Home Built Surface Grinder

john april said:
what about wheel size ? what are the advantages and disadvantages of small and large wheel sizes, if any ?
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That’s a fantastic question. And one I gave more thought to after I placed my order... I think the one I got is 6” diameter. Part of me figured I have an 8”, so why not get a different diameter to potentially be able to use on stuff. Thought that was sound logic, but then wondered if the 6” wheel was somehow “less gooder” for this application? I will say that the rubber I had them put on is definitely HARD. Which I like, given the application. Hopefully someone else on here will have a good answer on “best” wheel size and how that all works. And hopefully I didn’t mess up by getting this size wheel...

Jeremy
 
I wonder if having a smaller wheel would make it so you could take off more per pass, since you’d have a smaller contact area?
Just conjecture, I have no experience with it, but it does make me curious!

Gudspelr, since you have two wheels now, you can experiment and find out!
 
Ken H> said:
I think you did good getting the 3" wide wheel - that's what I wound up with. I like it better, there's more room for the belt to move. AND - if I get some 2-1/2" wide belts the wheel will handle them nicely. A 2" wide belt really doesn't do a good job on a 2" wide blade, there needs to be a bit of belt hanging over the sides of the blade for best work.

Good luck with rest of build.
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I ordered 3x72 belts from Phoenix abrasives. they had them done in a few days. Also, I scored 15 sixty grit belts in 3x100 or so at a tool auction- $5 for all. Since my tool arm was long enoough, I was able to just bring it out to tension that longer belt. Pretty sweet.
 
Is this still the accepted supply list for the grinder build? I have contacted the seller of the wheel and they seem to indicate buying it at 90 durometer vs 75 requires a multiple piece purchase. Does anyone here use the 75 durometer wheel? Does anyone have alternate suggestions to the parts below or are these working out for everyone? Thanks in advance!

Magnets
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/15-...Rare-Earth-Neodymium-Magnets/32398053200.html

Linear stage sliding table
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Man...al-Linear-Translation-Stages/32612615636.html

Linear slide rail
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pc...ulti-axis-core-linear-Motion/32842691822.html

Contact wheel
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/200...isher-Wheel-Sanding-Belt-Set/32381815454.html
 
Honestly I don't like the magnets. After building mine I went over to a friends house that has the TW-90 and his magnets are ridiculously stronger. Mine are spaced about the same as his or maybe slightly further apart and his chuck holds 20x better than mine. So much better that I plan on making a completely new chuck.

Also, that sliding table thing is junk for this application. It has way too much movement in it. I modified mine a LOT to get the play out of it and there's still way too much imo. I plan on building my own sliding mechanism at some point to replace it.
 
I haven't found time to look for other magnets yet. The wheel I got was from a different source, but it was 90 duro and it took a really long time to get. I wanted a 2" wheel though.

The magnets I got were these. Pretty much the same thing except a little shorter because of my wheel and chuck size.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10p...791.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4d7rQeVs

This was the wheel I got with a 12.7mm ID bearing. My contact wheel arbors are .5".
https://www.dhgate.com/product/150-50-25mm-belt-sander-rubber-contact-wheel/387672441.html
 
I am using the standard 75 duro wheel you have listed there. I am looking to get the 90. With the softer wheel I am getting a little press in on the edges when I start the grind if I have it dialed too close. I just get it where it barely touches and move it a touch every time, and it works fine. I am using those magnets and I can barely get a blade off of mine. I used the layout Stromberg provided. Pictures of mine on post 293. I put a layer of duct tape over mine then change it out once it get torn. Else I can barely remove a blade at all. I was able to lift 50 pounds without it budging at all. Maybe they sent me another kind of magnet but I ordered those and mine are too strong to be honest. I could remove every other magnet and still have the blade stick fine.
 
