Name For a Japanese Wheel

Sounds interesting. Instead of using belts, why not just use a very large "rock" grinding wheel? There is a hardware store fairly close to me that several of them, but I don't know if they are for wet grinding.
 
I've been on the lookout for objects shaped right, the right size for a while now. We have them around here, but mostly at antique stores who want like 100 buck apiece for them. (Old ag wheels.)

Railrider, the concept is about approximating the big stone wheels in use by Japanese makers. If you mean the big old sandstone wheels you see on the old blacksmith's pedal grinders, if you found a good one it might work at SLOW speeds. Usually they are worn very unevenly, or have soft spots from having sat in water, are are chipped/cracked. I've not seen them in bigger sizes like 4"x36" or larger.

I was reading Anvils in America, and it shows a guy grinding an anvil on a huge 1'x6' sandstone water grinding wheel! Now that's a kaiten toishi.
 
Salem,
Those are the types of grinding stones I was referring to. The store by me has new ones from about 18" D up to maybe 3' D. I don't remember the width. A few different colors, I'm guessing different grits.
 
Man, I'd love to see this in action. I vote for video footage (with a miscellaneous tutorial) once it's complete.
 
Anybody remember the "slick" bicycle tires from the 1960s? I wonder if they still sell them? A 20, 24, or 26" bicycle spoked wheel should be great for a grinder. Not as big as you want though.
As a matter of fact, it seems it would be fairly easy to rig a bicycle wheel/tire attachment for the grinders that use a steel tubing arm-if you can find suitable tires.
 
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Still in the works. Just waiting till I get the new building up.

I have been kicking myself for a year for not buying a deal offered to me by a surplus reseller. It was two ( yes TWO) brand new, still on the pallet, Norton 6"X48" 220 grit wheels. They had 12" center holes and weighed 800 pounds. I could have had them for $200. The shipping was going to be huge, and I would have had to make a really big and sturdy machine, so I didn't get them.

My intent is to make an affordable simulation of a kaiten toishi that doesn't require a 5HP motor and a crane to assemble.

I have a 12" wide belt grinder setup that runs 12"X300" belts, but it is too wide for knife grinding. What I plan on doing is using it for the drive and idler, with an slick auto tire as the contact wheel, and running a 4" to 6" X-weight or heavier waterproof belt, somewhere around 200" long.
 
Why not use one of Nathan the Machinist's 48" platen attachments. It works great and gives the same effect as the huge water wheel. If you get him to do a SS one you could even run it wet. Well you could run the A2 wet but would have to dry it and oil it after use. It would be much easier than trying to build a 48" wheel and run it on a grinder. Use the standard belts too.
 
I have a great friend who built his own 2x72 grinder. His contact wheel is a few layers of high-quality plywood and the contact surface is rubber that can be purchased in specific thicknesses at specific durometer ratings. He said the hardest part was joining the long piece of rubber to itself. The wheel can be balanced pretty easily and accurately after it's turned down to final dimensions. This might be the cheapest way to come by a 36" or 48" contact wheel. This guy's an immaculate craftsman (www.mainekilnworks.com) but his wheel is really well balanced and works as well as any other wheel I've used. Another benefit of using plywood is that it doesn't weigh a ton, which would be important for a 48" wheel. His is mounted on a shaft spinning on pillow blocks, but I'm sure there's an easy enough way to build it around something that could have bearings pressed into it.
 
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