Cobbled Together Wire Wheel

[Rural Pundit]

recently inherited a bunch of rusty old tools.... and some old electric motors.

I've been cleaning the tools with a wire wheel on an angle grinder.

I recently bought a bench grinder with the intention of putting a wire wheel on it, and was seriously disappointed in the lack of accessibility the bench grinder's front opening allowed. Not to mention when it grabbed the item I was trying to clean out of my hand and wedged it somewhere under the guard.

I seen a post here awhile back where some guy, perhaps with the intention of being funny, clamped an angle grinder in a vice and used it as a stationary wire wheel. I tried it ...... and man it worked great. Its a lot better to hold small parts in your hand against a stationary wire wheel than it is to try to clamp a small item in the vice and brush around the vice.

So anyway ..... gathered some old parts and bought a few accessories and made this thing.

I had to Delta it up a little so it looked good on the bench next to the other Delta stuff.

Its a 1 HP / 3400 RPM motor ...... I wish it had been 1725 RPM ..... this thing is certainly powerful enough. You feel the breeze across the shop when this bad boy is running.

Now I'm trying to figure out what else I can use on it besides a wire wheel.

I've never tried a buffer wheel or scotch-brite flap wheel .... so I guess that's the next deal.

 

[didit]

Cool! that will get the job done. They sure make quick work of some clean up jobs. Nice job!
I have been wanting to do something similar with a large buffing wheel. I have a very powerful motor from a bowling ball polishing machine that needs to go back to work.

 

[lilredex]

Look for belt driven mandrel to slow the speed of your wire wheel. Or, add an extension to your grinder.

 

[RTM]

I have a couple of similar bare motors, was thinking buffing wheel or a hone as possible attachments too.