. I have it about ready except for the aluminum idler and drive wheels. The plans say to buy them but I have a lathe and can't see a good reason why I should not try to make them. Has anyone else done this? If so can you share some details? Maybe I should just buy them but as you can imagine the cost will be near $200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I am not familar with the machine you are building, but I have made plenty of aluminum drive and idler wheels. Find some sealed bearings for the idler with the correct I.D. for the ider shaft you are using. The O.D. isn't critical as you will be cutting a spot in your aluminum wheel for the bearings to sit in. For the drive wheel, a bit of a crown is most likely needed, between 1 and 2 degrees usualy works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charadeur Posted September 8, 2009 Author Share Posted September 8, 2009 Thanks for that info. I did notice that the drive wheel and tracking wheel had a crown. I know this is a really newbie question but how do you cut a crown like that? I know how to do a taper do you just taper both sides? It seems like that would leave a ridge in the center that would not be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I believe that a crown is several short tapers with a flat in the center. New stuff likely is computer cut, old stuff was ground after being cut, or left to wear on their own. You might need to ask on a lathe/machinist forum instead. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triw Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 charadeur I was not familuar with the grinder you are talking about so I looked it up sounds nice let me know how it works for you. Also what h/p motor are you going to use? Thanks William Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 (edited) Crown is easy,Set the compound rest at 1 degree, cut to the right from the center of the wheel, set the compound at one degree on the other side of zero, cut to the left from center of wheel. You must feed the cutter with the compound screw, not the carraige feed. That is all, very simple. Edited September 9, 2009 by arftist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charadeur Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 Thanks arftist. I don't have any big pieces of aluminum so I will price them out with the bearings and see if I will save enough to give it a try. My gut says it will be worth it if the wheels turn out good. William, I have a 3/4 I will test with but once I know it is working I will get a 1.5. I am hoping to find a rebuilt one but I think new they are around $200. Right now I have it all built except the table and the wheels. I did some welding. You can build it without welding but some of it just seemed silly to use bolts when welding was faster and easier. In the bladesmilth forum a lot of guys have built them and been very happy. Every post I saw that completed it said it was as good as their expensive grinders. Did you see his youtube video? Very impressive. Cost wise I have about $50 into it and had to buy most all the steel from my favorite scrap place that sells drops. I figure $200 for the motor and either $100 or $300 for wheels and misc stuff depending on if I can make the wheels or not. So all in all a great grinder for $400 to $600. A lot better than the $1200+ similar grinders are selling for. And you can build more attachments as you need them. I am just starting out with a flat platen and going from there as the need arises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgtwister Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 have you considered a dc motor there varible speed and cheap if you know were to look the one i'm going to build is with one and i have most of the parts just havn't started puting it together yet for motors my buddy and i have been using tredmill motors most are 2-3 hp and you can find them in the garbage and craigslist you just have to make sure its a dc motor not the ac most i have gotten are dc though and theres most times the wiring diagram is in side and if its the digatal ones you can wire in the right switch and radioshack has them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charadeur Posted September 11, 2009 Author Share Posted September 11, 2009 I have not considered a DC motor but wouldn't a treadmill motor run pretty slow compared to the high rpms needed for a belt grinder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsmith Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 (edited) I just recently did what you are talking about, my belt sander is of my own design but I made the drive wheel and idlers for it on the lathe, the specs I found for crowning the drive pulley called for .031 crown, (2" wide 4"diamater), as said earlier I accomplished this by cutting with the coumpound rest, because I left a flat zone in the center and tapered off both edges, I used 2.5 degrees on the coumpound, effectivly making a trapaziod crown, knocked down and smoothed the edges, but left tooling lines on the face for traction. I wrote up a BP on the whole thing should come up next week woodsmith Edited November 4, 2009 by woodsmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 depending on what size belt you are running, an idler / tensioner off of a car's serpentine belt should work. You can also cut a radius crown with the lathe's compound. Offset your tool behind the compounds pivot for the radius needed, and loosen the compound's clamping bolts, so that it swivels. Come up to the part, and swing the tool around the part to cut the radius.Move the cross slide in until you get a full cut all across the face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmeineke Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 