New 2X72 a Disaster...

R

ricky_arthur

Joined
Jan 4, 2013
Messages
217
Well the new 2X72 Showed up today, Bought one of the ones off Ebay, Liked the tool rest design and some other options so I took it over the Pheer. I was pretty excited to add another 2x72 to my shop. Met the UPS truck at the Dock and picked it up. Opened the first box and took out the first item. The tool rest.
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It doesnt appear that the weld had any penetration. Not a huge deal, I can weld, but not a good sign.

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Took a few more items out and found the tracking wheel.

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Dinged in 2 spots, At this point I went in and emailed the guy I bought it from. After an hour I hadn't recieved any response, (Not surprising, I dont watch my email every second either.) So I continued to un-pack and assemble the grinder. I re-welded the tool rest and gently smoothed the dings in the tracking wheel. triple checked everything and fired it up.

The audio in the video doesn't accurately portray how fast it was running, it was HUMMING! Scary FAST! I thought the belt might blow up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arbMUxCtbgw

So I looked at the Motor, It was a 3450RPM motor. There is no way I could grind with it running that fast so I switched the pulleys to slow it down. The speed was about right but then it had a horrible vibration. Then I took a small piece of annealed 1/8 inch 1095 and tried to profile grind, The lightest touch slowed the belt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbmOpOUqcec

I switched the pulleys and tried again, this time it didn't bog down quite as bad but it was still way under powered and running way too fast.

I checked again and had received a response from the seller, He indicated he would send a new tool rest, and that If I just gave it a try I would like the Grinder. I explained the further issues and he offered a refund if I didn't like it, and if I ship it back (shipping was 95$) I thought well, maybe I just need to get another motor and things will be fine. So I started it and tried a couple clean up passes on a heat treated knife just to see how it felt. After 2 passes the belt dove into the side of the tool rest and I shut It off, adjusted the tracking and started it again, after a few seconds it hit the tool rest again. So I readjusted and started it with the tool rest out of the way and watched the tracking knob. The tracking knob was visibly turning by itself from the vibration. I looked again at the picture I had bought it from and noticed that the picture showed a spring on the tracking knob, But mine had not come with a spring. The soonest I can ship It back will be a week from monday because work will take me away for a week starting sunday morning and the UPS store is not open on Saturday. What A disaster. :( Not real excited about shipping it back and letting the seller have both the grinder and the money, but not much choice unless I just send back the motor and try to fix the other issues. Guess I'll wait to hear back from the seller. Pretty Dissapointed.
 
Well that sucks. I'm saving up to get a grinder now and have looked at some of the ones on ebay but was worried about the quality so I appreciate you sharing this. It's just really hard to tell much based on a few pics you see on the listing. I haven't seen any that look like the one you got though.

What was the HP rating of the motor that is on there?
 
If you paid with paypal I would file a claim immediately. Product arrived not as discribed. Filing a claim doesn't mean anything bad for the seller it just covers your ass financially.

I know you very much know this lesson now but I'll say it for posterity's sake, be weary of unknown manufactured grinders on eBay.
 
phorizt. It is a 1 1/2 hp motor. But my other 2x72 has a 1 1/2 and has plenty of power.

Jg. Thanks. I'll do that.
 
That really sucks, but it is part of the reason I am designing and building my own belt grinder. I own a bader 2 that has led an extremely long and hard life, but even that machine has some disappointing looking welds on it. I have a hard time trusting hobby welds and that's usually what I see on a lot of the ebay machines, although perhaps he was having a bad week while building that grinder. Hard to say and no one is perfect, but hopefully things look up in the end for you.

It's hard to gauge how hard you are pushing in the video, but it honestly looks like my 2x42 craftsman has more power. What brand motor is that? I wouldn't expect a 1.5hp motor to bog so easily. I can't even slow my 2hp baldor down unless I push enough to be unsafe. The vibrations are probably coming from the lack of mass. I don't even bolt my grinder down because it has so much weight it's not going anywhere. That thin tubing transfers vibrations quite readily compared to grinders built of 1/4" or larger plate and solid stock tool arms.

Justin
 
So, you're spending $95 to ship back a grinder? The tracking wheel dings made zero difference to function. They would have annoyed me too, but not enough to send it back. The tool rest looks flimsy as hell, but serviceable and you can weld, so it's already fixed.

The low power is weird. What brand is the motor? Is there slippage in the belt drive system?
 
I think you've got a bad motor. Tracking issues can be fixed. I don't believe there is anything wrong with the design of the grinder. You don't need 100# of steel to make a grinder stable. The best grinder I've used less steel than that one and it is extremely solid.
 
So, the grinder arrived beat up and broken the machine doesn't operate properly? I'd say send it back. The point is not whether or not you can weld or if the big ding affects tracking etc. You paid good money for a machine that was supposed to look and work as advertised. It does not. It was designed poorly. It was packed poorly. It was delivered poorly. All of that is on the seller. You shouldn't have to fix it or put up with defects. The seller should take the product back with full refund AND pay for the shipping.


