2x72 surface grinding attachments

JV Knives

JV Knives

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 11, 2008
Messages
1,249
Hi friends,

Contemplating a surface grinding attachment to speed up flatness operations and general surface clean up....please share your experiences with me on the units that you have used. I use a 2x72 brodbeck that i would add it to, with a standard 1.5" arm.

Thanks gents!
John
 
I'm interested in hearing experience as well although I did just order one that will be here Monday. I'll be using it to make things flat obviously and remove scale but also to do distal tapers and tapered tangs. I do a lot of Python programming and have already written a program to find the correct shim based on taper height, final thickness of the thin side and thickness of the steel. The length from the pivot to the pin is set in the program rather than a variable passed when run.
 
mooniesdl3 said:
I'm interested in hearing experience as well although I did just order one that will be here Monday. I'll be using it to make things flat obviously and remove scale but also to do distal tapers and tapered tangs. I do a lot of Python programming and have already written a program to find the correct shim based on taper height, final thickness of the thin side and thickness of the steel. The length from the pivot to the pin is set in the program rather than a variable passed when run.
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Which one did you go with? Please report back on results :thumbsup:
 
I want the Ameribrade; it looks easy to taper tangs with it and can be used with their other stuff, like their fullering wheels. Lots of nice features packed into it! But I don't have the $$$. It's almost as much as my grinder from them was!
 
Travis Wuertz has been developing one with individual on/off magnets. Showed me a demo at BLADE this year and it is nice!
 
Taz said:
I want the Ameribrade; it looks easy to taper tangs with it and can be used with their other stuff, like their fullering wheels. Lots of nice features packed into it! But I don't have the $$$. It's almost as much as my grinder from them was!
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They have financing options now ask me how I know 😁
 
I got that email too! That's a dangerous thing! Rotary Platen, Waterfall platen, surface grinder, tilt attachment, fullering attachment/wheels, etc!
 
They are great attachments to have, I have one from Beaumont metal works, I wouldn't recommend buying theirs, good attachment, I found it difficult to impossible to get simple questions answered. If I had to do over, I would consider the Ameribrade, great guys with knowledge about their product and very willing to discuss in detail. As mentioned above get one with magnets that can be turned off, especially if you want to use it for the final finish.
 
navman said:
Travis Wuertz has been developing one with individual on/off magnets. Showed me a demo at BLADE this year and it is nice!
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Thanks Navman....not familiar with this one. Any link info that you might have for review?
 
The Reeder has removable magnets, too. Use as many as are needed. The biggest advantage is the side-to-side movement with nice handles. Effortless! No pumping up and down.
It is micrometer adjusted and can be adjusted for tapers and such.

I recommend using a second tool arm and the little double-arm clamp for more solidness. And a 4" or 5" smooth or serrated high-durometer wheel.
When setting it up, lock everything down tight, twice.

Surface grinders have other uses beyond grinding down billets and blades. Use double side tape or glue to attach wood, ivory, or plastic to a bar of steel and you can smooth/reduce thickness/even-up/etc.
 
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Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
The Reeder has removable magnets, too. Use as many as are needed. The biggest advantage is the side-to-side movement with nice handles. Effortless! No pumping up and down.
It is micrometer adjusted and can be adjusted for tapers and such.

I recommend using a second tool arm and the little double-arm clamp for more solidness. And a 4" or 5" smooth or serrated high-durometer wheel.
When setting it up, lock everything down tight, twice.

Surface grinders have other uses beyond grinding down billets and blades. Use double side tape or glue to attach wood, ivory, or plastic to a bar of steel and you can smooth/reduce thickness/even-up/etc.
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Excellent Stacy...thanks! Was curious about the setup and that lays it out.
 
