Burr king bba20 or tw90??

T

Tin.Man

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Sep 5, 2010
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Let me preface, I've had a tw90 in the past. I've also had a kmg, and made a fee of my own 2x72.

I've got a little money I sold the tw initially as I didnt use all its features, and I've grown as a knife maker I can appreciate them more now I think.

Now enter the wrench, I prefer hollow grinding, always have. Always chasing that bigger wheel, largest I've used was a 16" and it was nothing short of magical. I asked burr king what their 20 inch wheel would cost by itself $2000.

Does anyone have experience with the burr kong bba20 or the model it was built from I think it's the 960? It looks like its belt driven which bums me out a but, however burr king has essentially stood the test of time.

Favorite part that had me going back to the tw90 is tension setup and motor tracking.

If I could just design a motor tracking two wheel grinder with a 20" wheel I'd probably be happy

Anyways appreciate any and all thoughts
 
I have a TW-90, and i'm blown away everytime i use it. I went to his workshop on a sunday to pick it up, he met me early with his morning coffee. Showed me a person 1 on 1 demo, helped me load it, and talked to me for a bit. Travis is good AZ people, and i couldn't recommend him enough.
 
I was deciding between these two a couple years ago. Bought the Burr King bba20 & love it! The belt drive is fine & belt tracking is as good as it gets. The machine is built around the 20" wheel , not based on another model. It's a very high quality, commercial machine. I'll get a TW 90 one day, but for now I've got plenty of grinders.
 
I would get a cheaper 1 1/2" tool arm machine and look into having a 20" contact wheel and custom axle made. Then it's just a matter of running 90" belts instead of 72.
What happens if/when your Burrking wheel gets damaged? You will be out the cost of a whole belt grinder just to replace it. No thanks.
I've seen more than a few European machines running 18-20" contact wheels in the last couple years. Those wheels are being made by someone.
 
That’s weird because I talked to them at blade show and thy told me thy DO NOT sell the wheels separately. Said thy are made individually for each grinder.
 
$2k seems a little excessive for a 20" wheel. I mean, I know they're high quality, but...

Not sure what CRC or SunRay Inc would charge, but I imagine it'd be less than that. I See Claryx Metal Works also offers a 500mm wheel (19.7") for about 540 euros, plus 125 euros shipping to the US. That's about $720 give or take, which is well under half price and it includes a tooling arm if I'm not mistaken.
 
Another option is a water cooled radius platten. Can mimick a 36, 48 or 72 inch wheel

$170 or so, supply water pump, and go.

Sure beats 2k for a wheel?
 
wow the bba20 like a beast of a machine. but is it as versatile as the tw-90 ? are there attachments, can it go horizontal, can you use a smaller wheel, surface grinding attachment etc ?
 
Until I get a tw90 with all the bells and whistles,the bit of steel i cut out of a 4 foot steel pipe is doing a great job as my platten
 
Don Hanson III said:
I'd rather buy grinders & build knives. I don't have extra time to build machines. But that's just me.

I also bought the 20" grinder because I was sick and tired of flat grinding on a flat platen. And Tony Bose told me to get one. Lol
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I’m the same way, people say will you can save X amount by building the machine. Ok, and I look at how many knives I could make to sell by buying a professionally built machine & be done with it! What would be the max height with say, 5/32” steel?
 
I put down an order for a 24" grinder a while back. Unfortunately the thing didn't get built cause the wheel shop just prior to my order changed their max diameter to 20". After that I did find another source for 24" wheels, but have come to the conclusion that it is nice to fit standard size belts on it and hence 20" is probably a better way to go..

Between the bba20 and tw90, I'd go for the bba20 and day of the week. Man it is sweet looking.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
I’m the same way, people say will you can save X amount by building the machine. Ok, and I look at how many knives I could make to sell by buying a professionally built machine & be done with it! What would be the max height with say, 5/32” steel?
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I don't know max grind hight for a 20" wheel. I'm doing mostly folders now, but grind all my hunters to the spine, bout that thickness & around 1" tall.
 
I found a quote by Bulgarian knife maker Stoil Manchev, he uses a 500 mm (appr 20") wheel a lot:

"With this wheel I can make a full shallow hollow grind on thin stock-the grind can be without cheating 1 1/4 inch in height at 0.140 inch stock"
 
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