grinders

Ah, okay. I gotcha now. Thanks for the visual. Kinda kills using the buffer attachment though, doesn't it? Cool idea though!
 
Yeah but th ebest thing is, if you want to run a slower speed on the grizzly, you can put a pulley on the buffer shaft and bolt it under your bench, then simply leave the power off to the motor on the grizzly, and power the smaller slower motor under the bench. That way you can get slower finishing speeds. Above is NOT my idea, i forget where i saw it but the smaller motor powering a pulley on the buffer arbor i saw somewhere online i just cannot remember where.
 
that is pretty cool. I had thought of asking about ways to slow it down or modify it.
 
isn't the grizzly a direct motor to grinder type um grinder? Not sure what hte proper name is. meaning, what the speed the motor spins is what the belt is going to spin? and if it is, man that is awful fast!

seems like that sucka would heat the daylights out of a tempered blade hella fast. 3600FPM? Good lord! I'm sure people have had great luck with that grinder i'm sure, but i think unless you are going to modify it with some sort of pulley system, that belt speed is way too fast. Get the coote. it's a bit more + a motor and you're not gonna get a buffer, but i buffer from say harbor freight isn't that much. and the grinder is a lot more important than the buffer, which in my opinion, should be moving only 1/2 or less as fast. But that's just my opinion. Working with A2 and wanting to keep the grain on the steel without having it buffed away too fast flat makes a lot of difference if your hand falls asleep on one part of the blade for 2 seconds too long! :D

seems like if you're gonna have to spend 400 bucks + 70+ shipping + $$ for the slower motor, you might as well just buy either a coote or something else that is gonna give you that option right off the bat without having to modify anything.
 
I hadn't really looked hard at the Coote before.

The motor is still an issue, but I do have a 6 amp (at 120V) 3450 rpm motor here. way underpowered but with the right pulleys maybe I can get by for a while until I find a 1.5 horse. I'd love input on that, too.

and now I've talked to my sage wife about it, and she has given me sound advice (mostly saying "uh huh") and it's a toss up between a Coote and xmas money for a better motor- then spend next year working on a no weld grinder before selling off the coote.

Or getting a NWG with at least a flat platen done in within 2 weeks from now. With whatever I can build out for $500. You'd think Tracy would have some input here :)
 
I looked at a few sets of build it your self grinder plans. A lot of them are real nice, BUT unless you happen to live next to a junk yard or are the best scrounger in the world, I don't see the big savings in a do-it your self grinder. I'm still working on building a homemade grinder that suites my needs, but for the time being I bought the Grizzly. It took 2 trips to the hardware store and most of a day to mount and adjust the tracking issues that are associated with it. The Grizzly runs quiet, smooth and removes lots of metal fast. I have $150.00 worth of parts for a homemade grinder that isn't any where near grinding metal yet.
There is a lot of info on Grizzly's on this forum, and worth reading every bit BEFORE you buy. That said time is money also and I have invested a lot of time into a self-built grinder that still isn't making knives, but the Grizzly is!
Take a look at the mods that this guy has made on his Grizzly. www.stoneandsteel.net/equip_grinder.html
 
I'm hearing you on the time for the home made grinder.

So, why would you pick up a grizzly over a coote, all things considered? Just the motor? My little (it's not that little, but it's not 9 amps, either) motor can probably be made to work with the right belt.
 
I'd go with a 1725RPM motor at whatever HP...1.5 and up...lol, i use a 1 HP which has worked fine for over a year now, but that's just me. and I use the step pullies on the slowest setting which i think yields like 900 or so surface feet per minute. or something like that....you can give norm coote a call and he'll explain everything to you SFPM wise if you don't understand that stuff. The price of the grinder has gone up by $70.00 bucks since I bought it a little less than 2 years ago though. I have the 2x72x8" model...but then again, i don't hollowgrind so it doesn't really matter what size contact wheel i use.

