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Grinder build questions


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 I am building a grinder with a treadmill motor and I’m wondering if there’s any reason I can’t put the motor on the right side and run the wheels on the right side as well and just move the motor farther right?plus I’m wondering why or if I have to put a static brush on the belt ? I mached it up to the left in image . Also is there any good reason to have the belt on the right side?

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Does that motor turn clockwise? I just slapped myself,  it's a DC motor direction is easy to reverse. DUH! :rolleyes:

Sure why not? My only thought would be adequately locking the nuts on the roller bolts or the vibration will want to loosen them. That's easy enough though, fiber lock nuts should work fine.

Remember to get reverse direction sanding belts though!

Heh, heh, heh.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Interesting. So this is the reverse image of what a normal grinder would look like. Good point Frosty. Ideally any wheel bolts would be reverse threaded from a normal grinder, so they tighten rather than loosen, correct?

As an aside, I am right handed, so I would probably keep hitting my hand on that square bar on the right side of the contact wheel, until I got used to it. Hmm..could your configuration be considered a left handed grinder?

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Thank you guys. Yes I could reverse it but the drive wheel is a welded on 6 lb hunk of spinning chaos and the thread does not protrude to add a nylock nut. Loctite 554 might work but a chance In safety is a chance I’m not willing to take. I’ll send a mach up pic of the grinder when the platten and arm is done. Me good not explain very things well if when do! It’s one of my many curses. 

Thank you again.

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Be aware that treadmill motors are hardly ever totally enclosed, fan cooled (TEFC) or washdown rated, so can be seen as a kind of long term consumable unless great care is taken to keep metal dust out of them.  Particularly with a welded on drive wheel, you may want to take some care to keep it running as long as possible. 

Another potential issue is vibration.  If your drive wheel is out of balance, at high RPM the vibration will become somewhat annoying. 

I like your drive controls box.  Very nice job refitting the speed controller.  With those kind of skills you should have no trouble cobbling together a filter box for your motor.

As regards a static brush for the belt, I've never had static shock problems with my grinders, but YMMV.  I think it becomes a lot more of an issue if you use the phenolic or rubbber coated wheels and particularly if you have a glass or ceramic covered platten.  Don't quote me on that one though, I've not done any testing.

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Thank you Latticino,  I've run it up to scary speeds with no vibration. I will build a good vented enclosure for the motor, I did not know it could or would be that sensitive! I’m also going to make a replaceable motor mount plate for easy swap when this motor fails. It may be Swiss cheese in a couple of years if I don’t. I’m also running into a speed feedback issue that shuts me down at higher speeds and I’m trying to eliminate the tach on it but it’s proving to be a fun challenge. If there is a solution anyone knows of? I’d be happy to hear? Thank you again.

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On 5/16/2019 at 11:08 PM, Cedar Crest Forge said:

Good point Frosty. Ideally any wheel bolts would be reverse threaded from a normal grinder, so they tighten rather than loosen, correct

No, I wasn't suggesting left hand threaded bolts, just lock them. I used fiber lock nuts or double nut them anyway,  Locktite should do the job as well, especially if it runs smoothly.

I went to the work and money of wiring up controls to use a treadmill motor and metal dust shorted it out before I had it in the grinder. <sigh>

It's running underpowered on my old Rockwell 2" x 48" belt grinder motor and I have a 1.2 HP to replace it. I'm going to make a filtered cooling air supply for this one though.

I'm not a bladesmith guy but I LOVE my 2" x 72" belt grinder. A good thing about having built my own is I can modify things without worrying about messing it up.

Frosty The Lucky.

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1 hour ago, Frosty said:

No, I wasn't suggesting left hand threaded bolts, 

Yes, I know. I was just adding to the topic, after thinking how the bolts on my bader grinder were setup. It was a good suggestion to make sure the nuts don't come loose.

And congrats on building your own grinder. I have always bought commercial , because building my own looked difficult. Although, I do modify them from time to time. For instance, I built an extension arm with an idler so I can also run 2 x 132 belts on my 2 x 72.

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