Building my Jer Schmidt Gen 2 2x72 belt grinder

[Ohio]

So I've had all the bits for my grinder sitting in the Wonder Hut for over a year. Last summer, my mentor and pal, JT, suggested we start fabricating. I had gotten a pre-cut kit from Seattle MetalHeads sitting in a stack and it was time. MetalHeads is an email group I've belonged to since dinosaurs roamed the earth and a bunch of us went in on getting the pieces CNC cut since Jer provides the CNC files in his plans. JT does not have the pre-cut kit so we'll be doing everything one step at a time.

(If you want to build Jer's design, buy the plans from him. They're cheap and the design appears to be terrific. Jer will also answer questions about the build, and has videos for his Gen 1 and Gen 2 designs on YT. Most of his instructions (and his method of build) are aimed for less-experienced metalworkers so if you have a lot of experience, you'll see some places where you can do things a bit more quickly/easily. He's not making money from this; he's an engineer who likes to build tools and how can you not like that?)

What I've learned so far: my welds suck. They'll hold but, wow, I have lost a lot of ability. My new welding helmet with that new welding-helmet smell has made a huge amount of difference. I have also learned that I could have bought a cheap grinder for less than I'm spending and I don't care. I'm having fun, remembering how to do stuff, and looking forward to putting this baby to work.

I also want to design and fabricate a moveable stand for the grinder that will work well in the Wonder Hut. The Hut isn't very big, but I have a roll-up door, so I can move the grinder close to it and use a fan to send the grinding dust out. I was also thinking I may come up with a curtain system that I can pull around the grinder to stop the crap from getting into the rest of the shop. But that is for another day.

I am recovering from a bit or oral surgery (ow ow ow) and won't be doing much in the shop for a few days yet because I am a big baby. But what's next is welding on one more assembly to the body of the grinder and putting the entire thing together to make sure it's going to work. Then I'll fabricate the accessories (small wheel, adjustable angle table, large wheel) and do a last clean up to the welds, etc., sandblast, prime and paint. All the parts will then go back into the Wonder Hut to sit until I've fabricated the moveable table.

In all honesty, I work slow. I'm constantly re-checking what I'm doing and I'm in someone else's shop, but the biggest reason is me and JT spend a lot of time jabbering. It's really fun and it's good for each of us: he gets out of the house to tell me what to do, and I get away from the manuscript to use a different part of my brain.

I'll try to get pictures from now on—pictures from far away because as I said, my welds suck. Embarrassingly bad.

[Buzzkill]

Looking forward to the pics and the story.  As Jer says though, if you can't make it perfect, at least make it adjustable.  I'm curious what you will name the grinder.  You have the Wonder Hut and Burnie the charcoal retort.  I don't want you to get bitten by a grinder that feels left out.

[Ohio]

That's an excellent point, Buzzkill. An improper name could wreck this entire build. The way I fabricate, there's a good chance it is the clever name that keeps things holding together.

Grindy feels little too-on-the-nose, esp. since the hot tub is called Tubby. Sandy, after Sandy Koufax, is a bit too cute, though I do enjoy baseball. Remove-y sounds too insane. My Personality is too long, though I am a bit abrasive (get it?). Big Pile of Money is accurate but lacks a certain je ne sais quo. Humph. I'm going to have to think about this.

[Frosty]

Dusty about covers it's main effect on a shop. Of course Dusty Gritmiester is is a bit more descriptive. I have a couple ideas for a full name if you want ot take that sidetrack. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jason L]

You could name it Gordon, after Gordon Ramsey. He's pretty abrasive but he's all about finesse. It would also cover the slightest mistakes causing the harshest penalties.  Can't wait to see the results

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I like Monkey Grinder a double entendre  for sure.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[Buzzkill]

To play off Frosty's suggestion, the highland cousin of his Bavarian counterpart might be Ruff McGritty.

[Frosty]

So long as it's NOT "Sandy McKnuckles." It's moto should be, "DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!"

