The Simplest Surface Grinder Belt Conversion- Ultra Short WIP

J

JMJones

Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Messages
945
I have had a surface grinder for a few years and never really use it because for me surface grinding is so slow and tedious that I cant stand doing it. So I decided to do a belt conversion to speed up the process.
First I needed to make a base to mount the arm for the conversion assembly. I used some 4 inch clamps ( I am drawing a blank on what they are called but are in every hardware store)and drilled a hole in some 3/8 barstock to accept the clamps. I bolted the clamps and platform to the machine.



Earlier I had removed the wheel and guard and measured the spindle size. I ordered a contact wheel at 95 durometer from Sunray Inc. Cost was 77 dollars but they have a 100 dollar minimum. So I picked up an extra tracking wheel in case my original plan did not work. Total Price 120ish.

You can also see that I welded a piece of square stock to the base to mount the other wheel assembly to.
Then I cut up my first grinder ever, the Craftsman 2x42.
Drilled a few mounting holes in the craftsman and tapped two holes in the square stock. I test fit it with a belt and just estimated the mounting height.

I shimmed the base to fine tune the height and shimmed the bolts with washers that connect the square bar to the old grinder assembly. This allowed me to adjust the tracking once and it has been rock solid since, including with different belts.


36 grit belts really take metal off fast and higher grit belts leave a very nice finish. I am really happy with how this grinds and should help make some aspects of knife making easier for me.
Thanks for looking
 
************* blinks *************

************* ************* blinks again ************* *************

That's a pretty cool use of a machine that's just sitting around.

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Boyar Schultz 612 (in the garage with wheels) + maybe $200 worth of parts. H'mmmmm?

That would work.

Good job............

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
 
If you dont have the grinder setup, I would do the same thing but build a tracking setup, (very simple look at any quality belt grinder), weld the setup onto a one inch square bar, drop a spring down the 1.5 inch square bar and slide the 1 inch bar on top. That was my other plan if the craftsman's tracking could not handle this.



synthesist said:
************* blinks *************

************* ************* blinks again ************* *************

That's a pretty cool use of a machine that's just sitting around.

************* thinks *************

************* ************* thinks again ************* *************

Boyar Schultz 612 (in the garage with wheels) + maybe $200 worth of parts. H'mmmmm?

That would work.

Good job............

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
Click to expand...
 
Simple and should work OK in theory.

I have concern about the post assembly's ability to be sturdy and vibration free with the way it is attached. The weld looks poor ( maybe it is just the photo), and with no rigid bond to the frame, what is to keep the whole assembly from rotating. The two "U" bolts attached to a round surface will not resist the forces thrown it them from a large motor and vibration.

How does it run?
 
Precisely what I was thinking. Replace the square bolts with rounded exhaust clamps for more points of contact and that should help. Might be a dangerous mess if that weld breaks while in operation. Otherwise nice job!
bladsmth said:
Simple and should work OK in theory.

I have concern about the post assembly's ability to be sturdy and vibration free with the way it is attached. The weld looks poor ( maybe it is just the photo), and with no rigid bond to the frame, what is to keep the whole assembly from rotating. The two "U" bolts attached to a round surface will not resist the forces thrown it them from a large motor and vibration.

How does it run?
Click to expand...
 
It works great! The motor is only 1 horse and surface grinder motors are know to be low vibration and balanced. When I tighten down the assembly to the machine it is very solid. I would replace the clamps with round clamps if there was any movement or vibration but there isn't so not really an issue.




bladsmth said:
Simple and should work OK in theory.

I have concern about the post assembly's ability to be sturdy and vibration free with the way it is attached. The weld looks poor ( maybe it is just the photo), and with no rigid bond to the frame, what is to keep the whole assembly from rotating. The two "U" bolts attached to a round surface will not resist the forces thrown it them from a large motor and vibration.

How does it run?
Click to expand...
 
"surface grinder motors are know to be low vibration and balanced"

I didn't know that.................. and I was thinking (if I ever come up with a belt conversion ) about replacing the motor on my Boyar-Schultz 612 with a DC motor so I could go variable speed at the same time. I'm not sure whether it'd need that but I do love my infinitely variable speed tools.

More for that bucket list................

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
 
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