I have had a surface grinder for a few years and never really use it because for me surface grinding is so slow and tedious that I cant stand doing it. So I decided to do a belt conversion to speed up the process.
First I needed to make a base to mount the arm for the conversion assembly. I used some 4 inch clamps ( I am drawing a blank on what they are called but are in every hardware store)and drilled a hole in some 3/8 barstock to accept the clamps. I bolted the clamps and platform to the machine.
Earlier I had removed the wheel and guard and measured the spindle size. I ordered a contact wheel at 95 durometer from Sunray Inc. Cost was 77 dollars but they have a 100 dollar minimum. So I picked up an extra tracking wheel in case my original plan did not work. Total Price 120ish.
You can also see that I welded a piece of square stock to the base to mount the other wheel assembly to.
Then I cut up my first grinder ever, the Craftsman 2x42.
Drilled a few mounting holes in the craftsman and tapped two holes in the square stock. I test fit it with a belt and just estimated the mounting height.
I shimmed the base to fine tune the height and shimmed the bolts with washers that connect the square bar to the old grinder assembly. This allowed me to adjust the tracking once and it has been rock solid since, including with different belts.
36 grit belts really take metal off fast and higher grit belts leave a very nice finish. I am really happy with how this grinds and should help make some aspects of knife making easier for me.
Thanks for looking
First I needed to make a base to mount the arm for the conversion assembly. I used some 4 inch clamps ( I am drawing a blank on what they are called but are in every hardware store)and drilled a hole in some 3/8 barstock to accept the clamps. I bolted the clamps and platform to the machine.
Earlier I had removed the wheel and guard and measured the spindle size. I ordered a contact wheel at 95 durometer from Sunray Inc. Cost was 77 dollars but they have a 100 dollar minimum. So I picked up an extra tracking wheel in case my original plan did not work. Total Price 120ish.
You can also see that I welded a piece of square stock to the base to mount the other wheel assembly to.
Then I cut up my first grinder ever, the Craftsman 2x42.
Drilled a few mounting holes in the craftsman and tapped two holes in the square stock. I test fit it with a belt and just estimated the mounting height.
I shimmed the base to fine tune the height and shimmed the bolts with washers that connect the square bar to the old grinder assembly. This allowed me to adjust the tracking once and it has been rock solid since, including with different belts.
36 grit belts really take metal off fast and higher grit belts leave a very nice finish. I am really happy with how this grinds and should help make some aspects of knife making easier for me.
Thanks for looking
