Do any Bay Area knifemakers want the beginnings of a 36" contact wheel?

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navasky

Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
74
This came off a big bandsaw at work. It's 2.25" wide but unfortunately the rubber tire is only 1.75". It's aluminum and balanced, with a steel hub press fit into about a 5" hole. I don't have the bearings that go with the hub and you would most likely want to remove the hub and machine a smaller one with sealed bearings. This would make an awesome contact wheel with a little work. Free to anyone who can pick it up from Dublin, CA.

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Some thoughts for its future owner:
It would be great as a hogging wheel.
You could easily run a 2" belt on it, or have the belts made for you in 1.75". You would need a belt around 120" long.
I would suggest a direct drive for this wheel and a single 6" tracking wheel
 
Another possibility is to section it out into pieces for curved platens. You could easily get 8 14” sections (or whatever number the ideal platen length would be) out of it by cutting out sections. Able to ship easily, and with some simple machining/grinding to remove the rim and a few fab welds several guys willing to do the work could have a nice 2” wide 36” curved platen for any 2x72 grinder in any home shop.

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Or

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Bühlmann said:
Another possibility is to section it out into pieces for curved platens. You could easily get 8 14” sections (or whatever number the ideal platen length would be) out of it by cutting out sections. Able to ship easily, and with some simple machining/grinding to remove the rim and a few fab welds several guys willing to do the work could have a nice 2” wide 36” curved platen for any 2x72 grinder in any home shop.

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Too bad it's aluminum. Idk how durable hard coat anodizing is in our world?
I'm guessing not as good as hardened steel....
 
Looks like it would hold flower pots nicely?
haha..... That's better than my first thoughts of what 16 year old Me would want to roll it down the hill into parked cars.... :/
 
Yeah, the aluminum won't hold up to grinding pressure!
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Some thoughts for its future owner:
It would be great as a hogging wheel.
You could easily run a 2" belt on it, or have the belts made for you in 1.75". You would need a belt around 120" long.
I would suggest a direct drive for this wheel and a single 6" tracking wheel
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What is slowest RPM motor you have in USA ? Even on 800 RPM it would be fast ...........about 38 m/s
 
Crag the Brewer said:
Too bad it's aluminum. Idk how durable hard coat anodizing is in our world?
I'm guessing not as good as hardened steel....
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A guy could face it with some thin, hardenable steel easy enough. Can even form & harden several wear plates at once and then use double-sided carpet tape to fix them to the aluminum substrate so they can be easily replaced if/when they wear through.

Naysayers..... jeesh. 🙃
 
Natlek said:
What is slowest RPM motor you have in USA ? Even on 800 RPM it would be fast ...........about 38 m/s
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Use a 2 to 3HP motor and a VFD. Also, a simple pulley shaft and reduction ratio would work.
At 200RPM it would only have 31fps/10mps
 
If setup as a 2X72 (120") grinder with a normal drive wheel the diameter of that 36" wheel used as a contact wheel wouldn't affect the belt speed - would it?

Cut into sections and used as a radius platen the aluminum wouldn't wear - all that would be needed to prevent wear would be installing a leather/felt surface over the platen. I use a graphite covering.
 
Ken H> said:
If setup as a 2X72 (120") grinder with a normal drive wheel the diameter of that 36" wheel used as a contact wheel wouldn't affect the belt speed - would it?
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It wouldn't. When I eventually get around to making my own with the other wheel from the bandsaw, my thoughts are to have the motor directly drive a small wheel, and then have the whole motor tilt for tracking, similar to the tw-90. And all this talk of cutting the wheel up is reminding me of the story of Solomon where he offers to cut a baby in half and give half to each woman who claims to be the mother. It's relatively easy to get a large radius into a piece of aluminum, but not easy at all to get a huge, balanced, and true wheel.
 
navasky said:
It wouldn't. When I eventually get around to making my own with the other wheel from the bandsaw, my thoughts are to have the motor directly drive a small wheel, and then have the whole motor tilt for tracking, similar to the tw-90. And all this talk of cutting the wheel up is reminding me of the story of Solomon where he offers to cut a baby in half and give half to each woman who claims to be the mother. It's relatively easy to get a large radius into a piece of aluminum, but not easy at all to get a huge, balanced, and true wheel.
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I didn’t mean to upset you by offering my idea for your wheel. My intent was only to be helpful. Please disregard it, and good luck with your project! 😇
 
Bühlmann said:
I didn’t mean to upset you by offering my idea for your wheel. My intent was only to be helpful. Please disregard it, and good luck with your project! 😇
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I don't think you suggestion was flawed.......I Was suggesting (half joking) rolling it down the street into cars. haha. :0 :0 :0
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Most grinder contact wheels are aluminum.....
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That's true for idler and tracking wheels, but not contact wheels as far as I'm aware.

As for making a curved platen, seems a lot more straightforward to just put a flat bar through a ring roller.
 
My Hardcore grinder, my Pheer grinder, my Grizzly grinder and even my little Multitool grinders all have aluminum contact wheels.
What kind do you have that doesn't?
 
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