Belt grinders are one of those machines where too much HP is better than not enough. Mine is running off an old 2" x 48" combination belt grinder motor at 1/2 hp. I have to use a super light touch grinding which increases the number of times I have to re-engage the work and belt which increases the potential of touching it wrong and screwing things up. 

I really need to get 240v run to the shop so I can mount one of the many 2+ hp. motors I've acquired. Spent a couple hours getting the 3hp out of our old hot tub and then they all but started dropping out of the sky. Tread mills and old hot tubs get tossed all the time, you can salvage the motors for hauling them to the dump. 

I love having a wheel on my belt grinder and haven't found a 2+ hp. dual shaft motor to replace it but I can always set my old 2" x 48" up again. I REALLY need to save up my pennies and get the shop wired properly. Stupid TREE!

Frosty The Lucky.

[gewoon ik]

2 hours ago, Buzzkill said:

To play off Frosty's suggestion, the highland cousin of his Bavarian counterpart might be Ruff McGritty.

So it is swearing and drinking all the time?

[Buzzkill]

Well, it can be a bit coarse at times.

[Ohio]

Of course it's coarse. And that's just fine. Or finer. Or maybe finest. Or maybe just enough to take the edge off. I'll stop now and file this away.

I may have to put up a poll to let everybody vote on names. I like most of them. 

So I think I've recovered enough from this little bit of surgery to go back in the shop tomorrow and/or Friday. Bzzzt bzzt bzzt <- that's the sound of me MIG welding the rest of the bits. JT has this little lunchbox-y Blue Demon MIG welder that works...great. I'm not a professional, though I can spell "welding," so that makes me qualified. Srsly, I have one of those little Lincoln 140 MIG/fluxcore welders and I'm thinking maybe I'd get one of these Blue Demons.

That last bit is a lie. If I get another welder, it will be something different as Weldy (not its real name) is just fine for my needs. Need a better cart and I need to get the shielding gas set up, but I've done a lot with the Lincoln and fluxcore. I would like to 1) not suck at welding 2) have different capabilities for different projects, like TIG for aluminum, and 3) use fire in new and exciting (but not painful other than to the wallet) ways. I've kinda fell into that got-more-projects-that-need-bigger-tools pit. I don't think I'll ever do automobiles----not my thing, but the neighbor on the other side is really into that. He built a rock-climbing truck and it was great to see him put it together. Dude's gifted and that's not sarcasm. He's a certified welder and has a ton of skills. It's fun to watch him, other than that he plays very heavy metal and very loud volume. He's a good guy. We're lucky---most of our neighbors are great and feel perfectly comfortable coming over to "help" by giving me "advice" aka pointing and laughing.

Anyway, I'll see if I can get some pictures. And does anyone know if I can do a poll? That'd be hilarious, esp. if one of youse says. "let's call it Grindy McGrinderface" and that's the one that wins.

 

[Frosty]

I can't tell you how happy I am to see you posting again, you put a smile on my face every time.

I don't name my machinery except my 50lb. Little Giant, "Bobby." I came into the money to buy her from what my Mother, "Barbara" left me when she passed. Everybody called her Bobby though it wasn't till a few years later I discovered she liked Babs better. It's already painted on my LG and I don't want to jinx things by renaming her. 

Welders are usually called "Sparkies" though electricians claim the moniker too. If I were to name my 120v "Hobart 140" wire feed I'd have to call it "Buzzby." If I had a proper (IMHO) 220v. input power multi purpose welder, stick, wire feed / tig welder I'd have to call it "Hummbolt." Humm for the sound, bolt for the arc. One job had two industrial power units and the welders driven by them were almost silent, the only real sound was on startup and breaking the arc. One was a Lincoln the other a Miller, running beads with either was like welding with a flashlight they were so smooth and quiet. I'd call either of them, "Velvet."

I almost never name machinery though, except under special circumstances and they get long strings of unprintable names, usually starting with a version of, OW! 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ohio]

Quote

I almost never name machinery though, except under special circumstances and they get long strings of unprintable names, usually starting with a version of, OW! 

