Just saying...

Langadune

Langadune

Joined
Apr 19, 2012
Messages
212
I built myself an NWG (and yes, it is definitely worth buying the plans) with a flat platen and I love it. Profiled three blades in a few hours compared to a day or two by hand. I'm using a 1hp Leeson motor, which is pretty tough but--and you'll all be surprised to read this--I'm finding that all the threads I've read were true: I wish I had a 1.5 or 2hp motor. This one works well enough but bogs down a little easier than I'd like. But still, I'm happy with the improvement over elbow grease and the free motor was priced right. I'll be watching for an upgrade.

Just saying.
 
Just keep an eye out for another free motor, or pic one up when you can. When you upgrade save the 1 horse motor for another project, like a buffer or disk sander. It's sure nice to have a decent grinder isn't it? Not necessary for knifemaking, but sure does save time and occasionally destroy blades faster than files!
 
Yes, I'll agree... the grinder does make it easier to get some of the metal removed more quickly. When I become more skilled with the tool, it will take even less time cleaning up the mess I made on the grinder! I'm not complaining... I know it's all part of the learning curve.
 
Hey Langadune I just got the plans as well and just got my metal yesterday. I hope to start the build this week-end. Got any advice or tips before I start the build?
 
One piece of advice... make sure the main upright is ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY aligned at 90 degrees from base plate, and have it WELDED into that perfect position. Everything else beyond that can be bolt on... but you want that one join to be perfect and permanent.
 
tryppyr said:
One piece of advice... make sure the main upright is ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY aligned at 90 degrees from base plate, and have it WELDED into that perfect position. Everything else beyond that can be bolt on... but you want that one join to be perfect and permanent.
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Thanks tryppyr will do!
 
crocogator106 said:
Hey Langadune I just got the plans as well and just got my metal yesterday. I hope to start the build this week-end. Got any advice or tips before I start the build?
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The instructions are excellent, follow them and you'll be golden. In addition to tryppyr's advice, I recommend making sure your drive shaft is square to the tracking wheel and your contact wheels. A little extra time getting things lined up precisely with save you time later when "tuning" in your grinder. As you may have guessed, I didn't do that and spent precious time tweaking my alignment.
 
I litteraly just finished my NWG 2 days ago and I am using the Farm Duty 1 HP TEFC motor from Harbor Freight and it is very strong. I pushed as hard as a could, well harder than I would ever need to at least, and it didn't eeven begin to bog down. I was very surprised but in the reviews section on HF .com other people have also said that it seems to have more power than 1 HP. IDK, I'm deffinitely not an expert on motors but maybe the 13 amps has something to do with it? Thought you might be interested tho as its about $150-$160 i think which is a pretty good price for what ya get :)

Cood luck with the build, If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask while most everything is still fresh in my mind lol :D Take care!

Paul
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My youtube channel with some of my knives and other related vids... www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
coldsteelburns said:
...I am using the Farm Duty 1 HP TEFC motor from Harbor Freight and it is very strong. I pushed as hard as a could, well harder than I would ever need to at least, and it didn't eeven begin to bog down...
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Well... the motor gave up the ghost on me last night. Actually it was the starting capacitor. I'm not real well-versed on motors but I think I was bogging the motor down so much that the starting capacitor was constantly kicking in to try and assist starting the motor. Dunno, that's just speculation. Anyways... seems the motor was underpowered (might be why I got it for free) so I'm looking at the Harbor Freight compressor duty 2hp motors ($150).
 
Hey man, that deffinitly sucks, but hey, at leeaast it was free :D .... About that (those) compressor duty 2 hp motor(s) at HF, I would not recomend it, I've read not such great things about them such as feelin underpowered, etc. I did a lot of reading on the HF motors back when I was reasearching them for purchasing. I assure that the best motor for you if you're goin to get one from HF, would deffinitely be the 1 HP farm duty tefc motor. Like I said before, it feels like more than 1 HP and other people have said that as well if you read the reviews on the HF page.

Also it is continuous duty, and I don't think the comprensor motors are, they're ideally only meant to run when the compressor needs more air I believe, not under "continuous" pressure from grinding. I'm sure you'd be happy with the power that comes with the 1 HP, I deffinitely am, and I tried to bog it down just for kicks and it wouldn't, and that was with more presure than I will probably evey need.

One more thing, which is obvious, but it is also the the only motor out of the HF ones HF that is Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled, which is ideal for belt grinders, so all the steel dust doesn't get inside the motor and potentially short something out etc. If you want I can upload a quick video showing my grinder and me putting some pressure on it for ya. Take care :)

Paul
________________________________________________________________________________

My youtube channel with some of my knives and other knifemaking vids on it... www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
I'm skeptical of anything from HF for the prices they offered. I was thinking/hoping that a 2hp might perform like a 1.5hp or something like that. I wasn't sure about compressor duty vs. farm duty. Gets confusing because some of the research I was doing claimed that compressor is much more robust than farm duty, but the prices seem to indicate to the contrary.

I may have to look at the farm duty though, if you say it can handle a load. The one down side is that my current motor has a 7/8" diameter shafter which means I'd have to get a new pulley for the 5/8" shaft on the farm duty. Oh well, gotta do what works.

And I'm glad you mentioned because I had forgotten about the TEFC motors. I was blinded by the lure of a 2hp motor for under $200.
 
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