Grinder In a Box Questions

J

jleiwig

Well-Known Member
Hey all, I'm back after an unfortunate and unwanted extended vacation.:35:

I'm getting ready to order the grinder in a box kit here shortly from Jamie, and I had some questions. I had emailed him, but he's busy, or maybe it got caught in his spam folder so I figured I'd ask here.

I'm planning my purchases from Mcmaster-Carr for the grinder and a I was wondering what sizes the holes are that are already in the steel for where the knobs go so I know what size threads to order? Specifically the one's I've circled in this picture?
grinder.JPG

I'm going to go with the gas spring as a tensioner versus the springs hanging off the back. I also plan to incorporate the other mods mentioned in the various threads and possibly the Grizzly 10" contact wheel if I can find someone to bore the bearing pockets locally cheap enough to make it worthwhile.

Hopefully I'll have it up and running before the end of the summer and I'll try and post a thorough WIP on the build with part numbers for what I used to help those that were wondering these things.
 
So just for grins I sent out the 12x48 layout that Atlas Knife had produced for the grinder in the box/EERF grinder to 4 local laser cutters. Cheapest was $225 and they said they would just center pierce for holes smaller than .375. Still debating on if I want to save time and order from Jamie or save money and go local. $25 isn't that much money to save...I'll have to review more closely.

But the kicker was a local big name place was going to charge $1252 with me supplying the 1/2" steel plate! I emailed them back asking if that was a misprint since I had 3 other quotes that were all $200-$300 range. The lead engineer emailed back and said and I quote "No that is our price. We have many years of experience, and as your other quotees will find out this part will not be easy to laser." He also said that he would have to redraw every component and add a fillet corner instead of square corners to aid in getting it out of the sheet.

I really wanted to direct him to Jamie's page to show him that it's been done hundreds of times and that he's really full of it! :34:
 
I would really recommend buying the kit from Jamie. The time spent shopping around is worth more than the pennies you would save having it done locally.

My wife bought me a GIB for our 20th anniversary; it rivals my KMG. It does have a few modifications though.

0112.jpg

Moved the tracking arm forward

0132.jpg

Used a gas spring

0152.jpg

Milled a slot into the tracking arm bracket to allow better tracking arm alignment
 
David,

Those are nice mods. One of the great features of the GIB is you can use your imagination and expertise to make these mods. How well does the gas spring work? I was thinking of using Ed Caffrey's mod, posted somewhere in this forum, a compression spring ala KMG, because tension is the key to tracking and I now have three springs on mine. I had a lot of fun putting GIB together and more fun using it, and have never regretted purchasing the kit.

Jay
 
David66 said:
I would really recommend buying the kit from Jamie. The time spent shopping around is worth more than the pennies you would save having it done locally.
Click to expand...

Well actually those mods are exactly why I sent it out to the local companies. I discussed it with Jamie, and he hadn't tested these modifications so he wasn't comfortable with changing a proven set up. I understand that and totally respect that.

However I have no problem going off Ed and Brian's advise, so I changed the things that needed changing in the cad file (I.e. moving the pivot back on the arm. Atlas knife's file already had the holes changed from clearance to tapped on the platens so I didn't have to do that myself) and sent it out to see what it would get me locally. I never imagined anyone would come close to Jamie's price, so I was really really surprised that someone actually came in lower.

Don't get me wrong. I think Jamie's price is excellent for what you get, and I wholeheartedly recommend it for those that don't have the resources locally to do it.

My point in posting what I posted was more to share the guy who thought he was burning the grinder out of gold or something, not to bash Jamie in anyway or say anything negative about his product.

Either way thanks for sharing your version of the grinder, and I've looked at it and drooled many times.
 
Sticks said:
David,

...I was thinking of using Ed Caffrey's mod, posted somewhere in this forum, a compression spring ala KMG, because tension is the key to tracking and I now have three springs on mine. I had a lot of fun putting GIB together and more fun using it, and have never regretted purchasing the kit.

Jay
Click to expand...

The gas spring and brackets are like $12 from McMaster Carr. With the improvement they make to overall performance (tracking, and vibration)I would gladly pay many times over. My KMG was converted to direct drive and a gas spring also because of how well the GIB works. I notice with a compression spring that every grinder I have used tends have a very low vibration or harmonic because of the the compression spring bouncing ever so slightly because as we all know belts are never perfect. I liken it to taking the cheap hydraulic shocks off of your car and putting a set of Bilsteins on it.

Jleiwig:

I don't think anybody got anything negative from your post. For me time is money and time shopping around is time I'm not in the shop. Sometimes I have to remind myself of the old adage 'step'n over dollars to pick up pennies'.
 
David,

I looked at the McMaster Carr on line listings and frankly was a bit overwhelmed. Can you provide the details on which spring, brackets you used? I would like to make the improvement to my GIB.

Thanks,

Jay
 
I experienced the same overwhelmedness; I must give Brian Fellhoelter credit for helping me!

Here you go:

1-20lb Spring- 9416K111
2-Bracket-9416K29
2-Eyelet- 9416K84
 
jleiwig said:
So just for grins I sent out the 12x48 layout that Atlas Knife had produced for the grinder in the box/EERF grinder to 4 local laser cutters. Cheapest was $225 and they said they would just center pierce for holes smaller than .375. Still debating on if I want to save time and order from Jamie or save money and go local. $25 isn't that much money to save...I'll have to review more closely.
Click to expand...

That's not a bad price. I'm surprised at that for one kit. It doesn't surprise me about the holes, though. In the past, laser cutting holes smaller than roughly half the material thickness were problematic at best. Sometimes people would even say material thickness. With the right machine and the right setup, it's not hard at all.

jleiwig said:
But the kicker was a local big name place was going to charge $1252 with me supplying the 1/2" steel plate! I emailed them back asking if that was a misprint since I had 3 other quotes that were all $200-$300 range. The lead engineer emailed back and said and I quote "No that is our price. We have many years of experience, and as your other quotees will find out this part will not be easy to laser." He also said that he would have to redraw every component and add a fillet corner instead of square corners to aid in getting it out of the sheet.

I really wanted to direct him to Jamie's page to show him that it's been done hundreds of times and that he's really full of it! :34:
Click to expand...

Wow. The software I use to generate the g codes for the machine can automatically compensate for corners, so drawing them square is not necessary for me. That's just, wow.

Jamie
 
They are probably a "big volume" shop and priced it so that they would not have to mess with it, but if you were willing to pay $1200 they would go ahead and do it, and laugh all the way to the bank. When I was getting my license plates done I had one quote and when I went back to get them to do it the quote changed to that price was good if I got a hundred of them. Then I got a company to do it for the same price as the original for 10 of them.

With Jamie's pricing and experience I would not even consider getting someone else to cut them. After all, if you have any questions Jamie will help you out,,,,probably would even if you got them cut somewhere else,,,,but you would be to embarased to call and ask. Doing business with someone with experience and who is a nice guy that wants to help is worth way more than $25.00
 
I got a quote of roughly $50 per piece from one company, so I'm not surprised by the $1252 quote. That's why I put all the parts on a single piece. I have converted to using pilot holes only, since CNC Plasma isn't very good at making holes.
 
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