Well, yeah. If you hear a string of swear words coming from the south, that's me. Sorry if they hurt your delicate sensibilities. I know how fragile your sense of propriety is.

I like the story about your mom—that's really sweet and what a great way to honor somebody. And the rename jinx is totally real and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Yes! Like a flashlight. Perfect description. The BD welder runs like that and it's so surprising because this welder was inexpensive. It makes doing the welds really enjoyable, though I like it even when the welder runs like a crapmobile. I always find it amazing that I, me, a semi-normal person, can melt metal with lightning and make other metal stick together and it actually works. Same thing with forging, me, a normal person, hits hot metal with a hammer and it moves. I find this delightful and amazing.

Once I'm over my delight, I need grinders. All sorts of grinders. "Grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't," as they say. My grinder-to-welder use ratio is about 10:1, which is better because it used to be 25:1. This build is about realizing that better technique using well-designed and appropriate tools will give me a better result. Getting better is another source of amazement and delight.

[Frosty]

Mother rolled her eyes when I showed her pictures of it with her name in gold. WE named the steel roof on the house George after Dad, they loaned us quite a bit when we built, then forgave the loans one Christmas when were down visiting. 

You have the attraction of welding alright, you bring the lightning and two pieces of metal are one!

Blacksmithing sings to our souls on an instinctive level. We take two of our strongest icons, iron / steel a human universal symbol of strength, durability and permanence. Apply FIRE, one of our earliest and still greatest powers over nature and using something to bash with we have our way with STEEL. Take some discarded lump of steel, get it HOT and beat on it till it's transformed into something useful, beautiful or just interesting. 

We, the human race ride Fire and Steel into the solar system and soon to the stars. How could they NOT sing to our soul?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ohio]

I'm going to follow your poetry, Frosty, with a naming story of my own.

We named the Toto toilets in the new house (which I built and still haven't finished---don't ask) after my parents. They insisted on giving us money so I told them I'd pay for the plumbing fixtures and name the toilets after them. My mom was all, "Just be sure to get good ones." I have to put the nameplates up still.

[Frosty]

Toto toilets? I keep envisioning a sour mean old lady driving a septic pumper bicycle  carrying off the . . .stuff in a basket.

Sounds like our folks would've gotten along great, though I'd be concerned they'd gang up on me.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ohio]

So I said I'd get some pictures but I am a liar. It's wet and cold and I started freezing up pretty quickly. Yeah, okay, it's not Alaska cold, and I am a delicate flower.

I finished welding together the main body and the tensioner arm. Got out a flap wheel to clean up my usual mess. The new welding helmet is great but the welder was being cranky. JT says he's got a new regulator coming and that should solve the issue. Way more spatter than before and definitely connected to not enough shielding gas coming through. Annoying more than anything.

Clamp small bits to other small bits is actually kind of fun. Until I screw it up and parts roll under a bench or big pile of scrap. I actually enjoy it, though.

Next step is assembly of the main body of the grinder. I have some other parts to weld, but I think the idea is to make sure the main body goes together and rotates properly. Then comes building the sliding table, fork for the big wheel and all that. JT has been inside taking care of his spouse, so it's not as fun. I do get more done, but when he's around, I end up laughing a lot more.

I miss being in the Wonder Hut (when it's organized), which reminds me---I need to get some of those HF LED shop lights for in there.

Quote of the day: "When you can see, you can actually weld." JT because my welds look a lot better because of my new welding helmet.

[Frosty]

Change of plans doesn't make you a liar. Cold is cold, doesn't matter where you are. Natives from the interior or slope laugh at natives complaining about cold in S.E. Panhandle. I've been cold at 50f and it's a LOT more dangerous than sub zero. The stats are or were the most likely temps to succumb to exposure are between 67f - 35f. Colder and you dress for it but at those temps you can feel fine when you step out until you're in real trouble. High humidity and rain are the worst. 

