Home Built Grinder WIP

I'm not gonna lie, the first tool rest I built sucked and I hated it. This is a bit better. 2 days of work with the tools I have. A bandsaw, drill press grinder.





 
Made a change to the shaft mounts. There was a lot of lateral leverage from both of the belts and the bearings were heating up and want them to last a good while. The additional weight actually makes it a little easier rotating to the horizontal position. I do need to either extent the back leg extensions or secure it down in the front with a fastener to the table. If I pull the platen and tool rest of it tips up as it's very back heavy without them. No biggie.. Probable extend the legs so in case of ever needing it moved or whatever I don't have to worry about it being fastened down to whatever it's sitting on.









 
Here is a little walk around video..


[video]http://vid1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag477/marcmccall/Grinder/BearingMount/E4B944A9-EB70-4A40-8614-78DB346F386E_zpsnd647hpf.mp4[/video]
 
My favorite show ever was MacGyver. I was always the kid who was repurposing different things to make what I needed or to get out of a jam. One of my best was when my throttle cable broke on my bug and I used my shoelace and a pair of vice grips as an improvised pedal and cable. Went all the way from Jasper to Edmonton on that.

I think what you are doing here is so cool. Inventive and costing so little. Repurposed parts. Nice. I plan to build a grinder and I have been looking at the tracking wheel hinge ideas. Your's is the simplest one I have seen. A bunch of others will take some work. I worry that yours might not last, but it would take two minutes to replace too.

Nice Job.
Randy
 
Randydb said:
My favorite show ever was MacGyver. I was always the kid who was repurposing different things to make what I needed or to get out of a jam. One of my best was when my throttle cable broke on my bug and I used my shoelace and a pair of vice grips as an improvised pedal and cable. Went all the way from Jasper to Edmonton on that.

I think what you are doing here is so cool. Inventive and costing so little. Repurposed parts. Nice. I plan to build a grinder and I have been looking at the tracking wheel hinge ideas. Your's is the simplest one I have seen. A bunch of others will take some work. I worry that yours might not last, but it would take two minutes to replace too.

Nice Job.
Randy
Click to expand...

The hinge came from the door to and old industrial Biro meat bandsaw. I have a second one if it doesn't, however the hinge pin is a min of 1/4" thick and I have tac welded the barrels of the hinge closed. Most of the tension being exerted on it will be in the downward vertical direction. It is fastened with two 1/4" by 20 bolts. It's actually a lot heaver duty than the image does justice for It's made of 3/16" metal. The door that is was originally mounted to was quite a heavy chunk of cast aluminum. The base from it I'm using to mount my drill press, 30" belt grinder and 8" wheel grinder to. It's probably close to 200 plus pounds. You can see it in this image.



In the event that the hinge is a complete failure I will salvage the tracking hing from the met saw. It still currently still has the 14" cast iron wheel attached to it but the bolts are frozen and I have't taken the time to use the impact driver or drill them out to remove it from the upper part of the old saw.

The wheel it's attached to is just like the one in the left hand side of this image in the background. I'j just a LOT heavier duty than it needs to be...

 
Here are some images of what the heaver hinge looks like in case of a complete failure.

Edit: I'm hoping the hinge I'm using is good enough because I want to save this one and the wheels to eventually build my own metal cutting bandsaw, but that's down the road a while....



 
pleasanthill said:
Here are some images of what the heaver hinge looks like in case of a complete failure.

Edit: I'm hoping the hinge I'm using is good enough because I want to save this one and the wheels to eventually build my own metal cutting bandsaw, but that's down the road a while....



Click to expand...
Those pictures sure bring back some memories of my time as a butcher. I have 2 crooked fingers from the wrath of a saw very similar to that one.
 
Not trying to hijack this thread, but I'm at the point of starting to get what I need to make a 2x72 as well. My problem is that I have zero experience with them and have never used a 2x72, so I don't know what I need to buy or get. I've found some different plans online, but it seems like none of them really do a good job of giving a parts list of what exactly is needed. And I don't know what I don't know! Does anyone here know of any good plans with specific parts/supply lists?
Thanks
 
NWAlabamaHiker said:
Not trying to hijack this thread, but I'm at the point of starting to get what I need to make a 2x72 as well. My problem is that I have zero experience with them and have never used a 2x72, so I don't know what I need to buy or get. I've found some different plans online, but it seems like none of them really do a good job of giving a parts list of what exactly is needed. And I don't know what I don't know! Does anyone here know of any good plans with specific parts/supply lists?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I would start with what type of options would you like it to have and how much do you want to spend.