$500 might be kinda stretching it as if you want step pullies it's around another 30 or 40 i think + the v belt, which you can buy anywhere really..+ shipping. Bought my motor from grizzly industrial back then for around $155.00 + shipping, but i'm guessing the one you'd want would be over $200 from wherever.
 
if you don't do hollow grinding (and I have no plans to do that at this time), why the 8 inch over the 6 inch?
 
I have been using a grinder I made about 10 years ago. I bought some pillow block bearings a contact wheel and had someone I know from a machine shop make me an idler wheel. If you like to tinker you could do that. Or you could save up and buy a cootes which I have used before. pretty nice
 
The best shop investment I ever made was a Coote with 8" wheel. It's a bit pricer than a Grizzly, but is much better made. If your lucky you can find a motor at a yard sale that will work for it. A seperate motor and step pullies is good enough for me that I'm not even tempted to put variable speed on it. A glass platten glued to the heavy steel platten and it runs smooth and true. A thin piece of brass bent into an L fits over the platten with a strip of leather glued to it for the times I want a cussiony feel. I latter bought a small wheel set-up for it and it was a life saver. I don't use the small wheel that much anymore since getting a horizontal edge grinder though. The Coote will be with you in the long run, I don't believe the Grizzly will hold up. Even if you later get a KMG you'll still find uses for the Coote. Unless you live next to a scrap yard and have lots of free material the Coote is probably the best bange for the buck out there.

As for a band saw, I'm using a Porta band clamped in a bench vise with a 2"x2" homemade platten. I do need to get something better though.
 
i must say this. i love building things and thats why i built my grinder. but if you have to buy everything new its still pricy. mine was around $740 to build. but i do have a 8" and 2" contact wheels and there not cheep. but i had to order my steel on line and it was 140 bucks. and 100 bucks for the motor used. but im happy because i can change anything on this grinder and if somthing needs to be replaced its no problem.
 
koyote said:
I'm hearing you on the time for the home made grinder.

So, why would you pick up a grizzly over a coote, all things considered? Just the motor? My little (it's not that little, but it's not 9 amps, either) motor can probably be made to work with the right belt.
Click to expand...

Its time, money, and convenience. The Grizzly was $469.00 delivered to the door. I had to get 7 bolts to mount it to a board. Its a solid set up that I can move to a different bench and clamp down. Total investment $472.00
had it up and running in 1 day.

The Coote is $460.00 plus shipping. 2 step pulleys at around 22.70 each. A good quality V-belt an norther $25.00. You'll need to mount it more solid to accommodate the belt tensioning device you will have to make. And of coarse you need a motor. I really didn't see getting a Coote up and running for under $760.00

I'm not knocking the Coote, I know its a well made grinder and I'll probably add one or a homemade grinder later. However the Grizzly will have paid for it self in time saved by the end of the month.
 
The Coote doesn't come with a belt tensioning device?:mad: Ya have to make your own?:confused:
 
All right- I see the time saved aspect of this. That I definitely do.

Troop- I think he means drive belt tensioning?
 
Get what you can to get yourself started. See if there is anyone in your area you can visit who may already have one.

A friend bought a Grizz... 2 weeks later he came over to visit and tried out my Bader , 4 days later he bought a Bader , though he still uses the Grizz for certain tasks.

Even the $99 2 x 48 from Sears will allow you to do some decent flat grinds ( but not hollow grinds ). And if you later upgrade you will still find use for the 2 x 48.

And that Grizz does run fast. For me , I found the variable speed Bader ( way more than a Grizz ) and being able to really slow it way down , helped alot in learning.
 
You want a motor, Christof?
I have the Leeson I took off my BurrKing and replaced with a variable speed Baldor.
The Leeson has a minute or two run time on it.
Is gonna cost you, though... a knife somewhere down the road, and you get to come pick it up, unless you'd rather i shipped it...
Howie
 
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