The most miserably cold I've been has been between 45 and freezing in the rain and wind, you just can't stay warm. Put in some heavy exercise, say pulling the drill rope driving casing or a sample or packing and carrying casing and rod and fyou're plenty warm. Stop moving to let the core barrel make it's pass and you're shaking cold. 10 hour days, warm, cold, warm cold and hopefully we weren't tenting. Hot food is the only thing that gets you through.

So No, Ohio I'm not going to laugh when you're cold. Cold is COLD PERIOD.

Wet cold is the worst, layers of wool, hollow fill or more recently there are polyesters that work well. The most important thing is they're good insulation when wet. It's a myth that moisture will wick away from you in wet weather. The simple physics remains, HIGH always moves to LOW. If it's wetter outside your rain jacket it WILL wick into you. The real trick is to keep the warm wet in and the cold wet out. My $200 Helly Hanson rain gear and Extra Tough or later my White's "Logger Smoke Jumper" boots did that, they kept the cold water out and the warm water in.

For a while I had a water proof Uni-suit and it worked very well, it actually kept water out but sweat happens anyway and the suit was too fragile for my job, it didn't last very long. That was a bummer, I LOVE taking my gear off after 10 hours in the weather and being mostly dry, you couldn't escape the sweat part it was that kind of job but not having your clothes sticking to you at the end of the day was sweet.

One last thing about wicking moisture. If it's colder and drier outside your gear, then wicking moisture away from you is important. Moisture in your clothing reduces the insulation and once cold catches you, you chill surprisingly fast. It's why people succumb to hypothermia at moderate temps far more often than below freezing. 

And cotton, I LOVE cotton but not in cold weather, it holds moisture so you're always wet, even in sub zero temps. I still wear cotton T shirt and shorts but that's it.

Ah, sorry for the long ramble but living and working outdoors 24/7 about 270/365 imprints on your mind. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Buzzkill]

I second that emotion, Frosty.   When we were traipsing around the Yukon on snowshoes in temps between minus 20 and minus 50 it was definitely cold, but in some ways not as bad as when it's right around freezing.  Snow just falls off your clothes like dust or sand when it's really cold.  When it's around freezing water seeps into your clothing and freezes in the fabric.   We always slept in underwear and T shirts even at 40 below (in our sleeping bags of course) due to the risk of sweat freezing inside heavier clothing.  Watching people (or oneself) attempt to get dressed at -40 first thing after waking up can be amusing though.  If we had to thread a needle to save our lives I think we would have all died.  Parkinson's patients would have berated us for shaking so much.

Gore-Tex gear does help a little with the wicking issue, but there are limits for everything.

[Ohio]

So yesterday, I forged an eyebolt-ish thing instead of cutting an existing one to sue on the grinder. I've got the tension arm on and the axle for the upper wheel. The entire thing looks funny, especially the legs, and I don't like the stand. I'm sure it will work fine but I'll probably change that once I know exactly what I want.

I have to build the platen with the smallest wheels and the table, then I have an adjustable table and a big wheel attachment accessories to build. Then clean (should have sandblasted prior), prime and paint in Wonder Hut forest green. Yes, my built or restored tools are forest green.

I belong to an online metalheads group and that's where I bought in for lasercut parts for this build. JT was going to make all the parts but one of the metalheads was selling his kit for a get-it-out-of-here price. So I got JT his pre-cut parts for his build for like, a hundred bucks. And the metalhead I got it from let me see his shop. Dude was a fabricator and let me tell you, his "hobby" shop is awesome—and the welds on his build of this grinder (his painted John Deere green) are, like, beautiful. The metalheads are mostly fabricators/welders/machinists with tons of experience and they're pretty cool.

Anyway, JT got a five-gallon bucket and parts and I'm pretty sure he cried a little. I don't think he gets many presents. And he cleared out his shop so his forge will be free of crap and ready to work after the first of the year. I'm pretty excited. I have my charcoal-based forge but the Wonder Hut is a disaster and I get overwhelmed when I look in there (yes, I will get it sorted, and soon). JT has a multi-burner propane-based table where he uses firebrick to build the forge shapes he needs for certain projects. I'll be back to re-learning hammer technique.

