Bye Bye Grizzly!!

T

Taz

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 28, 1999
Messages
2,519
Well, I'm sending the POS grizzly back. The company obviously can't handle a simple repair and doesn't really want to solve problems that crop up, so I am sending it back tomorrow and getting my $$$ back. I am going to order a 6x48 from harbor freight and flat grinding for a whole until I can afford a real grinder.
 
Taz, Let me know how the 6x48 works. I am new to knifemaking and currently use a 4x36. It has created some really nice skinners but I am finding out it is currently not powerful enough for my current knife. Vaquero57
 
vaquero57, if you can find a old 1 hp motor that is a 1750 rpm. mount the sander and the motor on a board, and with a used fan belt and pully you will have a worker.

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Laurence Segal www.RHINOKNIVES.com
 
Well, I got some mixed reviews bout the harbor freight 6x48, so I am goiing to hold off. The ProCut2 in Koval's was recommended to me. IS this a good machine? It is $500 plus motor. I also have the option of sending back the whole grizz and ordering jsut the sanding part w/o motor for $150. I would have 150 to spend on a good motor and parts. Can I mount the Contact wheel on a shaft and use a pulley so i can get variable speed?? Or should i use the grizz parts, like tensioner, idler, contact wheel and general frame and modify them and maky my own grinder from the parts? Any more ideas??? I would also have the contact wheel redone to a higher Duro. Any idea who can do that???
 
Well, tech guy called tonight and said the noise was bearing grease and would quite down with some more running, so it looke like I will keep it. I will probably do some major mods to the platen and assembly in general and eventually, run it with a belt and pulley system to get variable speeds. I'll let you guys know how it is when i get to use it.
 
Taz, I got a grizzly (sans motor) from a friend who had graduated to a Baldor (Thanks Dan!!). I had a machine shop make me a shaft and install some bearings where the shaft goes though the armature. I put a graduated pully wheel on the end of the shaft and am running it with a motor and belt. It wobbles a bit, but that is probably due to my ramshackle mounting techniques more than anything else.
My friend went through much the same hassel as you have with their crappy service dept. He sent the wheel back twice before it would track, and ended up rebuilding the motor himself to get it to run. I tried to order one for about 6 months before I gave up waiting for one to come in stock.
Heres what I like about it. Belt changes are a snap, and you don't have to change anything around to go from flat platten to wheel to slack belt.
You might also want to look up Kalamazoo and use your own motor.
Good luck,
Ed
 
Howdy There Taz.....!
How is school..? Hey, before you go buy something else, have you checked out the grinder that Beaumont Metal Works. A friend of mind just bought one and it is great and very well built. They are around $680 without a motor, check out them on his website. Good Luck...!
"possum"
 
I looked and drooled at Finks grinder, but I only can spend about 300 or so on the grinder, so the one Fink made is was out of my league for now. I am sticking with then grizz..got a call to talk about the problem, was grease in the bearings working its way out and will go away soon.
 
Taz, I don't mean to sound naive but it's natural.
smile.gif
Aren't bearings supposed to have grease in them? Isn't the grease supposed to stay there? (At least for a reasonable time.) Lastly, how does grease make the rattling / grinding sounds you were describing. I'm sure the tech knows more about grizzly machines and machinery in general than I will ever know but something in the back of my head is going 'beep...beep..'. I've learned not to ignore it even if I have to risk asking dumb questions.

Rob!



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Rob Ridley
Ranger Original Handcrafted Knives
 
I think the grease just needs to settle itself in the bearings and may cause some noise while it does somehow, like maybe the grease hadn't worked it's way all of the way into the bearnings. Plus when my parents turned it on the 2 times, it was after being in a cold outside environment to going into a warm house, so the grease could have gotten a little stiff. It might not have coated the bearings properly or kinda shrunk away in the colder weather and jsut needs to warm up a little to do it's job. At least, I hope!
biggrin.gif
 
What's the longest time you have run the thing? If it was a grease problem, you'd think it would quiet quickly after it was warmed up. Is this noise causing any vibration? I had a lot of vibration with my griz until they finally sent me a grinding wheel that worked. I went through three. I have to say, though, that their service was pretty good for me.

What are you going to do about the platen?


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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM

[This message has been edited by Hoodoo (edited 11-15-2000).]
 
Taz,

I've had a Griz for 5 years. It does not have any strange noises, but it does tend to track a little funny.

To see if it is a grease distribution problem, try this. Remove the grinding belt. Turn the machine on, and let it run until the motor housing is warm to the touch. Probably somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes.

If the noise is still there when the unit is at operating temperature, I'd say the motor has some kind of problem.

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Glen AKA Centaur
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
- Isaac Newton

[This message has been edited by Centaur (edited 11-14-2000).]
 
The motor ran about 30 min at a clip a few times. my parents said each time they turn it on, the nosie gets less and elss and doesn't happen as frequently. Hopefully the noise will be gone after i grind for a few hours with it. The grinding part of the assembly wasn't even put on yet, jsut the motor itself was tested. i will test everything else over my college break. As for the platen, I have a chunk of O-1 I can use and my machinsit friend will help me make the platen and do whatever mods I need to make.
 
Centaur - What kind of tracking problems are you having? I had a problem with the threaded end of the tracking knob where it hits the plate on the idler wheel. I put a self leveling caster on the end of the tracking bolt and that helped alot.
Joe
 
The belts wants to track about 1/4" off the right edge of the idler wheel and the contact wheel, no matter how I adjust the right/left position of the idler wheel.

Using the tracking adjust knob, I can move the belt a little to the left, until it is almost centered on the contact wheel, then it jumps about 1/4" off to the left side, and gouges the bracket.

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Glen AKA Centaur
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
- Isaac Newton
 
Has anyone emailed the Grizzly customer service rep with the BF complaint threads? I believe it's csr@grizzly.com. Let them know just how much grief they are causing their customers. Maybe they care, maybe they don't...never hurts to try.
Bob
 
Hey Gents,

The noise may very well come from the alignment of the idler/tracking wheel arm bearing. I recall having a tremendously difficult time aligning the bearing for the extended arm. This can cause a lot of noise and will spit out pieces of bearing (a brass journal bearing). The alignment is very tough. The noise will lessen as the journal bearing finally "wears in". Shouldn't worry about that bearing as it is for rough alignment only and should not be necessary to carry any load, just awful annoying.

However, if it is the motor bearings, there's a problem. Even cold grease won't cause the grinding you mention. Best bet is to get the best alignment of the idler, then work the grinder for a couple of weeks and send it back if the motor bearing is the problem.

The Tracking problem most likely stems from the contact wheel being slightly concave. The belt wants to ride on the high spot. Putting tape on the edge that it tracks to will worsen the problem. I had sent my wheel back to Grizzly twice to have them resurfacte the wheel due to this problem. All of there stock at the time were concave (the edges were slightly larger diameter than the center).

Not a great grinder compared to the $1000 plus units, but definitely worth working with for the $300 budget.

Just keep plugging away at it. It'll be worth it in the end.

Dan
Hannon Bearpaw Knives http://home.nfolink.com/~dhannon/index.htm
 
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