24" wheel grinder......well maybe

Bruce Bump

Bruce Bump

Forum Owner-Moderator
My friend Robin brought me an idler wheel from an army tank. Its a 24" diameter by 2 1/2" wide and has a very hard rubber tire. The rubber is bonded to steel and the steel is riveted to aluminum. I'm thinking it would be so cool to make it work. In fact its at the machine shop as we speak. They are going to make a hub for it as well as turn it to 2" and true it.

You can get an idea of its size as its sitting on a 14" wheel.

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It should be a good grind for thinner blades like hunting knives but I,m thinking the Bowies could use the taller grind. The Bowies from Sheffield were ground on huge wheels like about 48" to 60" wheels. I just hope its easy to use and will stay in the groove when hollow grinding.
 
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Heck yeah, Bruce! I'm tickled pink and can't wait for you to get that big booger spinning. I spoke with Contact Rubber about 16-24 inch wheels awhile back and the 20" was approximately $3,000 and the 24" could have been as much as five thousand bucks. They were wanting some seriously large inch-plus arbor shaft sizes with those, too - I'd have to practically build a bench and a grinder to drive it. I hope this works out great for you.
 
Be sure to have it balanced. I can see it tearing up your bench and machine otherwise.

Why not just get a 2x72 wheel and be done with it? :)
 
I use 132" belts and have the back idler so it slides down and clamps. We held it in place and it will work on this grinder. It does need to be trued and balanced. If it were any bigger it wouldnt fit in the lathe to true it. I bet the bolt pattern is something standard so a hub may actually available somewhere if not Patrick can make one. I bet Les Scwab can balance ii.
 
Hmmm? so this is off a Sherman or other old military tank? Very cool project.

Keep us posted how this works?
 
Bruce are you concerned about the drag on the motor and shortening the life at all? the added diameter of the wheel would increase the leverage dramatically I'd guess.

Erik
 
cnccutter said:
Bruce are you concerned about the drag on the motor and shortening the life at all? the added diameter of the wheel would increase the leverage dramatically I'd guess.

Erik
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Erik,
That's something I thought about Afterall this is only a 1 hp motor but I have the gearing 2:1 so it has plenty of torque. If it drags down I can gear it accordingly with a bigger pulley and longer belt. I,m no mathematical genius so I,m using my old tried and true method of "trial and error".

This motor is oversize for its horse power. It came from Boing Air machine shop. They rebuild everything before they sell it. The Jack shaft is a 1 1/4" and the pillow block bearings can take the extra drag. The wheel is a bit heavier but I still think it will spin up without trouble. I can lean into my 14" wheel with all my weight and can barely slow it down. It's a pretty big grinder.
 
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as My dad always said Bruce, " tune for maximum smoke" HA. the gearing will help out a lot. it will be interesting to see how it runs. I know that Morris runs a large wheel and he gives it a push and away it goes. once you have an object it motion it doesn't take a bunch to keep it going.

Erik
 
That's an awesome find! I've been wanting to move up to a larger wheel for awhile, but the cost is a bit steep. I'll have to keep my eyes open for tank parts!
 
Putting it in motion prior to powering it up would make it a bunch easier than starting on the static load? Any guesses how heavy it is?
 
I should have weighed it before it went to the machine shop but at least its mostly aluminum.
PT Doc said:
Putting it in motion prior to powering it up would make it a bunch easier than starting on the static load? Any guesses how heavy it is?
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PT Doc said:
Any updates on huge wheel?
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As a matter of fact I have heard from the CNC shop and he has the hub finished and the wheel turned. I had him make a new shaft too and plan to buy another set of pillow block bearings and pulley so I can easily swap back and forth to the 14" wheel.
He had to turn and true the rubber on his milling machine because it wouldn't fit in the metal lathe. He is taking it to the auto shop and put it on the digital balancing machine. I,m trying to decide what size pulley to buy to reduce the surface feet per minute. My friend Bobs smart son figured it at about 60 mph with the current pulley.
 
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