Yesterday, though, forging the eyebolt was really fun. We used a torch to heat up the steel and I got it done in all of five minutes. And we lathed another part to fit a piece of pipe—making stuff is fun.

[Frosty]

Heh heh heh, I don't like the "stand" mine is on either, it's a freebie washing machine Deb got for processing wool, that's been in my shop for a long time. My shop colors are hunter green and gold. An accent color makes your shop color pop. I highly recommend picking an accent color. Contrasting or complimentary doesn't matter as much as having one to accent the important components. The dangerous components on Bobby my power hammer painted bright RED so you're attention is drawn to the things that can GET you. 

It's hard to beat working on a project with friends. The time and parts they provide gives them a good feeling and that feeling is your donation to them. Getting the Wonder Hut up and running in a more functional way makes all your metal head friends feel good. A bucket of wheels, axels, etc. and a kit for $100 beats our club's group buy price and we had to come up with a motor.

The club build day was a great time in itself, even if I did have to clean up some of the components when I got it home. The group time with everybody working on a general theme was great. There was nothing but laughter and happy guys helping each other and everybody taking a really useful tool home. It's what a club build should be.

My only advice is to make up some sort of spark catcher, catching things in the Wonder Hut on fire isn't beneficial.

I'll be watching for pics of the "Ohio Wonder Grinder." 

Frosty The Lucky.

.

 

[Ohio]

Yesterday was organizing and sandblasting. I have to build the platen assembly and thought I'd do some easier stuff first. So I gathered the pieces for the fixed and adjustable tables and sandblasted the parts. I should have spent the first two days of the project sandblasting everything before assembly and weld, but too bad, so sad, I didn't.

I still have to separate pieces into the other assemblies, such as the large wheel and small wheel forks and sandblast them but it is DUMPING rain, as in, maybe I should start gathering animals and making sure the ark has a room for poo<-this is a joke, no need to tell me that the poo would just get flung overboard. So I am staying home and drinking hot chocolate in my jammies today.

I also have to get some 1.5"x1.5"x,25" wall mild steel as I used this material in the wrong places and need more. That's swell. And it's going to be a bummer because I can either go to the scrap yard, where I end up buying material I don't need because of the price, or I go to Everett Steel and go through the drop bin like a crazed racoon looking for rusty treasure. My fab GF wants to go along this time, so that will be fun. I'm usually not profligate with money but I can feel my Visa card slipping out of my wallet as soon as I step foot in these places. Well, at least I have a current tetanus shot and some steel-toed workboots.

I'll probably refrain from fabrication until next week and let my buddy enjoy his holidays. The fab GF baked him a stollen yesterday and he seemed pretty happy about that—it was still warm when she brought it over.

[Frosty]

You'd throw Pooh off the ark!?! Have a heart, think of what it'd do to poor Eeyore or would he go first? Oh MY, all this time piglet thought you were petting him, it was really dry rub wasn't it? 

Merry Christmas Ohio. I hope you find what you want under the tree.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ohio]

Heh. Frosty, you kill me.

So yesterday was more cutting and sandblasting of material. I have the Jer Schmidt with all the attachments and after some mistakes and miscounting, I had to get more material. How sad I had to go to one of my favorite store, Everett Steel. So, so sad. Tragic really. Because of the holidays, the drop bins were near empty, which is a bummer as there's often treasures in there. But I got what I needed so today I'll finish cutting and blasting and with a bit of, get back to welding the assemblies for the platen, fixed and moving tables, contact wheel, and something else I can't remember.

After a brief discussion with JT, I think I'll be using a bit of heat and a beeswax/mineral oil wipe on some of the parts. I've used this a lot on forged and other items and it holds up well and resists rust. Since we're beekeepers (there's a story about that maybe I'll tell later) I have easy access to the wax and the mix I use is also food safe for use on wooden items like cutting boards, spoons, etc., which I also make. It's an easy finish and pleasant to work with. I'll still paint parts of my as-yet-unnamed grinder, but for parts that have to move, this finish should serve me well.

