Finished my grinder

K

Kev

Well-Known Member
I finally got my 2x72 grinder up and operational. The original plans are from a no-weld grinder. I had to make a few modifications to fit the parts I had on hand. But all told I only have $100 or less into the whole thing. It took me a few hours to get everything straightened out but once I did it works pretty well.
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Once I got a few things dialed in I figured I'd give it a whirl. I busted this guy out in about 15-20 minutes. Started with 60 grit to get the hang of things, and finished with 120. It's not perfect by any means and I've identified a few areas that I need to work on, but it's light years ahead of what I was using previously.
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Any advice, critical or otherwise is welcome, and requested. I've got a pretty thick skin when it comes to those things.
Thanks,
Kev
 
Looks good, Kev. I've had my no-weld grinder for a couple of years now. It's still going strong. I hope you enjoy your new machine.
 
I think I spent close to $650 when I built my NWGS several years ago, but I spend around half of that just on the wheels from beaumont, including a $250 8" contact wheel.

As far as home built grinders, I think the NWGS is still the best value for time, money and effort, though I think the plans do benefit from a couple of slight modifications from the start. I designed and built my own grinder a while back, but my NWGS still sees quite a bit of use as a secondary, and I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon. While it's certainly not a be all, end all grinder, it definitly holds its own, and properly built, I think I'd put it against several other grinders that cost quite a bit more.
 
Admittedly I had a lot of spare parts from this and that, that at one time I paid for. I didn't count that, so maybe it was a bit more. I really like the overall design from the jump, but agree it needed some modifications right away. I broke the main drive shaft after about 20 minutes of use, but quickly fixed that by moving one of the bearings closer to the drive wheel. Eventually I'll make it direct drive with a VFD, and add some more attachments. I think I'll get a bigger drive wheel as well, but for now it's making better knives than my current skill set. Practice, practice, practice.
 
Kev said:
Admittedly I had a lot of spare parts from this and that, that at one time I paid for. I didn't count that, so maybe it was a bit more. I really like the overall design from the jump, but agree it needed some modifications right away. I broke the main drive shaft after about 20 minutes of use, but quickly fixed that by moving one of the bearings closer to the drive wheel. Eventually I'll make it direct drive with a VFD, and add some more attachments. I think I'll get a bigger drive wheel as well, but for now it's making better knives than my current skill set. Practice, practice, practice.
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The original design for the drive shaft is definitely one of the main shortcomings of the design, and really needs to be revised, IMO. An extra 18" of angle iron is really all that you would need to add to the plans, but having them spaced only 3-4 inches apart with that much overhang is just begging for a bent and subsequently broken shaft. I changed about 3 shafts on mine before I widened their spacing, and it made all the difference.
 
I'll try and get a picture of my "fix" to help stabilize the drive shaft better and post them tomorrow. But in essence all I did was to take a scrap piece of 4" tube that matched what I made the base out of and weld it to the frame and attach the pillow block bearing to that. The extra 4" of width put me right where I needed to be. In hindsight I would have probably gone with a bigger overall shaft, but I already had the 5/8" bore step shelves.
One other thing I did right away was to add a "mechanical advantage" to the tracking arm, to help me relieve the spring pressure for belt changes. I may have to heavy a spring on mine, but I couldn't pull it down easily and maneuver a belt into place.
But again, overall for what I've put into it, its a great machine. I tracks very well, better I'd imagine with a real drive, and tracking wheel, but that's for later. It's not the smoothest machine I've ever built, but it's calm enough to get the job done.
Later,
Kev
 
Eventually I'll make it direct drive with a VFD
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That is one thing you will NEVER regret, and only wonder what took you so long! Best $250 (new motor and VFD) I ever spent for sure! That is for a NEMA 1 VFD that I had to rig a filter over air intake, but that's working just fine. For a commercial shop I'd spring for the NEMA 4 enclosure.

Ken H>
 
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