What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

I have spent the past week and a half working on a new belt grinder and making some minor shop changes, since moving in last december and working there full time.
My old grinder was a decent 2x72, but bare bones and everything was a bit of a pain to set up. My new one tilts to horizontal, top speed is about 150% of what it was, I will now have a a VFD, small wheels, work rests, and a proper enclosed table for storage underneath! I will share a few pics once I get it fully set up and tested.

Mark
 
Picked up some Tormek parts and built a sharpening jig for the belt grinder. Works great. Angle is easily set by sliding the guide rail's legs in their holder on the tooling arm.
With too thin and narrow blades with low sharpening angles the holder/clamp is a little bulky, so need to mod that.
Super easy 30 min build, recomended.
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I am absolutely excited for the shop development I made this week. I found a 3hp Baldor three phase motor on craigslist for $40. It came with 25' of cord, a wired switch and a pulley installed on the shaft. Negotiated lower than that :) I picked up a $95 VFD on amazon capable of driving a three phase 3hp motor and it came in 48hrs.

I was running a 2Hp motor wired to 110 and getting less than 1.5hp out of it. This thing is beastly in comparison and runs silent.

I was able to decipher the instructions and get things up and running pretty quick! It has a 6' remote for the controls. I am going to try to extend that to 15 ft so I can actually mount the VFD outside my shop on the other side of the wall and avoid enclosing it altogether.

Since my motor came with a pulley and all wiring I needed, the grand total cost out of pocket for me to swap to VFD was ~$125.

Right now I'm running it off pulleys as my machine was already using them. I have found a coupling that will allow me to direct drive it but I'm a bit puzzled how I would align the shafts with the new motor shaft being higher than my KMG that is mounted directly on my bench. I dont really feel like shimming the entire machine and its base up to the motor height but I dont see another way.

If i stay with a pulley setup and fix it, I can do so at a ratio that gives me the top end belt speed I may want. If I direct drive it, I'll want to get a new drive wheel at some point up up my belt speed but I do small blades 99% of the time now and dont do too much at blazing belt speeds.

I dont have a formal motor mount for this but may order one as it seems the only great way of getting good belt tension. If, alternatively, I can figure out a super simple way to align the motor spindle to the grinder drive shaft, I'll go that route.
 
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Here's another Tombstone Defender just about ready to go out the door. 80CRV2 with Zebrawood, elk and G10 spacers. The guard and pommel are blued steel. It's about 14" OAL. My nephew's friend wanted one and had a couple of elk sheds to trade for a discount. He chose the floral pattern on the sheath, very traditional but a rarity for me. A good deal was had by all.20-23 1.jpg 20-23 2.jpg 20-23 4.jpg
 
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Was working on 3 knives for a couple of days last week, and this weekend. AEB-L, heat treated, tempered, grind, hand sand, cut out wood for the handles, went to lay out the holes for the pins, no effing holes, I forgot to drill the holes for the pins in the handles. I guess I shouldn't drink bourbon while I'm cutting out and heat treating blanks.
 
Scaniaman said:
A basic 150 mm petty. 14c28n 120 grit-->red-->blue Scotchbrite. Mycarta & nickel silver at 500-600 grit.
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Nice job, you seem to push this ones at a steady rate. How much time do you need to finish a knife like that, is the handle also finished on the grinder?
 
FredyCro said:
Nice job, you seem to push this ones at a steady rate. How much time do you need to finish a knife like that, is the handle also finished on the grinder?
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Thank you. Yes all the handle work is done on the grinder, to 400 grit then one hand rub with 3M "super fine" pad (appr 500-600 grit).
Total time hmm, that's a tough one. Let's say a little over an hour on grinding and finishing the bevels. Then there is all the other stuff. Drawing, sawing, grinding, drilling, heat treating, straightening, handle work etc. I'll have to time myself on the next project :)
 
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