have you considered a dc motor there varible speed and cheap if you know were to look the one i'm going to build is with one and i have most of the parts just havn't started puting it together yet for motors my buddy and i have been using tredmill motors most are 2-3 hp and you can find them in the garbage and craigslist you just have to make sure its a dc motor not the ac most i have gotten are dc though and theres most times the wiring diagram is in side and if its the digatal ones you can wire in the right switch and radioshack has them Where do you get the power supply and how do you vary the speed? As I understand it, you can't just turn the voltage down to slow the motor without losing torque - you have to use some kind of speed controller circuit. I have a 90 volt 1 HP DC motor and a couple 1/3 HP motors that run on 48 volts, but finding a power supply for that much voltage is a bit tough. I just figured it would be easier to use 120V AC motors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Just a thought, if you have a forge and a lathe, and were thinking of doing the idlers out of aluminum anyways, there is no reason that you couldn't cast the idlers. The only other ingredients you lack are a crucible of some type, some fine dry sand and a metal bucket, and some styrofoam (or the building insulation type foam). Make a blank on a mandrel from the foam, sand it to shape on the lathe, shape it like a WWII German grenade, with the idler on the end and a three inch or so handle. The handle part is the part that you will use to chuck it in the lathe to bore the through hole and the bearing recess. Make a crucible from a large piece of threaded black pipe and a cap that fits it. Bury the foam in the dry sand with the handle pointed up, and using your forge as the heat source, melt enough aluminum to fill the mold and a bit extra. Voila, an idler that only needs a bit of machining and some cleanup. This is well within the skill range of the average blacksmith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 this is probably a little late but I will throw it out there, go to goodwill and get some roller skates four wheels on each skate with bearings, I needed an idler for my belt sander and that's what I did it works great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 Just a thought, if you have a forge and a lathe, and were thinking of doing the idlers out of aluminum anyways, there is no reason that you couldn't cast the idlers. The only other ingredients you lack are a crucible of some type, some fine dry sand and a metal bucket, and some styrofoam (or the building insulation type foam). Make a blank on a mandrel from the foam, sand it to shape on the lathe, shape it like a WWII German grenade, with the idler on the end and a three inch or so handle. The handle part is the part that you will use to chuck it in the lathe to bore the through hole and the bearing recess. Make a crucible from a large piece of threaded black pipe and a cap that fits it. Bury the foam in the dry sand with the handle pointed up, and using your forge as the heat source, melt enough aluminum to fill the mold and a bit extra. Voila, an idler that only needs a bit of machining and some cleanup. This is well within the skill range of the average blacksmith. Thanks for posting this advice. It is true that it is very easy to cast simple shapes in aluminum. I often use cast iron cook pans as moulds for pipe die blanks. Aslo, I would prefer to see a plate welded to the bottom of the pipe, rather than a cap threaded on. Above all, use extreme caution when working with liquid metals. Some purists will insist that steel should not be used as a crucible for aluminum, but it is suitable for jobs with minimal requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkunkler Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 I often use cast iron cook pans as moulds for pipe die blanks. Do you mean pipe dies for bending curves in pipe and tube? More details on your pipe dies please. Pictures would be great too. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 I make dies for my hossfeld bender (which I also built) for bending whatever I need to bend, including tube and pipe. I also make dies for rolling pipe and tube. I use aluminum, steel and plastic for making dies. For pipe bending, I make a form tool, the exact raddi of the pipe, for use in the lathe. The tool is slightly wider than half the diameter of the pipe. The stock is mounted in the lathe and one side is cut. The tool is then either turned upside down to cut the other side, or the compound rest can be swung around behind the work, and the lathe run in reverse to finnish the other side. Sorry, not capable of posting pictures at this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 I made my idler wheels. Or more accurately, finished them. They were machined to fit my bearings by a friend before I had a lathe. But since I got my HF 7" x 10" mini-lathe, the world is at my finger tips!!! OK, well I was able to put some crown on them and narrow them to 2" on it, anyway Basically, they were the center piece of stock in the picture with bearings before I chucked them up and started cutting. Tricky part was to make a shaft to hold them as my chuck didn't open far enough or fit inside the center hole to hold them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edge9001 Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Now I know I'm just not that bright, but heres a dumb question. what is the difference between a belt grinder and a belt sander? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 One is designed for use on metal and one is designed for use on wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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