super low budget belt grinder suggestions

I have this little Harbor Frieght sander also and its a fine machine for the money if you ask me. I've made lockback folders from scratch using this one just to prove it could be done. In fact I carry one of them quite often.
The motor is a little weak at times but it does the job if you let the belt do the work and don't push into it too much.

What helps with mine is that I use ceramic belts on it that I get from A&H abrasives and once you put those on it it bumps up the capability of this little machine nicely and it can and does grind titanium and bar steel and hardened steel fine after that. Only thing is as has already been mentioned, the belt is really cooking on there way fast. Other than that though its not bad for the bucks.

Tracking on this thing is really better than the Kalamazoo I own in my opinon and belt change out is sure easy. I got mine for even less than this by going to the store on a sale day too so if you wait you can get it for less and no shipping by buying there if you have one local.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=2485

STR
 
thanks Jim L and STR, i was hoping to hear that from someone. obviously these are not going to be the best machine. i would rather wait and get a kmg but untill then i need something to get me by. i find myself unable to improve my work without more tools now and im frustrated. i think this is going to work well for me for a while and let me expore new things in knife making.

SO.... this seems to simple so im guessing it wont work. why couldnt i just throw a light dimmer switch on the HF grinder to slow it down. not a variable speed capable motor? whats the diffrence?

thanks for all the info, iv learned allot about grinders.
-Lou
 
You will heat up the motor and burn it up. It has to be the right kind of phased motor to be set up that way. Some guys have tried those in the past with that variable speed dial you can find now and then and it did ok for a while but not long. A DC machine is what you want really, not a single phase motor. At least that is what I was told when I contacted Baldor about it a good while back.

STR
 
STR said:
I have this little Harbor Frieght sander also and its a fine machine for the money if you ask me....
I got mine for even less than this by going to the store on a sale day too so if you wait you can get it for less and no shipping by buying there if you have one local.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=2485

STR
Click to expand...


I got a Harbor Freight sale ad in today's mail and this sander (2485) is on sale for $29.99. I have had this sander for a few years and it comes in handy for all sorts of things.
If you do buy this sander, don't buy your belts from Harbor Freight - the HF belts are not good.

--SAK
 
If you are grinding any titanium or metal at all with it get the ceramic belts from A&H abrasives. One of the things I like about these belts from A&H unlike others I've bought elsewhere is that they are bi directional so when it stops working so well going one way you can clean it up a bit with one of the rubber like belt cleaners and then flip it around so it goes the other way and squeeze additional life out of each belt that way.

These ceramic belts are the best thing going for this little sander if you are using it on metal. About the only thing that could be better is when you can find them in this size in the Norton Blaze belts. But I'm sure they'd cost a bit more than these do. The last time I bought these they were under $2 per belt.
STR
 
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