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Normally, you flip the grinder to horizontal position, then you install the surface grinder in the tool arm. You can install a second tool arm in the other slot and clamp a brace on the two arms to lock them together. This is a good idea for billets and long blades.
The magnet table is 12" wide. The magnets slip in the slots, and you dress them and the holder plate in the initial setup.
The surface grinder slides from side to side on ball bearings by holding the rubber handles and moving it back and forth easily.
There are four Quick-adjust locking handles that zero and adjust the grinder for setting the angles needed.
The large machined handwheel is right in the middle, next to the micrometer, for advancing the billet/blade into the contact wheel as you grind the surface. A few passes - turn the wheel - a few passes - turn the wheel ... etc.
You can see how much you have ground away by the micrometer gauge.

You can also use the surface grinder with the vertical flat platen for some tasks. Just put it in the tool arm second slot with the machine set up for normal flat platen grinding. The surface grinder will now slide back and forth across the flat platen and belt. This can be useful for quick forging clean-ups, final flattening of the ricasso (to fix overgrinds), distal tapers, and for tapering tangs.

I haven't tried it, but can think of ways to use it with the flat platen to grind in the bevels like a uber-jig.

For fullering, use the surface grinder in the vertical position with a small wheel. It should be able to do urasuki with a curved platen, too.

Is it cheap - Heck NO! It runs about $1600. Is it rock solid and versatile - Absolutely.
For those reading this post and considering the Reeder Grinder, the basic grinder package and wheel kit plus a 2HP motor/VFD package from an online seller will run you just about the same as the surface grinder. The total of the two is less than many grinders.

Tips/comments:
1) DON'T get your fingers pinched when installing the magnets or snapping a blade on them ... They are STRONG.
2) Make a bronze tool for prying blades and billets off the magnets.
3) Place a vacuum port or nozzle right at the contact wheel/magnet plate to catch the grinding dust and sparks created. Use METAL duct and a spark trap/bong!
4) I see no reason it won't work on any good quality brand of H/V grinder with 1.5" tool arm slots.
5) I can't say enough good things about the solidness and quality of the products from Reeder. Customer service and communication is also great.

BTW, I'm nor shilling for Greg. He doesn't even know that I make these posts (unless he watches Shop Talk unbeknownst to me). If you read this Greg, I suggest you buy a dealer membership and post all the great tools and equipment you make.
 
So after tapering 3 tangs I've learned a few things about my setup. I've read on this forum that you shouldn't advance it so far as to bog down your grinder. Well I have a 3HP motor on my grinder and was unable to bog it down, I also learned that 2 on/off magnets are NOT enough to keep a 6" or so over all length knife blade on the chuck when hogging off material on a tapered tang with a 3HP motor running wide open. The third thing I learned is that when said blade goes shooting down towards the lower shelf of my bench that it WILL make you jump...

I a impressed with the system though and it certainly makes tapering tangs simple, I did move another of the magnets down so I have 3 on those particular knife blades and I've ordered a couple more for longer stuff.
 
I had my new grinder set up only a week with the surface grinder and I can’t imagine doing production without it now.

I’ve done 4 tapered tangs. I’ve also started to surface grind in my distal tapers in kitchen knives which used to take forever and now it takes about 10 min for a 9 inch chef. I’ve had a few kitchen knives I’ve been procrastinating on grinding because I just didn’t feel like blowing though extra belts doing all the grinding.

I’m also working on a Magnacut (64-65hrc) petty about 5.5 inches. Which took about 5 min to grind the distal taper and 30 min to get it to finish ground after that.
 
Thescrawnylumberjack said:
I had my new grinder set up only a week with the surface grinder and I can’t imagine doing production without it now.

I’ve done 4 tapered tangs. I’ve also started to surface grind in my distal tapers in kitchen knives which used to take forever and now it takes about 10 min for a 9 inch chef. I’ve had a few kitchen knives I’ve been procrastinating on grinding because I just didn’t feel like blowing though extra belts doing all the grinding.

I’m also working on a Magnacut (64-65hrc) petty about 5.5 inches. Which took about 5 min to grind the distal taper and 30 min to get it to finish ground after that.
Click to expand...

Distal tapers is next, including some petty's and K-tips in Magnacut and 26C3
 
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