Ladams19 said:
I am using the standard 75 duro wheel you have listed there. I am looking to get the 90. With the softer wheel I am getting a little press in on the edges when I start the grind if I have it dialed too close. I just get it where it barely touches and move it a touch every time, and it works fine. I am using those magnets and I can barely get a blade off of mine. I used the layout Stromberg provided. Pictures of mine on post 293. I put a layer of duct tape over mine then change it out once it get torn. Else I can barely remove a blade at all. I was able to lift 50 pounds without it budging at all. Maybe they sent me another kind of magnet but I ordered those and mine are too strong to be honest. I could remove every other magnet and still have the blade stick fine.
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Did you use that same stage? If so, did you also have to deal with excessive play? Thanks!
-edit- went back and re-read the thread a little and saw that you did indeed order the same table and rail. I think I'm just going to go for it unless anyone else can point me in a better direction?
 
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Ladams19 said:
I am using the standard 75 duro wheel you have listed there. I am looking to get the 90. With the softer wheel I am getting a little press in on the edges when I start the grind if I have it dialed too close. I just get it where it barely touches and move it a touch every time, and it works fine. I am using those magnets and I can barely get a blade off of mine. I used the layout Stromberg provided. Pictures of mine on post 293. I put a layer of duct tape over mine then change it out once it get torn. Else I can barely remove a blade at all. I was able to lift 50 pounds without it budging at all. Maybe they sent me another kind of magnet but I ordered those and mine are too strong to be honest. I could remove every other magnet and still have the blade stick fine.
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I can't pull them straight off or anything. I have to slide stuff off and it will hold a 4-5" blade on there fine, larger stuff even better. I just wanted it stronger so I could do smaller stuff if need be. Small stuff like bolster sized pieces get flung off. They wouldn't get flung off of my buddy's TW-90 attachment.
 
tmerkl said:
Is this still the accepted supply list for the grinder build? I have contacted the seller of the wheel and they seem to indicate buying it at 90 durometer vs 75 requires a multiple piece purchase. Does anyone here use the 75 durometer wheel? Does anyone have alternate suggestions to the parts below or are these working out for everyone? Thanks in advance!

Magnets
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/15-...Rare-Earth-Neodymium-Magnets/32398053200.html

Linear stage sliding table
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Man...al-Linear-Translation-Stages/32612615636.html

Linear slide rail
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pc...ulti-axis-core-linear-Motion/32842691822.html

Contact wheel
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/200...isher-Wheel-Sanding-Belt-Set/32381815454.html
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I must have gotten lucky with my wheel. I sent them a message and they told me I could get the higher duro wheel and only order 1, it would just take them a few weeks to make it. I ordered it and waited and it all worked out just fine. I have all my parts and milled the slots for the magnets I got (I think mine were N52-I did some searching on that for sale site to find them) in the aluminum chuck. Had to take a break for a number of little trips/holiday stuff but need to get back to building mine. I have to get some more aluminum plate cut up and figure out all the attachment points and get to it. I really want to make stuff flat and parallel faster than standing at my granite plate... I can’t comment about slop in the rail system since I haven’t completed mine yet. I will say I was pleasantly surprised at the “feel” of it when I got it. I’m taking for granted that it holds good tolerance based on what other guys have been able to accomplish with theirs. I plan on building my own in/out adjustment system that will hopefully have very little slop. Guess time will tell for that one...


Jeremy
 
I have had no issue with play in the rail. I did need to tweak the cross slide, but it has set screws for that. Once I arjusteait, mines been very stable. When I ordered my wheel, they replied to my order that the hardest they had was 80. Honestly, I don't mind, since I only get rolled edges if I'm advancing too agressively.
 
Is there a part number for the 90 duro wheel or do you just need to ask? Thought about getting one on order for the new year knife making. That rounded edge it puts on a blade can cause an issue if I am not paying attention. I had put quite a bit of time into a modern bowie and it rounded the pommel edge pretty good. Almost had that tapered tang look. I ended up fitting the G10 to the steel to make the repair. I took about couple thousands off the whole blade in general and evened it out. Came out OK. I ended up putting a note on the attachment itself written on masking tape to remind me to make checks for this. I learned from watching videos of you knife masters that sometimes a basic note telling myself what not to so really comes in handy. Slow learning curve I guess.
 
