Anyone build a 2x72 belt grinder?

[Bottlecapdigger]

I going to build a 2x72 belt grinder. Im collecting material, tubing and either making the pulleys or buying some off eBay. looking for ideas from others to see what they like or would do different. Let's see what you made. BCD.

 

[larry4406]

I like this one

http://jerswoodshop.com/2x72-tilting-belt-grinder/

He has several Youtube videos

 

[Stuart in MN]

I like this one

http://jerswoodshop.com/2x72-tilting-belt-grinder/

He has several Youtube videos

His design is one of the better ones I've seen, plus he has a bunch of other clever tools in his videos.

 

[Bottlecapdigger]

Ya, I've watched some of his videos, he's quite the talented farm kid. Makes it with simple tools, with no plasma cutter, milling machine. Etc. Good for him. BCD.

 

[LXCam]

That kid is badass, I'm impressed. But somebody needs to buy him a portaband or at least teach him a hacksaw only cuts one direction. Lol.


Watching him make some of those parts brings back a ton of memories when all I owned was a hacksaw, drill and files. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you're young and chock-full of enthusiasm.

 

[rsanter]

Building one is on my to-do list
I like that one

 

[bullnerd]

Thats the one I'd build, seems very solid compared to some of the others.

I'm with LX, I remember getting a big piece of scrap aluminum sheet and a hacksaw! lol!

 

[tarmy]

Here is mine

 

[steel 35]

Another one I would spend a lot of time looking at is Northridge. Then look at the accesories

I Have not built my 2 X 72 Grinder yet but Have spent months drawing it!
Then I added up the parts I didn't have.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Tubalcain / Mr.Pete222 is in the process of building a 2 x 48 two pulley belt grinder: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrpete222/videos It's not what you have planned but it may be worth looking at to get some ideas on construction.

 

[Bottlecapdigger]

I got a reply from a company in western Canada called Nexus grinders. (Thank you by the way). Very impressed with these. Considering just buying one complete. Buy the time I build, buy and make parts it still won't be a nice as these machines. Check it out. BCD.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I got a reply from a company in western Canada called Nexus grinders. (Thank you by the way). Very impressed with these. Considering just buying one complete. Buy the time I build, buy and make parts it still won't be a nice as these machines. Check it out. BCD.

Link to their website: https://nexusgrinders.ca/product-category/nexus-belt-grinders-2x72/

 

[bsaint]

I built a 2x48 all custom everything. My biggest mistake was not driving the belt fast enough. I redesigned it but I didnt have any money to build it yet.

 

[8mpg]

I built a Jeremy Schmidt grinder and so far so good...BUT

I'd gladly pay money for someone to cnc plasma cut all the brackets. It was HORRIBLE cutting them out without a plasma. Its all 3/8" steel. I bought rollers from ebay which were the fiberglass ones. I have not used a belt grinder like this prior to this and I feel like these wheels are loud and dont spin well. I think you're better off with aluminum ones with some mass. If you try and spin them by hand, they dont even more 1/4 turn before stopping. Im having issues with the tracking. Its very fine adjust but my wheel is canted to keep the belt straight. Not sure why.

 

[Woodtick]

Thanks for the Jeremy Schmidt link. I just spent an hour watching some of his videos. I had been thinking about a Polar Bear Forge kit but might have to change my mind. I like the tilt/ horizontal feature on Jeremey's.

 

[PNWguy]

I built a Jeremy Schmidt grinder and so far so good...BUT

I'd gladly pay money for someone to cnc plasma cut all the brackets. It was HORRIBLE cutting them out without a plasma. Its all 3/8" steel. I bought rollers from ebay which were the fiberglass ones. I have not used a belt grinder like this prior to this and I feel like these wheels are loud and dont spin well. I think you're better off with aluminum ones with some mass. If you try and spin them by hand, they dont even more 1/4 turn before stopping. Im having issues with the tracking. Its very fine adjust but my wheel is canted to keep the belt straight. Not sure why.

Did you buy his plans, and did you like them? $20 seems like a reasonable amount for somebody's labor to figure out the hard parts.

 

[DocsMachine]

I recently finally finished this, based off of plans I downloaded over a decade ago:

The original design had a compression spring under the tracking/tension arm, but based off a commercial model I bought, I redesigned to to use the extension spring as shown.

Works great, but before I managed to finish it, I found a brand-new Wilmont in a local secondhand shop. So I finished the homebrew one, and sold it to a buddy. He's already used it more than I've used the commercial one- and I've used it quite a bit.

As for tracking issues- parallelism on these things is everything. That's partly why a lot of people recommend "no weld" builds. If any one of the rollers gets canted out of line of any of the others, tracking gets a little wonky.

In welded builds, unless you're extremely careful, everything gets bent, bowed and wowed- not a lot, but it doesn't take much. Not easy to fix, either.

Doc.

 

[Twisted Sid]

My post from another belt grinder thread
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6319288&postcount=10

 

[Dumber than lumber]

I going to build a 2x72 belt grinder. Im collecting material, tubing and either making the pulleys or buying some off eBay. looking for ideas from others to see what they like or would do different. Let's see what you made. BCD.

