Sears Belt Grinder

B

bruce

Joined
Dec 4, 1998
Messages
1,347
I seem to remember a couple of days ago, someone recommended an inexpensive Sears belt grinder to start with. I looked in the catalog and found three. Since the catalogs are at my son's house I don't have them in front of me and can't remember which grinder was recommended. Is anyone familiar with Sears belt grinders and can you give me the particulars on which is the best. I remember there was one each for about $190, $120, and less than $100. Thanks in advance.
 
It depends on what you are going to do with
it.If you are interested in a 1X30 for
sharpening and fairly light duty grinding ,
Delta makes a much better one that goes
for $79 at Lowes.The way whoever makes the
Sears models designed them , makes the belt
less accessable from the left side.And
remember what serious woodworkers say about Sears tools,if it plugs into the
wall ,try and avoid it if at all possible.
 
Just so happens I was in Sears today looking at the belt grinders.The one for $189 is a 2 x 42 and seems pretty flimsy. I think I will try elsewhere.
 
I`m not so sure about the quality of the Sears grinders these days. I bought a 1"x36"/6" from Sears a few weeks ago. After 7 days of light work the starter in the motor quit and the motor ran out of spunk. I returned it for another one. When I opened the box I found it was used! I wondered why someone had returned this one,hmmmm I plugged it in and sure enough the motor had all the power of a twisted up rubber band and had to be hand started. Sooo I returned it for a *new* one and that one seems to be okay but I`ve been going very easy on it and doing my heavy grinding with a large body grinder. If it quits again I`m getting my money back and buying the parts to build one of my own. YMMV and I really hope it does!
wink.gif
Marcus
 
I have the 2x42 belt with the 8in. disc. So far, not one problem. It's not a Burr King, but neither was the price. I have ground about eight blades ranging from 1095, 440C and ATS-34. Of course there are other grinders that are better for knife making. I, too, am on a budget and this grinder has been fine. There have been other posters who have said they had good luck with the Sears grinders. It just goes to show that quality control is not 100%. If all you have is a couple hundred bucks, then give it a try. If it's not what you want take it back.

Hope this helps. Email me if you have any questions.

Tony
 
Has anybody tryed the "knife maker's Belt sander/buffer" from Grizzly tools. It looks like a good deal 2x72 grinder with a 1hp motor, It is set up like a bench grinder/buffer with one side the buffer and the other side is were the belt goes. The cost is $295.00 sounds like a good deal but I know nothing about it I just got their catalog.

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-Greg Johnson
ICQ#4236341

 
I don`t know anything about Grizzly but you sure got my attention! Can you point me toward some more info on them? Marcus
 
There web site is
http://www.grizzlyindustrial.com
If you do a product search it is G1015 you can even buy it online the regular price is $349 on sale for $295

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-Greg Johnson
ICQ#4236341



[This message has been edited by gregj62 (edited 16 February 1999).]
 
Purchased a Grizzly machine approx. three years ago. Have made about sixty knives on it. The contact wheel on my machine was not the best. I have decided to replace it. Putting it together required a call to Grizzly because the instructions were not very clear but the people were very knowledgable and pleasant. I would definitely recommend it over the Sears because it is 2 x 72 and your options for belts is so much greater. The platen with it was not very flat. You can push the belts into the support. Overall, being a beginner I felt it met my needs. I was able to find out if I liked making knives without a huge investment.

[This message has been edited by M Jorgensen (edited 17 February 1999).]
 
Damn!!!! Nice price but they don't do buisness outside of the U.S. It's a conspiracy I tells ya, no one likes Canadians
smile.gif


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KSwinamer
 
I started with one of the grizzly grinders. As stated on another post the contact wheel wasn't the best out of the box, but that was easily fixed. Overall for the money it is a good buy and has a shaft on both ends of the motor so the other end can be used as a buffer. I mounted the support for the belt in the opposite direction from what the instructions show. I did this after about 3 months of using it. With the support reversed you have better access to the contact wheel.
You probably can't do much better for the money.
Good luck
Mike C
 
I started out with a Sears 1x42 and still have it. Of course I burnt out the motor. I replaced the sanding disc with a pully and run it from a 1hp motor. I use it for handle shaping. I did flat grind quite a few blades on it before it got smoked.


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Ron Ruppé
www.ruppe.com/Knives/index.htm
 
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