Base ginders/belt grinders/stone grinders DIY

[skidesmond]

I want to see it in action! Send pics!

[MontuckyMadman]

good stuff

does it apply? meh yeah...

http://www.geminicontrols.com/motor_siz ... _tread.htm

[MontuckyMadman]

ho ho now we may be getting somehwhere

http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-a-T ... eed-Contr/

[Charles DeMar]

I'll be the voice of reason here. Until you answer these three questions you are better off putting the $100 into savings for a down payment on a "real" machine or parts for a purpose built homemade sander. I'm not saying you can't or won't find answers to these questions (this forum is nothing if not creative and Montucky you seem to win the prize).

Question #1--speed. 5-7mph is really slow. I'm no engineer but there is a reason sanders run at faster speeds than that. I've used sanders that for one reason or another aren't running at full speed and they are worse than useless, rather than being abrasive devices they become traction devices.

Question #2--how to use actual sanding belts instead of grip tape...

Question#3--This one is the most important one and could be the easiest--how you will retool the treadmill to make a relatively flat ski/board finish.

My two cents...

[MontuckyMadman]

belts
http://www.customsandingbelts.com/

hopefully I can get it to 10mph

flat?
Spindal the belt runs on is flat>maybe put in a plate like the toko one?

I'm almost there?

[Charles DeMar]

Game on!

[krp8128]

Don't waste your money. Your going to screw around with this idea and spend at least another $100 before you give up and realize that you could have just paid for 5 or more shop grinds....

[MontuckyMadman]

well I have 4 pairs to grind right now and everyone's machine is out of service for the year. I damage my skis a lot so a base grinder would be really helpful, not to mention everyone else I know.
Its $50 bucks a tune here for a decent grind. At least I can get them flat maybe and have the shop put some structure in them for beers come the season.

I think some of that crappy exercise equipment in my attic will fund this expenditure.

I appreciate the comments and realism.

[skidesmond]

my 2 cents.... I don't know squat about electricity and less about electric motors, so I wouldn't attempt it. I'd end up in the hospital or dead... or both

But you seemed to have a handle on it. And there are folks in the forum w/ electrical experience that could probably help out. So maybe you get into it for a couple hundred bucks, that's not too bad. I was into my ski building adventure for at least $1200 before I knew it would work and everyone thought I was nuts (still do).

I say go for it. Keep us posted and take lots of notes.... so we can build one too.

[threeninethree]

Was searching for any plans or images of a diy belt sander and came across this.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001S56MYO?tag=open2-20

It may be able to be converted to wet belt and rigged with wider roller drums

[redbull]

I’m thinking of designing a cheap base grinder. From what I’ve seen on the forum, G-man and bobbyrobie have both made one. Also twizzstyle posted an awesome restoration project. I’m trying to decide on the specs of such a machine:
-belt speed
-motor horsepower
-pump horsepower, etc.

From what I have found online (Wintersteiger, Reichmann, etc.) most machines can operate at two different speeds: (1)500-700rpm and (2)1000-1400rpm. Looks like the drive drums are about a foot in diameter. Do you know why you would need different speeds? What is the typical operation speed?

G-man/bobbyrobie: Curious of what kind of motors you used. Guessing induction motors? HP? I found one spec that a Grindrite machine used a 3hp motor.
twizzstyle: Do you have the specs of your new machine? motor hp, drum speed (rpm and diameter), pump, etc.

Thanks for any help

[twizzstyle]

twizzstyle: Do you have the specs of your new machine? motor hp, drum speed (rpm and diameter), pump, etc.

I'll get you specs tomorrow. I've been wanting to get an optical tachometer for a while, so this gives me an excuse to pick up a harbor freight one tomorrow. I'll have numbers for you then

[twizzstyle]

Ok here are some specs on my machine...

First, it's got a single phase 220v motor and water pump.

The drive drum spins at exactly 1105 RPM (whoo harbor freight optical tachometer!), and is about 12.5" in diameter. Work some maths - and you come to ~41mph belt speed (for you treadmill guys)

All the markings on the water pump have worn away, but it looks identical to one I've found on McMaster, and its specs are 1/12 hp, 10-12 gpm. It moves a lot of fluid, quickly. You could easily get away with something smaller, but it makes it nice for hosing down everything when I'm all done grinding (the machine has a hose built in to spray it down when you're done).

I can't find any hp markings for my main motor unfortunately... its a big motor, so I have no idea. If I had to guess based on its size... 3hp? 5hp?

[twizzstyle]

McMaster part no 4182k74 looks identical to the pump in my machine (number 9 in the mcmaster list, 230v one)

[redbull]

You actually want your drums to be non-cylindric, and have a *slightly larger diameter in the middle*. It's the same principle as bandsaw wheels

Do base grinder manufacturers use this principle for their drums? Found this webpage that expains this belt tracking (video at bottom of page):
http://woodgears.ca/bandsaw/crowned_pulleys.html
Wonder if this would work for wider shorter belts? Don't see why not. Just how to simply make that...

Slightly related, check out what this guy made: a homemade bandsaw. Pretty much all out of wood. So crazy. Check vid at bottom of page:
http://woodgears.ca/bandsaw/build.html