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I know a bargain when I see one: 5x2 wheel, roller bearings

Dumb question... what would you use as a shaft? Just a decent piece of 3/4" round stock?
 
I take it you would use these to make a belt grinder? Do you think they are good enough to handle the speed?

And while I'm asking, what size motor makes a good belt grinder? I get mine out of things that have gone on to become other things, unless they are good just the way they were discarded.

Are homemade belt grinders any good? Anyone have plans?

Keep em sharp.
 
this caster can be made into a driving wheel or contact wheel, or both :), @ that price you can not go wrong .

Heck, I'd even try to serrate the sukar. Speed-wise, it should be OK. Worst
case you'd need to replace the roller bearings with BB


Now, there are 2 basic design of grinders that are tailored for knife making:

- KMG/Bader type
- Goddard's "Big Red" type

I am a BigRed fan , at least for now :) Look in me old posts on what it looks like.
 
While saving a buck or two is a good idea there is a real reason the wheels from Bader,KMG,and Rob Frisk cost about 20 times as much as this caster - They are make to do the job of a contact or drive wheel safely and reliably.I am sure that people have made some sort of grinder from a wheel like this,but I would not stand in a shop where one was running.I value my life and health more than $100.
Before anyone jumps up to say," I made one and it hasn't hurt me yet." read the posts today on using an end mill and loosing fingers and hands.I am sure lots of people have said,"I do that all the time and it never bit me yet." The key word is YET. When "yet" happens it is over in a blink of an eye and there is no going back to "pre-yet".Think smart, spend money where safety is concerned, live to be an old fart with all your parts.Growing old sucks anyway,don't make it any worse than it has to be.
Stacy
 
I totally agree with Stacy about this.

When you're running a grinder at the speeds I do, it's truly frightening to think what could happen if there was a catastrophic bearing failure or contact-rubber failure, etc. The thing could go off like a bomb, plus the edge of those belts might as well be band-saw blades. They'll zip through your tendons with great ease. If any part of you in along side that belt when a bearing goes and that belt suddenly comes off, you're probably going to the hospital with severe injuries.
I've built several high-speed belt grinders. I'll build it all but the motor and the wheels/bearings. These I get from Bader, usually off-the-shelf, or sometimes made to order. There's not much to a belt grinder, really. I think the precision of the wheels/bearings [particularly the contact wheel and tracking-idler pulley] is what makes the difference between a quirky machine and a rock-solid, glass-smooth, quiet-running machine from the moment you first spark it up.
I've been hurt too many times (which means pain and usually weeks of no productivity) with stupid technique or stupid machines (or both) to even think of chincing on a machine that could mame me beyond recongition so quickly.
If you're running it slow, it might not be too bad, but why even build a grinder you can't turn up and really use?
 
OK,

the 3 I ordered came in. Wasted no time:

- getting rid of the needle rollers. few gentle blows with a hammer and they are gone
- that reveals internal bore - something like 1.180
- mounted the wheel on me mini lathe, using internal bore to grip by. Trued up the poly. It cuts like butter !
- into me box of assorted bearings I went looking for a pair of OD larger than 1.180. Found some metric ones
- bored out for BBs
- turned a shaft
- big test ... drum roll ... works 100% . Smooooth.

Now, you can get these 5x2 contact wheels for may be $36 @ SunRay, including bearings. $11 more for shipping. http://www.sunray-inc.com/5X200BB.asp

But making one yerself ... priceless :) !
 
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