Knife grinder

[CORYSHOPPA]

Has any one ever built a 118" belt grinder ?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

People build them in any size belt they want. I have made a 132" grinder. There is basically no difference in the build. The length of the arms and size of the wheels will determine the belt size.

Even on a standard 2X72 grinder, if someone is using a very large contact wheel, they often need to use a 89" or a 103" belt.
I have all the parts from a huge belt sander once used in a wood shop that took 12X220" belts.

 

[Frank Niro]

Stacy, did you have an ongoing loan at the bank for purchases of 12 or more for that large grinder?
Frank

 

[Rhinoknives1]

Has any one ever built a 118" belt grinder ?

The only diff other than the lenght of the arms as Stacy mentioned, is how wide you want the belt to run on it. 2" is most prevalent on a knife grinder but some use 3" or 4" wide wheels on the 118" and longer.. Those can get expensive in a contact wheel format.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Stacy, did you have an ongoing loan at the bank for purchases of 12 or more for that large grinder?
Frank

It was at a machine shop and wood shop that was closing. There was three phase equipment the needed a fork lift to move for whatever you wanted to offer. I bought $500 of equipment and supplies and had to make three trips with the van to move it all. On the last trip, the sale was over and they said I could have anything that was left for free. The giant stroke sander had a 2HP 3Ph motor, a 12X12" drive wheel, and a 12X12" tracking/tension wheel. These were mounted about eight feet apart. I disassembled the mechanical and control parts and left the huge table. In the corner were ten pack cases of 12" by 220" belts. I took 3-4 cases, but will likely never use them, as I plan on using the parts to build a super kaiten toshi that uses a SC belt. Klingsopre will build the belts for me. The guys at the shop sale told me that the storage building outside had serrated contact wheels in many sizes from 4" wide to 12" wide. I took a couple that might get some use, but was out of room in the van.
The worst thing I had to pass on was there was this huge 30" disc sander that had a 3HP VS motor. It could be switched from vertical to horizontal.There were spare backing discs and maybe a hundred sanding discs. They offered it to me for $100 and said they would load it on a truck for me. It weighed about 1000 pounds.