- Joined
- Nov 2, 2010
- Messages
- 172
Here, I place my pride aside and share the results of my mistakes.
Perhaps beginners who stumble upon this thread might avoid some of my shame.
Is my KMG grinder base plate upside down?
Yeah, you can do that, and it will still work... there will be slack in the drive belt, but yes, you can operate it for over a month in ignorance. Then I saw that the tool tree mounting holes were "missing" from the back. But even the VFD can be suitably mounted in this 'alternate' configuration. After a facepalm and some effort flipping everything around, the tension is much better.
Must I live with the belt wobble on my KMG grinder?
Wobble - side-to-side motion of the belt during operation, as much as 0.25".
After 4 months of this, I found a thread indicating just how tight the belt should be. This is thirdhand information, but the tension arm should be parallel to the baseplate. Horizontal, in other words. This feels too tight, but it eliminated the belt wobble for me.
What pants should I wear?
Perhaps an unusual question, but I discovered through scientific exploration that:
If you pants/shorts are too short, you get grinder dust in your boot. You will then dump this dust onto your bedroom floor.
If your pants are too long, and you roll the bottom of them, you make a 'pouch' for dust and sparks to gather. You will then dump this dust onto your bedroom floor.
How can I make the floor better?
Horse stall mats. I found a gym nearby that had off-cuts for free. Using these as the floor in my work area has helped by:
- Knives bounce instead of chipping. Useful, as I fumble more than Brett Favre
- Less fatigue when standing for extended periods. My knees are worse than Brett Favre's
- Color contrast. That gray pin you dropped on your gray concrete floor? - impossible to find. But on black rubber it begs to be found.
What should I eat to be a better knifemaker?
There are many choices, but just remember that you should frequently be wearing a respirator. While wearing a respirator, you will get a magnified reminder of what you ate. You could be one chili+Coors burp away from sudden sadness.
Personal recommendation: peanut butter and honey sammiches
How close should I be to the grinder?
You should stand pretty darn close, per many other recommendations, for the purpose of stability.
However! If you wear a hat to keep the dust out of your hair, and your hat brim is of length "d", your face should be a distance greater than "d" from the belt.
The reasons for this are left as an exercise for the reader.
Perhaps beginners who stumble upon this thread might avoid some of my shame.
Is my KMG grinder base plate upside down?
Yeah, you can do that, and it will still work... there will be slack in the drive belt, but yes, you can operate it for over a month in ignorance. Then I saw that the tool tree mounting holes were "missing" from the back. But even the VFD can be suitably mounted in this 'alternate' configuration. After a facepalm and some effort flipping everything around, the tension is much better.
Must I live with the belt wobble on my KMG grinder?
Wobble - side-to-side motion of the belt during operation, as much as 0.25".
After 4 months of this, I found a thread indicating just how tight the belt should be. This is thirdhand information, but the tension arm should be parallel to the baseplate. Horizontal, in other words. This feels too tight, but it eliminated the belt wobble for me.
What pants should I wear?
Perhaps an unusual question, but I discovered through scientific exploration that:
If you pants/shorts are too short, you get grinder dust in your boot. You will then dump this dust onto your bedroom floor.
If your pants are too long, and you roll the bottom of them, you make a 'pouch' for dust and sparks to gather. You will then dump this dust onto your bedroom floor.
How can I make the floor better?
Horse stall mats. I found a gym nearby that had off-cuts for free. Using these as the floor in my work area has helped by:
- Knives bounce instead of chipping. Useful, as I fumble more than Brett Favre
- Less fatigue when standing for extended periods. My knees are worse than Brett Favre's
- Color contrast. That gray pin you dropped on your gray concrete floor? - impossible to find. But on black rubber it begs to be found.
What should I eat to be a better knifemaker?
There are many choices, but just remember that you should frequently be wearing a respirator. While wearing a respirator, you will get a magnified reminder of what you ate. You could be one chili+Coors burp away from sudden sadness.
Personal recommendation: peanut butter and honey sammiches
How close should I be to the grinder?
You should stand pretty darn close, per many other recommendations, for the purpose of stability.
However! If you wear a hat to keep the dust out of your hair, and your hat brim is of length "d", your face should be a distance greater than "d" from the belt.
The reasons for this are left as an exercise for the reader.
