So I recently starting making my own belt grinder. Figured i'd share my progress so far with you guys. I'm still waiting on my wheels to show up in the mail so everything is just tacked up until i receive them and make sure I don't have to move anything around to help them line up properly. I made some MDF wheels just get a rough idea of where things need to be. Can't wait to get this thing finished. Here are a few photos of where I am at. [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] Not sure if the images worked lol
Awesome! I love the way you made some proxy wheels to figure it out. Cool! I know the feeling. You're spending 100% of your knifemaking time to make a grinder so that you can spend 100% of your time making knives! Doh!
You need to slow down your travel speed just a little when welding. On the angle iron when the arc wants to stay on one side a slight side to side motion of 1/8" will encourage the weld to lay in properly. With 7018 and similar electrodes if your grip is light enough you should be able to feel the flux just touch the steel before melting away. A very slight dragging action will smooth out your bead noticeably. Welding on nuts can work but if you start destroying them then go to a larger diameter rod, drill pilot hole, weld in place then drill and tap. John
Thanks for the feedback guys. Ya I am by no means a welder. I have a cheap mastercraft flux-core mig welder i got on sale at canadian tire.Think it was like 249.99$. They go on sale pretty regularly. Still need a lot of practice to run nice beads.=) And thanks Dan, your blog has been an amazing help with figuring this thing out. About half way done making your small wheel attachment as well. Can't wait to start throwing sparks.
One suggestion would be to come up with an idea to make the tool rest easy to take off and put back on. Mine is held with Allen head capscrews and it's a bit of a pain. I am working on one with some schedule 40 pipe that can just swing out of the way. Dan
Thinking something like this Dan. Don't mind my crappy draftsight skills lol Just started using it last week
I see. That would work to swing the rest out of the way. With the pipe in mind, I began thinking of a tilting one so it can be easily set to 90°. The tool arm would simply be pulled out of the 2nd receiver when not needed. Maybe the two can be melded to make a swing-away and tilt. ;-) Dan
Ya the one i made tilts as well. Just my picture doesn't really show it well. Ill try and take some pictures of mine when i get home from work this evening. putting it on its own tool arm is a good idea. mine is currently attached to my flat platten tool arm with a bolt. Your pictures sure look a lot better than mine lol
I was wondering about that, it's hard to see in the pics. The tool rest arm looks fixed in place, but you have slotted it. When you tilt the rest, you need to slide it in/out to keep the rest close to the belt. Using a second receiver makes sense as everything that goes in there can slide in/out. Good job. Looking forward to seeing it come together. Dan
Ya i think i'll eventually put it on its own arm. Will make adjusting a lot easier as you said. Wife is gonna kill me soon with all the things i keep buying for this grinder lol
Thanks Yamroll. Most of the ideas are from other grinder types so i can't take any credit for it. Alot of the components are just what i had laying around the shop.