Grizzly 2x42 Upgrades!

aareeyesee said:
I bought the first Gen that came out back when they were at like 380 I think. If $700 is the number now, that's insane. I def don't think this things worth over 500 unless it's been upgraded a lot. Don't get me wrong, I've used mine a bunch and upgraded it significantly. Every time I see a picture of one posted I'm like "what is that weird little thing" then I realize that's what mine looked like for a couple weeks. You could buy select parts from housemade make the rest and buy a decent motor and drive for under 1000. And that's a real 2x72. And if you're not into making stuff I'd probably look at vevor or similar and upgrade from that platform. No matter what in this price range you're gonna be doing some tinkering to get it to act right and be dependable.

Edit- just looked it up. 480$ is reasonable. I'm guessing you were meaning with all contender upgrades brings it to 700. Go ahead and add 250 to that for a reversible higher power servo motor from servomotorkit or Amazon as well once that motor keels over.
Click to expand...
Most definitely not worth what it costs now. Especially when upgrades are a must.
 
Wow, yeah. I got mine for $298 June of last year- now they're $439 for the same grinder. Not sure if i'd pay that much for it honestly, especially with all the upgrades that I bought for it.
 
Grizzly customer service was great, but unfortunately I went through three motors/controllers in less than 1 year. All were covered under warranty and ultimately they refunded my money. I took that money and ultimately bought a Pheer 2x72. Should have done that in the first place and save a whole lot of aggravation.
 
J Lensmire said:
Grizzly customer service was great, but unfortunately I went through three motors/controllers in less than 1 year. All were covered under warranty and ultimately they refunded my money. I took that money and ultimately bought a Pheer 2x72. Should have done that in the first place and save a whole lot of aggravation.
Click to expand...
Same here. I went through 2 of them and didn't actually mind them until I got my OBM which is much better. For the budget I had at the time though, it really wasn't that bad and definitely an upgrade from the Bucktool I had before...
 
My issue was received the grinder, very excited because I too was using a Bucktool. Grind 2 maybe 3 knives, controller burn out. Wait 2-3 months, receive new controller, install and find out motor ran at 1/4 the speed at best. Wait another 2-3 months, get entire new replacement grinder. Grind maybe 5 knives, because I stop every 20 minutes or so and wait 10-15 mins, basically 50% duty cycle. Motor and controller go up in smoke. Try one more time with complete grinder replacement. Wait some more, up in smoke. Basically wasted a year, always had to go back to cheaper, but still functioning Bucktool 2x42.
 
Mine lasted a good while before going out randomly on me. It only took about 2 weeks to get a new one but still, a wait time is pretty bad when you're on a deadline...
My second one was good before I ended up upgrading. The person who owns it now has had good success so far!
My issue was probably the power. It would bog down pretty easily for me which I didn't want of course.
 
Contender Machine said:
Well like many other knife makers on here when I saw the new Grizzly 2x42 belt grinder on the market I bought one immediately. The price of this thing is just crazy cheap. It’s easily the best grinder you can get for under $400 because well it‘s about the only grinder you can get for under $400. That being said it is cheap for a reason. The build quality and design is not the best as can be expected.

So naturally I did some upgrades! Since I make a living building grinders and grinder accessories I do intend to build and sell these upgrades to anyone who would like them but I thought I’d just start by sharing what I have done so far. I’d love to here any comments or ideas for further upgrades.

First thing I did was make new platen brackets as well as a simple steel platen. I made the brackets slotted so that it has adjustment both left to right (to center the platen up to the belt better) as well as adjustment in and out to allow for running radius platens. I haven’t made any radius platens yet though. Would anyone be interested in radius platens for this grinder?

Here‘s the new platen and brackets mounted in the stock platen frame. The new brackets allow better access to both sides of the platen.





The next thing I did was make a couple of new work rests. I made a 5x12 inch work rest that can tilt both forward and back 15 degrees. This along with tilting the platen itself allows for a wide range of angles. I also made a drop down work rest arm to allow for better jig grinding as it gives you access to more of the platen. By nature of the design you can only tilt back 15 degrees with the drop down arm. Tilting forward is limited because the work rest hits the arm.

















The last and probably most exciting thing I made was a small wheel attachment. This prototype is made to fit the standard small wheels that use 7/8 OD bearings with an overall length of about 3 1/8 inches. A lot of knife makers already have these wheels to use with there 2x72 so making the attachment use these wheels was the most practical. It accepts up to 2 wheels so that one acts to flatten the belt out.

This works really well.







Since this is a very cheap grinder to start with I had to design these attachments to be cheap and quick to make. It’s mostly just laser cut steel with some drilled and tapped holes and some milled slots. They went together very nicely and seem to run very well.

I intend to have both some flat and radius platens heat treated to make them hold up a lot better to the heat and belt wear.

Let me know what you guys think and if any of you would be interested in adding these upgrades to your new grinder as well! As always I’m open to suggestions!
Click to expand...
Are you making and selling any of these small wheel attachments like you have at the bottom of your picture, sir?
I’d certainly be interested
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top