Lee Valley 1 x 42 Grinder?

Fross

Fross

Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
133
Has anyone used one of these for actual stock removal? HERE is a link to the setup. I have a few spare motors hanging around the shop and am currently using a 4x36 belt sander. I am thinking this could be a good addition considering I have no way of doing any type of slack belt sanding and running the tighter curves with the 4x36 is quite complicated, and sharpening.... forget about it. I do not have $400 to put towards a cheaper 2x72 and do not have the room atm for such a machine.

Also, looking at this setup would it be feasible to think one could use the top wheel to do any type of hollow grinds if the wheel was padded? May sound stupid but Imma ask anyway :p

Thanks
 
that's pretty spiff looking.
OTOH, you might also consider the craftsman 2x42 belt sander.
 
I looked at it too and then went and bought the Canadian Tire 1X30 grinder. I found out quickly that its just too fast and small to work cleanly on. Now I just use it to profile and roughly sharpen to save my stones
 
I have one and made my first knife with it. (pic in sig line)
I originally bought it a while ago for sharpening knives and tools and for that it's great.
As a stock removal tool with a 1/4hp motor...? Well if you have a ton of patience it does work but it's slow. I used it to do the "grunt" work but the swedge and plunge were done with files.
For small blades it might work alright until you can get a larger grinder but you're probably better off with files unless you want it for sharpening.
 
It's still the only grinder I have, and the selection of belts from lee valley is relay the only thing that makes it worth having in my opinion. The only thing I would like is for the full length of the platen to be usable, and the tracking system is crappy. I have tried using the top wheel, but its a bit heavily crowned. It's not useless that's for sure.
 
Dear 1066. I am in the same boat...I have some motors (not a lot of cash) and need a better grinder....looking for some ideas/products that I can simply attach my motor to...let me know if you find anything else out there...and thanks.
 
I have a good 1/2 hp 1725 rpm motor... would this be adequate... I know 1/4 hp would be too weak. Thanks for the help.
 
It looks pretty flimsy to me. Sheet metal housing looks like it could flex if you pressed against the platen too hard. On the plus side, I wonder if you could mount a motor in the offset position, add a couple of step pulleys, and then you have a poor-man's variable speed.

Personally, I'd keep looking. I use an older Craftsman 2x42, with 3 wheels (the newer ones have 2 wheels) and a 1 HP motor (new ones have less power). I picked it up off of Ebay for $35.
 
If you have a 4x36, you can probably do a good deal of the rough work on that, then usethe smaller grinder for any touch ups you want to do, but I would still consider a different grinder, specifically one a little more solidly built and that runs a 2" belt. I do agree that 1/4hp is too little, but if you have bigger motors around that shouldn't be your main concern (although you should be concerned about whether or not the grinder will shake itself apart on a 1hp motor ;P)
 
I have one it's good for handles, specificaly wood and sharpening it would be no good for grinding blades it's too flimsy.

Bob
 
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