Just picked up a used Craftsman 2 x 42 looking for belt recommendations and hints.

G

Geneh2001

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Sep 14, 2010
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Having never used a belt grinder like this, I would like some recommendations of what type of abrasive's I should buy. We will be doing rehandling of some knives, so wood shaping is one use, the other is grinding any number of steel items including making our own knives or some shaping on finished knives. About the only thing I know is a good chance of ruining the tempering using any power, so have always did everything manually.

The grinder was $50, and I have a cheap speed control that I hope works with it. This thread has good suggestions, http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Belt-Recommendation-and-a-big-THANK-YOU-to-3M and there are comments about dressing belts that I know nothing about.

Suggestions, links to other threads and instructions would be most appreciated to get me off the ground.
 
Piro glass for platen liner, trim the table so you can install and remove belts faster Ill assume you have the craftsman model
 
NC Biker said:
Your cheap speed control won't work. You'll burn it up the first time you try. That type of controller is for brushed motors.
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Oh. Come to think of it the guy I bought it from used it on a hand grinder - that would be a brushed motor. I guess I'll hand the controller off to my son for his single speed dremel.
 
Geneh2001 said:
Oh. Come to think of it the guy I bought it from used it on a hand grinder - that would be a brushed motor. I guess I'll hand the controller off to my son for his single speed dremel.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it would work fine on a dremel. The speed of the Craftsman is it's downfall. While I made many knives with mine, I can't tell you how nice it was to get a variable speed grinder. The only option I've ever seen for slowing down the Craftsman is seen on this video:

[video=youtube;2qfYT_m2Tw0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qfYT_m2Tw0[/video]

As far as belts, I used to buy mine from Supergrit. I used the ceramic belts in 60 and 120 grit. I went to hand sanding after 120 as the Craftsman was just to fast to run the higher grits.
 
Thanks for the information Chuck. You recommend ceramic belts then for metal?

That's pretty funny, using a new motor and pulleys, delegating the original motor to the function of a shaft.
 
Supergrit and Trugrit have good selections of 2x42 belts. Yes, the ceramics are the way to go for your metal removal. On that machine, you just as well ought to go with the VSM ceramics from Trugrit, or the house brand ceramics from Supergrit, as you won't gain much by using the premium ceramics on that machine. For wood, buy the cheapest aluminum oxide belts you can find. I liked the 10 packs from Supergrit.
 
I just got the older version of the 2x42 with the three wheels and thus far I love using the Notion Blaze belts. I tried the blue house brand belts, but they did not cut as smooth and as quick as the Blaze. Still have a Gator Trizact to try, but have not gotten around to it yet.
 
I'm still using my craftsman five years on. It's fine so long as you understand it's limitations. Take it slow and don't expect to be able to hog material. That 1/3 horse motor will bog down real quick. Ceramic platen is a must. Other than that, I cut out the right side of the tool rest to make it easier to switch out belts and that's pretty much all I've changed.

As for belts, I get mine from Tru Grit. To be honest I've had reasonable success with their cheap ceramic belts. The blaze belts do last longer, but in my experience to date I haven't seen them last enough longer (which feels like an awkward way to say that...) to justify the additional cost (roughly 3x the cost of the house brand ceramic). So I use the cheap belts and just expect to switch them out half again to twice as often depending on what I'm grinding.
 
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I used a kool mist setup spraying water, glass platen and a cold rolled 16 inch wide work rest bolted to aluminum stock rest. Its slow going but it works, not the speed it turns, it just has no HP
 
What is the gain with glass or ceramic platen? Flatness? How do I mount it?

Oh, an the mist setup - are those ceramic belts able to handle the water? I'm picturing a light mist across the front of the belt just before it gets to the metal that is being sanded...?
 
The ceramic platen is flat, and stays flat. The thin steel platen that comes from the factory will bend/warp/wear over time, at which point it's pretty much impossible for clean grinds.

The cool mist system is for cooling the blade as you grind it. The mist is sprayed directly on the material as you work it. Walter Sorrels has a good video review on youtube. Looks to work fine, but honestly I've never seen the need. Just keep a bucket of water handy and dip the blade in once it starts getting hot in your hand.

But yes, the belts are waterproof. The only belts you SHOULDN'T use with water are the trizact gator belts. Not even remotely waterproof.
 
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