My son built one. He wanted to use it to make some fixed blade knives. He found some plans and had someone waterjet most of the pieces out of aluminum. It took 3 (or 4) thicknesses bolted together to achieve full thickness for several areas. It just would not give him the level of precision that he needed/wanted. He bought a super-skookum machine from Ameribrade with a VFD.
He has done some terrific work with that belt grinder and does not feel cheated at all. And the VFD is the cat's meow (or whatever the saying is these days for high satisfaction and delight).
Anyway, we have had numerous occasions to talk about how buying cheap tools can really make it hard to do a good job.

He gave that first one away to someone who was just getting interested in knife-making. BTW - I was a bit scared of the one he made and then gave away; it was loud, and speed changes were done via belt and step pulleys.

 

[bdbecker]

Made in Poland built a 2x48

 

[ilovevocs]

Did you buy his plans, and did you like them? $20 seems like a reasonable amount for somebody's labor to figure out the hard parts.

I purchased plans. My grinder project is on hold at the moment. Everything is cut, drilled, slotted, ect. Just have to weld it now. His plans are nice and worth the money IMHO. The tilting feature makes his design much more versatile. The bracket fab didn’t take long. Bandsaw and drill press did most the work but used the rotary table on my mill to slot the piece he drilled / filed.

 

[PNWguy]

I purchased plans. My grinder project is on hold at the moment. Everything is cut, drilled, slotted, ect. Just have to weld it now. His plans are nice and worth the money IMHO. The tilting feature makes his design much more versatile. The bracket fab didn’t take long. Bandsaw and drill press did most the work but used the rotary table on my mill to slot the piece he drilled / filed.

Thanks. He seems like a fairly smart kid, and throwing $20 his way is no big deal. The old timers need to encourage the next generation.

 

[LXCam]

Thanks. He seems like a fairly smart kid, and throwing $20 his way is no big deal. The old timers need to encourage the next generation.

I couldn't agree more. He puts in a lot of effort to produce that documentation, he deserves to make a few bucks.

 

[8mpg]

Did you buy his plans, and did you like them? $20 seems like a reasonable amount for somebody's labor to figure out the hard parts.

I bought his plans and they are well worth the $20. If you print it to 100% scale, all the brackets are at scale so you just cut them out and trace them on your steel.

 

[Bottlecapdigger]

Tubalcain / Mr.Pete222 is in the process of building a 2 x 48 two pulley belt grinder: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrpete222/videos It's not what you have planned but it may be worth looking at to get some ideas on construction.

I went to check this video out and ended up watching most of his other ones too, I like the simple design of the sander and might build one of that type also. What a great old guy. Years of knowledge there. BcdQUOTE]

 

[larry4406]

Tubalcain / Mr.Pete222 is in the process of building a 2 x 48 two pulley belt grinder: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrpete222/videos It's not what you have planned but it may be worth looking at to get some ideas on construction.

I went to check this video out and ended up watching most of his other ones too, I like the simple design of the sander and might build one of that type also. What a great old guy. Years of knowledge there. BcdQUOTE]

Tubalcaine is awesome!

 

[Mpmckenzie]

Here's mine. Have lowered the platen since but otherwise it's great. Good luck.
It's nice having it mobile as grinding is a dusty business.

 

[sqznby]

I'm fond of this one http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/2-x-72-belt-grinder.html

Simple and very effective.

 

[tarmy]

Here's mine. Have lowered the platen since but otherwise it's great. Good luck.
It's nice having it mobile as grinding is a dusty business.

Nice build...but that floor is not going to survive hot grindings! I assume that is not your shop floor?

 

[sqznby]

Here's mine. Have lowered the platen since but otherwise it's great. Good luck.
It's nice having it mobile as grinding is a dusty business.

I'm sorry, I didn't see your post.
I like that design. Do you have any more pictures from different angles?

 

[Cue]

I'm fond of this one http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/2-x-72-belt-grinder.html

Simple and very effective.

Here are a couple that I built using those plans, they work well.

 

[steel 35]

I'm fond of this one http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/2-x-72-belt-grinder.html

Simple and very effective.

Here are a couple that I built using those plans, they work well.

Lots of stuff there

 

[sqznby]

Here are a couple that I built using those plans, they work well.

Nicely done

I used to live in Clayton to haha

 

[motofool33]

im waiting on the quote(cnc plasma) to cut out one of jerswoodshop grinders already have the other parts waiting. ill be using a treadmill motor to power it.

 

[LMB(MN)]

I first saw these on Craigslist Minneapolis. I went to their website and looks like a nice grinder. Ramsey is just a bit down the street and was thinking about buying local. One model will tilt horz/vert. They sell in kit form, but prices add up fast with attachments and accessories.
I do not have enough posts to include a link. search for "the belt grinder dot com" all one word.

 

[mike_dmt]

Cue, I'm glad to see that design in use. I found the plans a while back, and have 90% of the parts ready to go. Just need the wheels and some belts.

Can you show us how you mounted the rest? It looks like you can pivot it.

 

[Cue]

Yes it pivots, I also made it from the plans on his site, here is the link

http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/bg272-adjustable-tool-rest.html

 

[z-edition 006]

This is not a 2x72, but a 2x48 belt grinder.

 

[sqznby]

This is not a 2x72, but a 2x48 belt grinder.

Wow, that is awesome. He did an amazing job. The detail is incredible.

 

[Keyblazer]

I bought the kids plans...

How do people feel about making it with 2 1/2" and 2" by 1/4" wall Trailer hitch tube?