Think of it this way. You make a knife for a customer. He pays full price for the knife based on a picture or description of a knife that looks beautiful and is supposed to cut like a light saber. The customer opens the package and the knife has a big chip in the handle. It is also bent a bit at the tip and the heat treatment wasn't very good so it doesn't cut too well. Well, this is not the customers first experience with knives and he's pretty handy. The handle chip doesn't affect performance and he can probably bend the tip back if he's careful. But the knife doesn't cut as well as he'd hoped. Is there any question about what should happen? Should your customer have to fix his knife? Should it not have arrived as described and perform as advertised? Would you not immediately take the knife back and either make him another or refund his money? You'd probably pay for the shipping as well. It's YOUR FAULT.

It may only be my personal opinion but I feel the product should be sent back and the shipping should be paid by the seller because the issues are his responsibility. It's not like the grinder arrived in perfect condition and you changed your mind. In that case, you should be the one paying for shipping. This one is on the seller.
 
Send it back and start from scratch. Get a grinder that has been reviewed by forum members. There are no shortage of those. I don't htink you should have to pay the return shipping since there seems to me an issue with the motor.
 
It was poorly packed and was dinged, but as said won't really matter



The diving belt is most often from insufficient belt tension.
Add more belt tension
The spring on the adjuster is easily replaced at the hardware store for $5


You shouldn't be able to stop it
That part is a problem, especially a 1.5hp motor

You have fiddled with the pulley setup - Put it back to as received for testing
If you're on 3 step pulleys, it should be a 1700rpm motor
Is the motor wired correctly ? is it wired for 220 and you're running it on 110 ? or vise versa ?


You bought based on price, you will have some problems compared to the $4,000 grinders
If you can't figure out the stalling issue, that's a problem I'd return it.


As for return shipping.
If you buy a defective product at the hardware store, you bring it back to the hardware store on your dime.
Why should the seller be on the hook for return shipping ?

If that were the case, how many tire kickers and "my wife made me return it" return shipping instances would the the seller end up paying for ?
 
So being fairly versed in welding (certified welder, welding inspector, and welding instructor) I'd say if the tool rest broke from the forces experienced through a parcel company, I'd be very hesitant to trust any of them on the grinder. Is the round portion of the tool rest solid stock or tubing? Typically the way I have seen tool rests produced is they weld the joint and then straighten distortion on a press. If the weld was sub par, the straightening could have cracked the weld without the dude realizing it. The end result would be the part failing with minimal force. I agree this guy needs to cover shipping back and issue a refund. Sucks buddy, sorry.

Taking a closer look at your pictures, no there was no penetration on the left side in your pictures. That's why the round took the weld with it. Looks to me like his materials are too heavy for his welder. You don't have to worry about the rest as it's thin wall tube that any monkey with a wire feeder can weld.
 
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Your tracking issue probably is because you do not have enough tension on the belt.

Try bringing the tracking arm level to give more tension.

You went cheapo on your grinder so it is what you paid for.

You need to buy GOOD 3 step pulleys to vary the speed and if you are bogging done chances are you do not have the belt tight enough.

with a few tweeks it should be able to work well enough.
 
Try holding the camera sideways, the image is really narrow


You shouldn't be able to stall it


However, you are profiling on the platen - and pushing really hard

That's a huge amount of friction
If you have a large wheel, say 8" serrated rubber wheel, you can hog off steel much faster without bogging

Perhaps that's part of the problem.


But there is likely something wrong in the motor setup
slipping drive belt, or improperly wired motor
 
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I believe you need more tension on the grinding belt and more tension on the motor pulley, after watching the videos I would be very surprised if that does not fix all of your problems. 3450 rpm is fine since you have a pulley system, you just need to do the math and buy the pulleys to meet your grinding speed needs.
 
Well, I rebuilt my grinder just now and tightened every belt, and I adjusted the tension arm, the thing works great now.
Mine was a homemade one so I was expecting to build it 2 or 3 times, But i didnt realize belt tension was so important.

glad i found this thread! hope yours works out for you ricky
 
It doesn't look like a bad setup for a cheap grinder. Maybe the seller will give you some of your money back since you have to repair and tweak it. What brand motor is it? I've heard some off brand motors won't have anywhere near the torque and hp they're labeled to have.
 
12345678910 said:
As for return shipping.
If you buy a defective product at the hardware store, you bring it back to the hardware store on your dime.
Why should the seller be on the hook for return shipping ?

If that were the case, how many tire kickers and "my wife made me return it" return shipping instances would the the seller end up paying for ?
Click to expand...

There's a huge difference between "this works fine, I just don't want it" and "you sent me 100lbs of scrap that doesn't work". There's also a difference between a couple dollars worth of gas and $100 bucks. IMO, the the seller has the responsibility of making sure that his product works before spending that kind of money to ship it to a customer. At the very least, he needs to walk the customer through the troubleshooting process to get his grinder functional if at all possible.

Now, to the OP:
Is the motor stopping altogether, or is the belt just slipping? I'd double check that everything is wired correctly.
As for the belt tracking, I'd second what everyone has said about grinding belt tension.
 
Let's clarfify something.

When you tried grinding, the grinding belt stalled supposedly. Was the motor still turning but the grinding belt was not? If so, you do not have enough belt tension.

Now, if you were grinding and both the grinding belt and the motor shaft and drive shaft stopped, then there is something seriously wrong. A 1.5 hp motor should not stall easily.

Play with the tension and report back as to what stops moving and what continues moving when you shall the grinding belt.
 
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