Height of Grinder

[drivadesl]

Hello all. I'm getting close to completing a knife grinding machine I've been working on since March, pretty much a KMG clone (2"x72"). I want to mount it on an old table saw stand I have so need to know what would be the correct height to locate the rest from the floor. Ive made it so I can use both a flat platten and a 10" rubber wheel for hollow grinds. So should the rest be at waist height, or some other reference point. This will affect whether I need to shorten the legs on the stand. Anyway, thanks for any input. I'm anxious to finish this so I can try my hand at making my first blade.

 

[Fellhoelter]

Same height as the floor to your elbow.

Mine is setup so that if I stand next to it, with my arms hanging, and raise my forearms to be parallel to the ground, the bottom of my forearm is the same height as the top of the tooling arm.

Did that make sense?

 

[silver_pilate]

Same as Brian for me...maybe slightly higher from previous grinding habbits. I built a riser out of 2x4's to bring the grinder base up off the tool stand to bring the platen to my desired height.

--nathan

 

[Mark Behnke]

I have mine about chest high, so I can see without stooping over.

Have to stoop at the anvil, chest high just doesn't get it.

Then some ppl sit at the grinder, haven't tried that.

Mark Behnke

 

[jll346]

My first grinder I found was too low and hurt my neck looking down so. I ended up building a base out of 2x4's to bring it up to a comfortable height. The best height is when you are comfortable while grinding.

 

[Miles Undercut]

Try it for a dozen blades or so and your back will let you know, loud and clear.

 

[beaterAR]

Some of us have to have our head a cretin distance from the edge of the blade to see it clearly and in focus, that's how high my grinder is.

 

[Bufford]

Stand in a comfortable natural position that you would use for working in a pose with your hands in a grinding position.

Now measure that height to the exact position where the contact wheel working zone would be. That would be your correct height/position for your machine.

 

[drivadesl]

Thank you all for the replies. Some excellent points to consider, though I suspect if there's an adjustment needed, like Miles says, your back will let you know. I've still got some work to do in completing my build so I will try out some of the grinding positions on my Dewalt and see if anything makes sense.

BTW, Nathan, thats a great looking setup did you build it yourself? Looks like your set up with a VFD also. I'm considering mounting mine to a similar stand, but putting the motor down below the table to free up room on top, and maybe better stability. Any thoughts on that? I would have to make clearance for the belt also.

Thanks again for your input.

 

[Erin Burke]

Similar to Brian & Nathan... rest is just about as high as the bottom of my elbow.

Note: Photo doesn't show the rest, but it mounts of the bottom of the tool arm. Basically, arms are bent at a 90-degree angle while grinding. I had to mount my cabinets on some 4x4 base lumber to get the bench top at the height I wanted.