Hey all, i havent posted in a while but it's not becuase i've been idle. I decided i needed a belt grinder so i scrounged up some scraps of metal and based on a few plans and photos i found online i decided to mock up this belt grinder-on-a-stand design. Here it is welded and rough assembled. The rest of the parts to make it whole, idler wheels drive wheel and whatnot, are due this week. Took me a while to scrounge up the odds and ends to make this happen, my dad donated some parts, my neighbor donated the tube for the stand and did the bulk of the welding for me, he's a pro ;-) So I finaly got enough parts together that I decided to order up the wheels and start puting it together this weekend.

So here's some pics:



My belt grinder gallery

Here's a pic of the tracking adjustment mechanism.



This grinder is a cross between a KMG and the grinder I found here. (thanks for the inspiration, to whoever that user is who made that grinder)

Progress on the grinder.... Should have the flange bearings to mount the axle tomorrow night. Will be grinding this weekend!!! Woot!!!

That looks really good and your tracking adjustment looks like its about as simple and as effective as can be. I cant wait to start mine now thanks for the inspiration.

Grinder's workin... The 1/2 hp motor i'm using doesnt have quite enough power for me but it'll do for a while. I can handle grinding a little slower while i'm learning and keeping my eye out for a better motor.

It's awesome!!!!

Here's some more pics



And here's a video of it runnin I put on youtube... YouTube - DIY Belt Grinder

Now that you have built it, and used it, would you make any changes? Really does look great.

Grinder's workin... The 1/2 hp motor i'm using doesnt have quite enough power for me but it'll do for a while. I can handle grinding a little slower while i'm learning and keeping my eye out for a better motor.

I have a bench grinder that has a 3/4 hp motor which puts out I estimate about 1/8th hp and at first I hated it real bad until I started blacksmithing. Now it is my wire wheel machine and I don't have trouble with it hurting me. If I press something into it a bit to hard it will stop the motor instead of grabbing it and sticking it into me. May take a bit longer to wheal something but it is a lot safer to use than my new 3/4 hp HFT grinder that runs very well with a wire wheel.

Now that you have built it, and used it, would you make any changes? Really does look great.

I may re-design how the motor is mounted so that it mounts on the lower T bar instead of the vertical stand bar. The belt was slipping some because the motor is not really heavy enough to provide a tight enough grip. So i devised a spring mechanism that pulls down on the motor from underneath. This causes it to run faster but now there is a little more vibration that runs up the stand in to the grinder face, not bad enough that its really a problem but still bad enough that i'd like it to go away. With the design the way it currently is, the mount of the motor parallel to the motor's axle it makes it difficult to apply downward force without the position of the motor wanting to twist in an odd angle between the drive pulley and the motor mount. I plan to build a mount that comes up from the T stand, turn the motor on that hinged mount plate so that the hinge pin is at a 90 perpendicular to the drive shaft and behind the back of the motor, then i will be able to mount a spring directly under the center of the shaft. All the forces should be going at right angles and there should be less vibration, and with the motor mounted this way i will be able to put some soft rubber between the plate the motor sits on and the hinge, which should almost eliminate any vibrations being able to run up the stand.

Once thats done i'll post some more pics, probably a couple days but might be longer, i leave monday out of town for work for two weeks.

I have a bench grinder that has a 3/4 hp motor which puts out I estimate about 1/8th hp and at first I hated it real bad until I started blacksmithing. Now it is my wire wheel machine and I don't have trouble with it hurting me. If I press something into it a bit to hard it will stop the motor instead of grabbing it and sticking it into me. May take a bit longer to wheal something but it is a lot safer to use than my new 3/4 hp HFT grinder that runs very well with a wire wheel.

Yep, i agree, with the belt tightened up it's not really as easy to stop the grinder with pressure as it was before. So i might be able to use this motor for longer than i expected. Less likely to hurt myself or the piece i'm working on...

Nice grinder Feukair, great work!

Looks really good!
If you want/need more power you can play with pulley size, make the one on the motor bigger to get more torque, but it will affect speed also but that can be delt with also.

welder19

Nice looking piece of equipment. Well done.

Which online plans did you use for inspiration?

Frosty

Here are the plans i found on line, same doc, linked to in two different places. I didn't follow these plans exactly, mostly just used them for ideas to to verify dimensions of some of the pieces.

http://www.az-blacksmiths.org/pdfs/GrinderPlans.pdf
http://www.dfoggknives.com/PDF/GrinderPlans.pdf

Thanks.

I usually modify plans I use too. I do the same with recipes and most directions unless there's only one way to get there and that's SO boring.

Frosty

Feukair
I am just finishing a grinder myself, Yours looks really good.
You can always upgrade your motor later after you use it for awhile.
Chris

That is a nice looking grinder. What did it cost to biuld and where did you get the rollers ?


A.S.T.

what bearings are those? and where can a person get a set?

inspiring grinder feukair, thanks man

I got the drive, contact, idler, and tracking wheels from US Knife Makers! but they are beaumont metal works parts. usakm sells for the same price as beaumont and also carries some other accessories and a selection of belts as well and he takes paypal. I got the bearings from someone on ebay but you can get them here.

cool cool, just bought all I need from that usakm, thanks for the help!

hey, I have a question though, whats the advantage of a 4 wheeled grinder over a 2?

is the tracking done by tilting the axle ?? nice job btw :)

Yes, you can see how the tracking mechanism works in the pdf. If i get time this week i'll grab more pictures of the arm and tracking hinge and post them. Just got back from two weeks out of town...

i like it been planing on making one can't aford to but so must make it thanks for the link to the plans that way don't have to buy them

Hey all, I'm thinking of picking up one of these motors to use on my grinder. 2hp to replace my 1/2hp. However this one is 3600 rpm where my existing is 1700 (a speed i like) so this new one would be twice as fast basically.

I can reduce the speed back to ~1700 by putting a pulley on the motor that is half the size of the one on my grinder drive wheel correct? Right now both my pulleys are the same size.

Any other advice on this motor anyone can offer? Remember i'm just a hobbyist user, few hours a week, so even though this is a cheap motor is should last me for a while.

compressor motors arent meant for continual use I dont think, if you use it anyway lat us know how it works, thats a good price.

Hey all. No new motor yet, harbor freight doesnt carry that one in the stores.

However i did pick up some fenner drives link belt and wow does it eliminate the vibration problem i was having. I knew it was supposed to help with vibration but i didnt know it would make such a difference. In the first video i posted above it appears that my grinder is runnin pretty smoothly, but i later learned that my motor is not heavy enough to keep the belt tight, so i put a spring under it to pull it down. Since then i've had some bad vibration in the grinder. The link belt eliminated it. I posted a video here.