tracking question and epoxy questions...

T

Taz

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 28, 1999
Messages
3,031
I have a few more questions for you guys. The first is about my belt sander. 1x30 central machinery brand from harbor freight, basically identical to the delta 1x30. The sanding belt is way off the platen, about 1/8 to 1/4" of the platen shows beneath the belt and the belt is about 2mm away from the inside of the table cutout. How can I fix this??

Second question, knives 4 and 5 will be started soon. Boot knife with carbon fiber handles, will Devcon 2 ton hold the CF to the handle or should I pin and pein it too? Also, same type of question about the hunting knife, will epoxy hold 303 stainless bolster and stag handle to A-2? I am trying to make this as simple as possible for me. I will pin and pein if necessary, but would prefer not to have too. Would JB Weld work on the stainless bolster?

Last Question. What RC should A-2 be at for a hunting knife and for a tactical boot knife? thanks again guys!
 
Taz, I can't help you on your grinder. I am not familiar with it.

On your other questions, I believe you need pins or bolts in everything you want to stay on a knife. On handles, I don't think you need to pein the pins. Simply epoxying them in is fine, by my experience.

For the bolsters, you need to smash then in. Peining is too gentle a term for what I do. I cut the pins off about 1/8" outside the bolsters, then crush them with a 4# sledge on my vise anvil. If you pein them, they will be visible when you smooth everything down. If you crush them, they and the bolsters become one and nothing shows.

Normally, I use three 1/8" pins in the bolsters. For handles, I normally use two or three 1/4" mosaic pins and a thong hole liner

I gave a pretty lengthy explanation of how I mount bolsters awhile back. You might want to search for it.

On the hardening of A2, Paul Bos hardens my A2 blades to Rc61 unless they are large (>11"), then he hardens to Rc 58. My large A2 blades are tacticals so edge holding is less critical than toughness.

Good luck.

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
 
I don't know about the JB weld, but the devcon epoxy I've used didn't make for a very flexible hold. It may work for awhile, but if the knife were dropped, bumped into something, or especially pryed with even though your not supposed to, the scales could pop off. I'd go ahead and add a few pins. Their not that dificult to do and it will greatly increase the strength of the knife. Same thing for the bolsters.

Looks like we were typing at the same time Jerry.
Like Jerry said, you can't over peen the pins in the bolsters. Smash the hell out of them and then some. On the handles, if you choose to peen them. Do it as much as possible without denting or splitting the handle material. It helps to slightly coutersink the top of the hole so there is room for the pin to expand. Don't countersink them to deeply though, or when you grind them down flush, a gap will form around the head of the pin.
For your grinder, I haven't seen one, but there should be a tracking knob somewhere. It will be next to one of the wheels/pulleys that the belt rides on. Screwing it in and out changes the angle of the pulley to the belt, and changes the path of the belt. Turn the machine on and slowly turn the knob back and forth until the belt is tracking where you want it. If that doesn't work, you might have to take the belt off and put it back on in the center, provided it isn't slipping sideways once the machine is running.
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It'll feel better when it stops hurting.

[This message has been edited by Matt Shade (edited 06-28-2000).]
 
The pin question has already been covered thoroughly here.

As far as your sander. Tracking on Harbor Freight sanders isn't the best.

Most often cheap belts can affect tracking.

But something you can do to improve it is to VERY CAREFULLY wrap some electrical tape around the center of the idler wheel to creat a crown on it. This will help to hold the belt on center.

I'm not sure, but it also sounded like the belt is not running up against the platen but instead away from it. If there is an adjustment, you can just bring the platen out, otherwise you will have to do some manipulating to and possibly even replace the platen.

Good Luck,
Nick
 
Taz,I have a old delta 1x30,There is a tracking knob on the delta,its by the rear wheel.there are also slots on the platen so it can be adjusted front to back,the slots are wider than the set screws that hold it on so there is a little side to side movement.Try adjusting the tracking and if needed move the platen a little,If its still off widen the holes in the platen to allow for more lateral movement,good luck

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Failures are only Failures if we Fail to learn from them.
 
Taz,

For you platen, would it be posible to add another face to it. Other words make it thicker and adjustable side to side. Maybe two slots in the original platen and some flush counter sunk screws top and bottom of the new piece to allow side movement. You could also add a 1/4" plate to the table to keep it square and rigid and adjustable.
That is what I did to an old 1x42 I had and it worked pretty well.I had to do this because of the pulley alignment from the factory.

Jonesy

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Scott Jones
Heck yea I invented it ...What is it???
I only do what the voices in my wifes head tell me to do.
It's kinda like hangin, you never get used to it.

[This message has been edited by Jonesy (edited 06-29-2000).]
 
Surfacing the platen with a plate of hardened tool steel is a good ideal. I've done it on one of my grinders by drilling holes through the unhardened steel and the current platen, then tapping the holes in the tool steel from the back to take bolts (I used 1/4").

After hardening the new platen, I simply bolted it on, cut off the bolts where they protruded, and ground them smooth by running a belt inside out for a minute or so, applying just a little pressure to the belt against the platen. From time to time, I resurface my platen by doing the same thing, using a similar sized piece of steel to apply pressure to the reversed belt.

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
 
Well, I guess I wasn't clear enough. I tried the tracking. When it is set all the way to the right side, it is still about 1/8" to 1/4" to the left of being centered on the platen. the platen distance forward and reverse isn't the problem, it is side to side. The belts I am using are McMaster-Carr ceramic SG, so I think they are pretty good and it has happened with all of the belts.

As for the pins, i don't mind them at all and my handles are drilled anyway. My concern was with the drilling carbon fiber and if it would affect the bit as there is carbon in it and if it splits frequently and with my hunting knife, I will use stag handles, so I am worried about finishing the pins. Should I counter sink them a little in the stag and finish them before I epoxy them? Like drill the pin hole, then step up another drill size and drill 1/8 of an inch, so it is countersunk? i saw this on a friends stag handles knife. Anyway, i gotta go order the belts and steel!
 
The tape idea that Nick suggested might help. You may have to play with it to get it right, but that will help center the belt. You may have to put it to one side on the idler wheel to get enough "pull" to get the belt centered.

Try it.

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
My Forum
 
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