Sandblasting is cool. At first. It's wonderful to see a surface get all nice and clean but then I start feeling it in my hands, arms, shoulders, neck, etc. It can be sort of hypnotic, which is nice. I do not like cutting with the abrasive saw. It's smelly and loud. I really like using bandsaws but JT's bandsaw is not great. I have an adorable little Craftsman that I rebuilt and cuts very well and a Jet that someone gave me (that needs to be rebuilt and tuned), but they are sitting, lonely and forlorn, in the Wonder Hut. So abrasive saw it is. I wear full PPE for all this stuff but it's just less pleasant than using other tools. Boo hoo, boo hoo. And when I start feeling tired, I'm done. I do this for fun and getting hurt is what I call no fun.

At some point I'll be back to welding and I keep forgetting to take pictures. 

[Frosty]

8 hours ago, Ohio said:

Heh. Frosty, you kill me.

I try darlin, I really do. 

You do a LOT of sand blasting, is all your steel salvage or old? Why haven't you set up hanger for your blaster? Holding the gun and hose is exhausting and it's a piece of cake to hang it from bungies or just prop it in a keyhole through a piece of plywood. The plywood acts as a shield so you can shoot DOWN on the work and not embed sand in your legs. A sandblasting cabinet / booth is best of course and it's not hard to jury rig one form a cardboard carton, plexiglass and rubber gauntlets.  One of my jobs at General Connectors was sandblasting fire scale off Jet/rocket engine alloy parts, happily I had a cabinet but it was still exhausting. That's where I spent so much time on the hot saw cutting blanks to be spun for the very parts I got to sand blast in prep for finishing with a truly nasty high durability graphite paint. Happily that was Smitty's job!

The main thing about a cabinet is flexibility for the gun, hoses tend to make it hard to move, the ones at General Connectors had ball joint type fittings covered in fire hose and the guns weren't terrible. I replaced the spring hangers with bungee cord, being in the booth with high velocity sand tended to eat the springs fast. We had a box of springs on the shelf and typically had to replace them at least once a week.

I'm with you on the hot saws, smoky, loud, scatters dirt and HARD dust, all round badness if you have an alternative. I ran one 5/8 for a couple years as my job. I almost never use mine for anything thicker than exhaust tube. I LOVE my 7" Jet, horizontal / Vertical bandsaw though it's hard to find blades coarse enough to cut thicker than 1/4" steel. The variable pitch work okay but it seems nobody follows the "3 teeth on the cut" rule anymore. Too fine a TPI means the chips can't clear the cut and get rolled up in the teeth, soon the blade is rolling on chips instead of cutting which builds heat causing the cuttings to gall in the teeth and bind the blade. All bad things.

To few teeth is worse as they dig in and basically plow instead of cutting so the blade binds almost immediately. You CAN use a too coarse blade by backing way off the feed speed so the teeth just brush the cut but it's okay, it's better than using too fine a blade.

The one thing I don't like much about my Jet is the body, frame, etc. gets in the way when you're using it vertically and the table is small. Beats the reciprocating saws though unless you need portable.

What kind of mineral oil are you using with the beeswax? I used Neatsfoot oil but don't do food grade. Alex Bealers recipe of 1/3 beeswax, 1/3 BLO, 1/3 turpentine and soot, applied to hot steel / iron is VERY durable I tried a version using paraffin instead of beeswax and the paraffin finish applied at smoking heat has been completely rust free outside here for about 24 years. And they're not static pieces, many are hangers with things swinging in the wind. 

The version with beeswax is a bit tacky for years while the paraffin is hard. Both seem to absorb into the surface pores of the steel / iron like Bealer claimed.

On the other hand, if I'm serious about a durable finish I like an acid etch primer under epoxy paint. Epoxy in the spray can works well but if you're really serious use the 2 part through an airless sprayer. Fair warning, my experience is about 30 years old, I'm positive the new stuff is tougher but back then epoxy was outlasting Imron by decades.

Frosty The Lucky.