Grinder number 2 build.

Tod Lowe

Tod Lowe

Well-Known Member
Hey guys. Just wanted to share my second grinder build. Since it was the second one I wanted to go cheap so I made the wheels out of plywood. I used Mike Jones wheels as inspiration. I have made a crown on the tracking wheel so hopefully they work ok. If not I will just buy the normal ones.
The motor was given to me. It looks bad but runs good.
Im waiting on my 3 step pulleys from Tracy and it should be good to grind.

I will probably dedicate this grinder to handle work or just leave the small wheel attachment on it. I dont feel I need the 1.5 horse on this and the 1 hp are a dime a dozen.

Any questions tips or advice feel free to comment.


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Thats cool 2thumbs


How good are the plywood wheels?
how long do they last?
What did you use to get them round and true?
 
Ernie Swanson said:
Thats cool 2thumbs


How good are the plywood wheels?
how long do they last?
What did you use to get them round and true?
Click to expand...

Hey Ernie.
Im not sure how the wheels will hold up.I have never made them or tried them. I asked Mike Jones how his were doing and he said they were holding up good but needed a little more friction to move the belt.

I turned these wheels on a lathe but there are other ways. There is a tutorial on youtube on building a wooden contact wheel using a pulley but I absolutely couldnt find it again. You just cut the wheel as close to round as possible ,find a way to drive it and use a chisel to turn it perfectly round.
 
For friction, try some neoprene, I was thinking of doing this, for a 1x42 home built job. HERE is an example of what Im talkin about(prob dont need a whole roll) that seller seems to have a lot of different options. Wouldnt need but one strip in the center, just superglue it, betcha it'll work good. Let us know how they fare, this is a great way to same some major cash!
 
Frosstyx said:
For friction, try some neoprene, I was thinking of doing this, for a 1x42 home built job. HERE is an example of what Im talkin about(prob dont need a whole roll) that seller seems to have a lot of different options. Wouldnt need but one strip in the center, just superglue it, betcha it'll work good. Let us know how they fare, this is a great way to same some major cash!
Click to expand...

I was thinking of trying a bike inner tube glued to it. Im going to try it first and see how it goes.
I might soak the wood with hardener too.

My thoughts now on these grinders are if your going to build one you might as well build two frames at the same time.Finish one and just wait on a great deals for the parts for the second. The frame material is really the cheap part.
 
Yeah, I am trying to conjure up a good design for a 1 x 42 sharpening rig similar to lee valley's just a little more stout, the innertube would prob work just fine, I didnt think about that. Let me know, I may have to try this myself on the wheels for my next build, have you noticed its just as fun building the tools as the knives? lol
 
Shank the grinder looks awesome. Have you considered using your wood wheels as patterns and molding them up in sand and casting some aluminum ones.
 
Shank, it sure looks like you are getting the "build yer own tools" fever. I like your wood wheels, hope they work out for you.

Larry
 
I just love to see someone thinking outside the box. The wooden wheels are a great idea. I have been running a wooden wheel for around 6 months now with now problems at all. I took 3 pieces of 3/4" oak plywood and glued them together. I used a product called "Plasti Dip" to coat the wheel in order to give it traction. I would say I applied around 10 coats to mine and rough sanded between each coat. You can buy the stuff at Lowes and I suppose you could get it jsut about anywhere. It is the paint section. It's an excelletn source of fiber too! :)
 
Shankmaker,

Awesome grinder Bro ! I had the same idea with the inner-tube but never did try it out. I had planned on layering the tube on the aluminum idler wheel to gove it some contact wheel action.

The KMG is awesome because of it's versatility but I waste ALOT of time switching between contact/small wheel platen and slack belt setups.

It would be nice to have a grinder set up for each operation. My problem is having the room for 2 more grinders, LOL. Maybe someday.

Cool build though, thanks for sharing it , Josh
 
curtisk said:
I just love to see someone thinking outside the box. The wooden wheels are a great idea. I have been running a wooden wheel for around 6 months now with now problems at all. I took 3 pieces of 3/4" oak plywood and glued them together. I used a product called "Plasti Dip" to coat the wheel in order to give it traction. I would say I applied around 10 coats to mine and rough sanded between each coat. You can buy the stuff at Lowes and I suppose you could get it jsut about anywhere. It is the paint section. It's an excelletn source of fiber too! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Curtis.
Im gonna pick up some plasti dip this evening.2thumbs
Looks to be some neat stuff.
 
I saw something a couple of years back where a guy built a jig that used a hand-held carpenter's belt sander to true up the wheels. The jig was basically a piece of plywood with a dowel rod to hold the wheel. The belt sander was mounted to the plywood (I forget how). You basically put the wheel onto the dowel rod, turned on the belt sander, and turned the wheel by hand, letting the belt sander true up the wheel. You won't get a crown this way, but that's what friction tape is for. :D
 
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