1215 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 I have a bench grinder that I'm trying to mount/bolt to the right-front corner of my workbench. The bolt pattern is a 2 1/4" wide x 5" deep/long rectangle. Due to the diameter of the wire wheels, cotton buffers, stones, etc. they don't all fit --or some just barely fit. I'd like to raise the grinder up the width of a 2x4 or 2x6. (Raise it up 1.5".) This thing has been in the family a long time so I want to preserve it as well as use it. What is the best way to raise it up off the deck of the workbench? Should I buy longer bolts and use a spacer or should I bolt the grinder (using counter sunk T-nuts or lag screws) to an 8" section of 2x6 and then bolt that piece of wood to the bench? Previously the grinder was being held in place by 4x bent pieces of coat hanger ware. Do I need any insulation (rubber buffer) between the bench and the wheel? What is the best way to mount one of these things? This is a Century Electric Co. grinding wheel. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 On a dedicated stand.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 If you want it on the bench, if it were mine i'd use a hard wood spacer and longer bolts. Or you could do as Charles suggests and mount it on a dedicated stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Stand is best but if space is a problem them hardwood riser is also excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdaleh Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 If you are using wire wheels and buffs get it off the workbench snd on a stand for safety reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1215 Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 5 hours ago, tdaleh said: If you are using wire wheels and buffs get it off the workbench snd on a stand for safety reasons. Why do you say that? Yes I am using wire wheels and buffs. This bench I am used to a vice and anvil on the left and the grinder bolted to the right hand corner. Without bolting a stand to the floor, I wouldn't even know how to begin making a stand (1-1.5" thick steel plate??) that is mobile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Mobile is what youre capable of moving. If you want it bench mounted then just raise it up with wood. Easy and simple. Just personally I've done it both ways and like em on a sturdy stand but still keep one on a bench too. Try stuff out and share your findings. There is always more then one way to skin a cat. ( still don't know why that's a saying anymore if ever) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdaleh Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 If the wire wheel or buffing wheel catch what you are working on on a stand it has a chance to go away from you . On a table it has no were to go , good chance its going to come back at you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1215 Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 8 hours ago, Daswulf said: Mobile is what youre capable of moving. If you want it bench mounted then just raise it up with wood. Easy and simple. Just personally I've done it both ways and like em on a sturdy stand but still keep one on a bench too. Try stuff out and share your findings. There is always more then one way to skin a cat. ( still don't know why that's a saying anymore if ever) Thanks. I'd be nervous putting this on a stand or in a place where it could ever tip over. It's probably a regular old run of the mill electric motor with a wheel on it but its sentimental enough that I wouldn't want to risk it falling over. I don't know much about it other than it has a plate almost exactly like the one below (and another that says "Kleen Heet"). This one will stay on the bench and I'll find a newer double wheel grinder to put on a stand eventually... The bench it mounts on is built a little overkill which complicated things for me. I lag bolted two 2x4's horizontally to the studs/wall and then used joist hangars to run 2x6'es out from the wall as support for the bench top. Because of the 2x6'es and the spacing of the holes of the grinder base, I ended up using threaded rod because I couldn't find 1/4" bolts long enough and 5/16 was too thick to fit into the grinder mounts when dropped from the top-down (I didn't want to put them in bottom-up). I re-used the old holes so this ended up going exactly where it was when this bench was my dad's --except that the addition of the 2x6'es changed the support structure. The front two holes went down (the long way) through the middle of the front 2x6 going across the front of the bench and the rear two holes are spaced one on each side of a 2x6. I countersunk the front two holes and plan to use wooden bungs with a T-shoulder (see photo below) to backfill them so the 2x6 would be seamless, equally as strong, and so I wouldn't catch the holes in the future with a C-clamp or the like. For the back two holes I used threaded rod as well but I did something a little different/creative. If I were able to find the right length 1/4" U-bolt, I would have slightly notched the 2x6 it was going around and then put it in from the bottom with the threads sticking up and affix it similar to the front holes. Because I couldn't find 9-10" long 1/4" U-bolts at my hardware store (2x6 + 3/4" plywood + 2x6" riser for grinder + 3/8" thick grinder base), I had to get creative. I used my Fein oscillating cutter to cut a 1/8" thick, 1" x 1" upside-down V-notch (apex at the top), about 2" up the 2x6. This allowed me to slide a piece of angle iron (from an old bed frame) through the notch and use that to bolt the threaded rod into. Because I have a case of slightly crazy garage/shop OCD, I then welded (MIG) two 1/2" long pieces of 90* triangle bar stock inside the protruding ends of the angle-iron. This gave me a flat surface to put a bolt & washer against. I went through all of that effort with the back holes for three main reasons: First, I wanted to curse and swear at myself a bunch for not drilling holes in the angle-iron & bar stock before I welded everything into the table... Second, for safety reasons; I already have enough cuts/scars on the back of my head and I have a feeling I'll be climbing around under there trying to fetch something I drop. For some reason the angle of my foot/shoe seems to be perfect so that when I drop a nut/washer between the bench and my waist, it tends to land squarely on my shoe laces and kick forward all the way to the back of the bench. Third reason is because my parts washer slides perfectly under the bench with about 1/8" to spare and if anything hangs down I would lose that storage space. On the top of the threaded rod sections (on top of the bench) I threaded lock nuts (metal nuts with integrated nylon washer) down about 1/2-3/4". I then capped off the top of the threaded rod by putting acorn nuts on pretty tight with red locktite and let it sit overnight so it could get good and hard. The acorn nuts are solely for safety (so the threads aren't sharp). I then spun the locknuts up to the acorn nuts, leaving almost a thread between the two nuts. My thought was this would give me the ability to finely tighten/loosen the grinder in the future. I was worried about the vibration of the grinder and the metal-on-metal bolting the grinder to the bench. I may be paranoid but this was my grandfather's grinder and I'd like to see my kids use it someday. Because of my worries about cracking the grinder's casting/frame with vibrations I made some changes and took everything back apart. I am using a 6.5" piece of 2x6 as the spacer between the bench and the grinder. I put a piece of 1/16" x 6.5" x 5.5" synthetic cork (auto gasket material) between the 2x6 and the workbench as well as a piece of 1/16" real cork between the grinder's base and the 2x6 riser platform. After that I took two sections of 3" long garden hose and put it between the grinder base and the flat washer on top. It worked out really well to absorb some of the vibrations and to isolate the fasteners from the metal grinder base. Once its been in use for 3-4 months (sometime this spring) I'll take some closed-cell foam (comes in blocks just cut to form) and put it over & around the angle iron below the bench so that nothing bumps or hangs on the bottom rear bolts. At the same time I'll fill in the front bolt holes with the wooden bungs. All of the lower fasteners are nylock nuts with blue locktite. Happy to post pics if anyone is interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Ocd is fine and it sounds like you are going all out on this but you cought my attention with your concern for safety/ and your keeping a parts washer under a bench that your using a grinder on.. May want to find a safer place for that parts washer away from potential sparks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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