Coote Contact Wheel Size?

[WhitleyStu]

I am ready to purchase a Coote, but am not sure which contact wheel size (6”, 8”, or 10”) to order. I will be using this belt grinder to sharpen and refurbish blades. I am not a knife maker so I will not be using the contact wheel to hollow grind, just the platen area to sharpening and rebrush blades. I thought about going with Norm Coote’s 2”x6”x48” unit, but there is more of a variety of 2”x72” belts available. My other choice is a Grizzly 2”x72”, but the Coote seems to be the more desired belt grinder from my search on this forum. I would appreciate any thoughts on the subject or other options. Thanks…

 

[Chiro75]

If you're not using the wheel for grinding, then it doesn't really matter.

 

[fitzo]

A 10" wheel will move the belt 67% faster than the 6" wheel at any given spindle RPM. That might matter. Choose your pulleys appropriately. You'll burn fewer edges at lower RPMs.

 

[Justin.Mercier]

Aye, a smaller wheel will move the belt slower. Depending on what you wnat to do that may be desireable. I just purchased a coote, but since i plan on making blades, I got the 10" contact wheel. As a result I had to get a much larger pulley than if I had a smaller contact wheel, so that I could slow down the belt more.

 

[fitzo]

Another point may be resale. If you choose to get rid of it at some point, an 8" wheel will draw a larger audience than 6". 8" is the most popular wheel size, it seems.