WyldStyl3 said:
I can't pull them straight off or anything. I have to slide stuff off and it will hold a 4-5" blade on there fine, larger stuff even better. I just wanted it stronger so I could do smaller stuff if need be. Small stuff like bolster sized pieces get flung off. They wouldn't get flung off of my buddy's TW-90 attachment.
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Yes, I could see a small piece getting flung off. I strictly have been using mine on blades so my mistake on reading the issue. A factory made plate, at least the ones I have seen have lots of small magnetic dots so the coverage it really spread out instead of in rows like this design. I thought about getting a factory made magnet plate until I looked at the prices for them.
 
I recommend making your own slide table. Mine is rock solid! Not sure if my pictures are still there at the beginning of this thread, but I can try to post again if anyone is interested. I have refined my slider even more now, and it is perfect!

I also just recent picked up a cast iron 6" caster wheel with precision ball bearings. I then lathed the slight crowned surface perfectly flat! I will experiment, using it instead of of the serrated rubber wheel soon. As of yet I have only used it for fast material removal.. grinding blades to outlined patern. And it has performed wonderfully for that.

For magnets, it's a little tricky.. there are SOOO many different manufacturers, that you can have strengths vary a great deal from the same manufacturer! But I would recommend THESE https://www.amazon.com/HS-Magnet-Ne...ium+magnet&dpPl=1&dpID=41w5GRxjIIL&ref=plSrch

I got these when I redid my chuck. These are incredibly strong!
 
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WyldStyl3 said:
Honestly I don't like the magnets. After building mine I went over to a friends house that has the TW-90 and his magnets are ridiculously stronger. Mine are spaced about the same as his or maybe slightly further apart and his chuck holds 20x better than mine. So much better that I plan on making a completely new chuck.

Also, that sliding table thing is junk for this application. It has way too much movement in it. I modified mine a LOT to get the play out of it and there's still way too much imo. I plan on building my own sliding mechanism at some point to replace it.
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Yeah I've had nothing but issues with mine and I have a mill and was super careful. The wheel is too soft leading to rounding near edges (unless extremely light passes, at which point I may as well use a real surface grinder - and even with light passes it may have some rounding - haven't checked), and by x axis table (that moves the slide closer to the wheel) is terrible, ton of play (no one's fault here, just a cheap Chinese slide). Hindsight I probably should have just used the $$ towards a real surface grinder. Diy stuff is really neat to watch and discuss, but on most things I'm at the point I can't mess with them and would rather just invest in something already built to actually save $$ hehe
 
I hear what you're saying Razer-Edge, and agree if you are not satisfied. Don't get me wrong..., I would LOVE to own a full surface grinder! But just not an option for me. I did this because I am very, very good at both reverse engineering, and then building an equivalent of many things. Since I started this thread, I have preached to build your own slide assembly. It's a simple enough concept, to build with no play. And even a few different ways to achieve the same result! Both myself & then Ken showed that. It truly is the "glue" of the entire setup, so to speak. It doesn't matter how good anything else is if the slide is not perfect! Even the smallest amount of play here will be magnified immensely at end of through travel.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
Yeah I've had nothing but issues with mine and I have a mill and was super careful. The wheel is too soft leading to rounding near edges (unless extremely light passes, at which point I may as well use a real surface grinder - and even with light passes it may have some rounding - haven't checked), and by x axis table (that moves the slide closer to the wheel) is terrible, ton of play (no one's fault here, just a cheap Chinese slide). Hindsight I probably should have just used the $$ towards a real surface grinder. Diy stuff is really neat to watch and discuss, but on most things I'm at the point I can't mess with them and would rather just invest in something already built to actually save $$ hehe
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My table had play until I tightened it up. there are a few small screws that allow access to the dovetail interfaces. Remove screws to gain access and you can tighten up the tolerance a LOT.
 
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