Using Grizzly contact wheel as a surface grinder?

[Leon Husock]

I noticed there's about 3" of space between the bottom of the contact wheel on my Grizzly and the table it's mounted to, and I was thinking of trying to jury-rig something to the table so I could use it as a rough surface grinder. Basically I would just set something up with either a vise or a strong magnet on a track (maybe channel iron?) so I could push it back and forth under the wheel and keep it at the same height. Does anyone have any ideas about how best to do this/if it would work at all?

Obviously I'm not going to be able to make precision parts or anything this way, I'm mostly looking for a way to clean the scale off billets really evenly to get nice flat surfaces for re-stacking and welding.

 

[argel55]

Go on Youtube and check out Shurap. He has hand made carriage to run his forged metal under a grinder wheel.

 

[Leon Husock]

Awesome, thanks! I'll check that out.

 

[Drew Riley]

There's the video that was being referred to.

As for whether it's possible, I'd say the answer is "kind of". Surface grinding with a belt typically requires a much harder durometer wheel than is on the grizzly, if you want to get a "flat" surface. You CAN use a softer wheel, but it won't be nearly as precise or flat, as the rubber will deform more under the pressure of grinding. Taking lighter passes will help, but it will take longer as well. It might be a bit more "grabby" with the softer wheel as well, so I'd make sure that whatever method you use to secure the blade to your carriage is up to the task, and again, that you're not taking too heavy of a pass.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I made one like you describe a good while back. It was a slide with a vise and a small magnetic chuck. It didn't work all that well, as there was very poor control on raising the height each pass. It was better than nothing, but not by much.

Take a look at the Reader surface grinder. It may seem like a lot of money, but getting a Reader base unit and the surface grinder attachment is money well spent. It will give you a rock solid grinder ( horizontal and vertical) AND a surface grinder in one unit. Their mobile base unit and their horizontal table will give you a professional grade one tool shop when it comes to grinding. The 1.5" arms are really solid, and if you are going to do lots of surface grinding, add the second brace arm.