Homemade grinder with very limited budget?

steinmann

New Member
Hello to all. I would like to see your ideas / solutions of how people managed to build a belt sander facing my problem. I got an engine, and a good strong one, but all the rest is a problem to get here in Israel, and if can be found it will be unreasonable expensive (buying from overseas will also be very expensive, as shipping & facing our crazy tax system will damage the joy…). Pillow bearing can be found with a reasonable price (converted to $, they will be about 40 $ for a 3/4" piece), steel plate and tubes/bars also. Tension spring for example will be a problem, wheels and contact wheel with bearing complete are the main problem (so I'm thinking of making them of plywood). I carefully checked the wooden grinder at Michael Morris astonishing YouTube videos, and see a very simple and robust grinder, just as I need it to be, but I think that my motor is a bit too heavy for the belt sanders tension. So I will be happy if you can help here with some ideas as I'm quite stuck at the moment.
Thanks a lot in advance – Michael. :52::52::52::52::52:
 
As for tensioning the belt with the weight of the motor, you may be surprised at how much a sanding belt can withstand. If weight is an issue, you might try sticking something with a little "give" under the motor to offset some of the weight, such as a piece of rubber, foam, or anything else with a little bit of spring to it.

Concerning your contact wheels, you might try to find some casters that are about 2" wide.

Necessity is the mother of invention!
 
I assume you are talking about using the weight of the motor for tension on the drive belt connected to the pulley, or do you mean the tension spring for controlling the tracking of the grinding belts? If you mean for the motor, I have a Delta table saw and that is exactly how it has the correct tension on the drive belt. The motor hangs on a hinge and the weight of the motor provides the correct tension. See also the link for the Coote grinder where it shows how to set this up. http://www.cootebeltgrinder.com Also, I wouldn't know about shipping costs, et al, but Sunray sells wheels at reasonable prices. http://www.sunray-inc.com Good luck!
 
Steinmann,

In case you haven't noticed, those of us who live in the US a more than a little spoiled and take our abundant resources for granted.

As far as a tension spring is concerned, if you can find a spring from a trampoline like the children jump on, I'm sure that would be plenty strong and less expensive than something from a tool company.

I have seen pictures of home made grinders using plywood for bases and side supports. I even saw one one time where the upright support was made from a 2X4. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

Good luck in your quest.

Carey
 
I assume you are talking about using the weight of the motor for tension on the drive belt connected to the pulley, or do you mean the tension spring for controlling the tracking of the grinding belts? If you mean for the motor, I have a Delta table saw and that is exactly how it has the correct tension on the drive belt. The motor hangs on a hinge and the weight of the motor provides the correct tension. See also the link for the Coote grinder where it shows how to set this up. http://www.cootebeltgrinder.com Also, I wouldn't know about shipping costs, et al, but Sunray sells wheels at reasonable prices. http://www.sunray-inc.com Good luck!

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe he's talking about "direct driving" the motor and tensioning the actual abrasive belt with the weight of the motor, not a rubber belt.

Now, while rubber is much stronger than an abrasive belt will be, I suspect he should still be alright. I might worry about thin belts like a j-flex, but then again, who knows.
 
I saw a thread somewhere (cant remember where) the guy was tensioning his abrasive belts with the motor. he had a chain attached from the motor to the frame of his grinder stand to keep the entire weight of the motor off the belt.
 
The tension spring on my GIB came from the door hardware section of a home improvement store. It is basically a heavy self-closure spring for a screen or storm door. The spring on my Coote is much smaller and is a compression rather than a tension spring. There are lots of possible configurations for tensioning the belt.
The wheels would seem to be the hardest part of a grinder to improvise to me, the rest of it can be made from pretty typical industrial junk and scrap steel.
 
I've seen wheels made of Lignum Vitae (extremely durable, hard and heat resistant wood) one a grinder when visiting Central Mexico a few years ago. They were on some drum type sanding set-ups used by a door "artisan," (best looking doors I've seen made of solid Mexican Grown Ebony, which resembles Texas Ebony). He told me that they had been in use for over 30 years but honestly, just looking at them, you wouldn't think that they were only a few months old.

They were as heavy as steel wheels and very stable while being used. The wood didn't distort from what I could see in his resulting work, so as odd as it seems, the right wood could be used to improvise. I think your best bet if you travel this route would be some local and well seasoned Olive Wood.

Best of luck.
 
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