Platen Lube?

M

McAlpin Blades

Joined
Mar 15, 2001
Messages
82
Does anyone use some kind of lube on their platens for friction reduction? I tried to go to a heavier spring for more belt tension and it just seemed the platen got too warm with the extra tension=friction. I do not want to warp my platen from overheating it or worse yet cause a belt to pop. Can excessive platen Heat build up in the belt and cause fewer passes with the blade before the blade has to be cooled? It is worse with the finer grits. Even with a new 220 it seems like 1 pass and you burn your fingers. Check out my grinder on my site and tell me if the platen is too tight into the belt. I rounded the top and bottom so the belt splice wouldn't catch. It works damn good as far as a grinder goes just looking for improvements. I made a completely different tracking assembly but no photos yet. This setup works much better than the previous tracking setup. It pivots up and down instead of side to side. Cory

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"I am a shootist."
Clay Allison
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McAlpin Blades
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You can buy tubes of wax for platent/belt lube. I tried it and didn't care for it much. real messy stuff.

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Take care!! Michael
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kory the way to cool things down as well as chatter is to rubber cement cloth
grafite to the palten. they sell it at tru-grit///and K&G supple, happly grinding.

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Laurence Segal www.RHINOKNIVES.com
 
I had some of that graphite cloth on my platen, and it makes flats difficult. I've had some success with powdered graphite. It comes in small tubes from the hardware store. For larger amounts, check a locksmith or locksmith supply place.

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Oz


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I actually use a small section of graphite backing pad, the same stuff that is mentioned above. I have constructed a wooden box/shroud around the lower part of the grinder (a two wheel Grizzly modified to a three wheel) to help capture dust (a dust port exists in the back of the box that is connected to my vacuum system). Attached to this box, near the back of the grinder is a little arm of wood that reaches out and presses up against the inside of the belt (the not-gritted side) about half way up the belt (between the lower contact wheel and the idler wheel at the top). I have cemented a section of the graphite backing pad to this piece of wood so that it rubs against the belt, in effect libricating the belt as the machine runs so that once the belt travels up over the idler pulley and back down to the platten, it is already lubricated. The slight pressure against this section of belt at the back of the machine (an area where the belt travels a relatively long distance with no support) has the double benefit of supporting the belt a little and cuts down on belt slap and vibration, also. It is a two for one deal.
If this description makes no sense what-so-ever, let me know and I will try to clarify. No, I don't have any photos yet. I still haven't got around to getting a digital camera. I have tons of stuff I would love to share with this community, as I am sure it would help somenone.
I have also tried using spray on silicone (available at your local hardware store). I just spray on a coating onto my platten and let it dry, and go for it. It does seem to help, it is just a little more work than the set up I have with the graphite pad as it needs to be re-applied every now and then. But the silicone might work best for those who don't want to build the set-up I have.
Just don't get any of the silicone on anything else (like your fingers); unless you want a really bad case of the butterfingers (the stuff will make anything very slick!).
Hope that helps.
Sorry for any spelling mistakes...
 
I have wondered if the platin thickness
has any thing to do with heat build up ?
I have worked on different grinders with
different thickness of the platin and it seems like the thicker plain does not heat up as bad.
 
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