For instance, I wanted one that could rotate horizontal. I wanted a large platen, 12" min of flat surface for flattening longer pieces. I wanted my tool tool arm to be separate from the wheel arm (not bolted to it). My tool rest I wanted to be adjustable to virtually any angle. I wanted variable speed.

I'm guessing you're from Alabama, which is close to me. I would suspect steel prices are comparable to South Carolina. I came up with what I wanted to be able to do with mine by watching youtube videos and thinking wow I like that feature...... Saw different websites and Ok I like that, and have pretty much built exactly what I wanted. Would I much rather a "store bought one"? Yes and no. I have the pride of having something I built. Is t as good as some of the others? Not necessarily but when it's done It will work for me, and I know every inch of it.

Oh, and I have never touched one before or seen one other than on the web. Only a harbor freight 1x30..
 
pleasanthill said:
I would start with what type of options would you like it to have and how much do you want to spend.

For instance, I wanted one that could rotate horizontal. I wanted a large platen, 12" min of flat surface for flattening longer pieces. I wanted my tool tool arm to be separate from the wheel arm (not bolted to it). My tool rest I wanted to be adjustable to virtually any angle. I wanted variable speed.

I'm guessing you're from Alabama, which is close to me. I would suspect steel prices are comparable to South Carolina. I came up with what I wanted to be able to do with mine by watching youtube videos and thinking wow I like that feature...... Saw different websites and Ok I like that, and have pretty much built exactly what I wanted. Would I much rather a "store bought one"? Yes and no. I have the pride of having something I built. Is t as good as some of the others? Not necessarily but when it's done It will work for me, and I know every inch of it.

Oh, and I have never touched one before or seen one other than on the web. Only a harbor freight 1x30..
Click to expand...

Thanks! I guess that's part of my problem is that I don't know what options I want because I've only used a 4x36 combo deal from Lowe's and a HF 1x30. So I guess I need to just start watching more YouTube videos! The only Cole if things I know I want is a variable speed and I'd like to also have a fairly large platen interchangeable with a wheel. But I don't know where to start... Anyway thanks. I'll watch some more videos and go from there.
Thanks again.
 
NWAlabamaHiker said:
I'd like to also have a fairly large platen interchangeable with a wheel
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

That answers one of your questions. I want to just have a platen set up on an arm and a few different wheels on different arms so I don't have to unbolt anything from the arm, just unlock it and switch it out.. The wheels are more expensive than making/buying a platen and my needs require a platen more than a wheel so I started with a platen. I wanted to make mine as versatile as possible easy to modify. Basically I want a final product of a Cadillac of grinders. I eventually want it to be able to do anything and everything. I'm even going to eventually build a stone wash tumble attachment I saw on a youtube video instead of a completely separate machine as I have very limited space, so why not make a tool I can attach to the grinder to do it...

Start you a list of of options and prioritize them. If hollow grinding is important to you, you'll need a way to do it and so on.
 
Here is probably the most important question you'll need to answer. Do you have all the tools to build one yourself with the exception of the no weld grinder?
 
pleasanthill said:
104544151_biro-3334-commercial-butcher-shop-meat-bone-band-cutting_zpsopjadhso.jpg
[/URL]

Click to expand...

Don't kill that bandsaw, it's industrial quality

Either sell it to somebody who hunts, or mod it and use iti.
 
pleasanthill said:
Here is probably the most important question you'll need to answer. Do you have all the tools to build one yourself with the exception of the no weld grinder?
Click to expand...

Actually I have a fairly well equipped workshop including a small welder if I need it. I'm not as good at welding as my oldest son is - but he's already been begging me to get started because he wants a project to work on! Lol
Anyway, yes a platen is top priority for me now as I've never done any hollow grinding, but I don't want to rule out that option- so I at least want the grinder to be capable - but your option with arms with wheels (with the ability to unlock and change out) sounds like a nice option.
 
12345678910 said:
Don't kill that bandsaw, it's industrial quality

Either sell it to somebody who hunts, or mod it and use iti.
Click to expand...

There isn't much on it that works. All the bearings are shot. No motor. So far the I've used almost every useful part that was left on it. Worth more to me in parts than I could get for it. The base has been repurposed and now has 2 grinders and a drill press mounted on top of a new top platform as the old one was not in condition to use for food purposes.

Edit: When I can afford one a mini mill will be set on the base.
 
Last edited:
The images you have in your comment that I originally posted are from the Internet. Not the actual saw I have. They are in waaaaaay better condition the what I posses.
 
Happy camper today, just ordered my wheel set from OregonBladeMaker. I am so ready to get this grinder finished and put it to use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top