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High-Performance Blades Sharing ideas for getting the most out of our steel.

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  #1  
Old 04-26-2007, 12:29 AM
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ShaneMinnear ShaneMinnear is offline
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Smile Casting an aluminium contact wheel

Hi All

Well, I've been grinding for a while with an 8" contact wheel, but wanted something larger. Contact wheels are hard to find here in New Zealand, and shipping from US was looking horribly expensive. Where to find a wheel...

My father is a College shop teacher with a trade in sheet metal. Anyway, mid last year we both constructed a belt grinder modelled after Rob's beautiful KMG. This year's project was to cast a new 300mm contact wheel.

I video documented the process, and posted on Youtube here --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AURSxQ6Oms

The last task is to fix a rubber strip onto the face of the contact wheel.

Hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed making - and spending time with my dad!

Shane


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  #2  
Old 04-26-2007, 09:37 AM
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B.Finnigan B.Finnigan is offline
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That is a great project to post and I hope the machining goes well for you. Be sure to keep us updated as to how it finishes. Thanks for sharing it here!
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  #3  
Old 04-28-2007, 04:33 PM
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VictorCoelho VictorCoelho is offline
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Great job Shane!....tks for sharing with us!
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  #4  
Old 04-30-2007, 08:49 AM
Dan Graves Dan Graves is offline
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I will be interested in how you attatch the rubber to the wheel. What are your plans? Will it be serrated or flat faced? Good luck!


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Old 07-01-2007, 03:00 AM
goneflyin goneflyin is offline
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DIY belt grinder

I was wondering if there is any information out there on building a DIY belt grinder. I also have a foundry here at home so I could cast my wheels as well. If anyone knows where I can get information about building a belt grinder please let me know.

Thanks,
Chris
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  #6  
Old 07-01-2007, 07:16 AM
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Robert Mayo Robert Mayo is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by goneflyin
I was wondering if there is any information out there on building a DIY belt grinder. I also have a foundry here at home so I could cast my wheels as well. If anyone knows where I can get information about building a belt grinder please let me know.

Thanks,
Chris
Welcome to the forum Chris here is a link to a pdf doc. with an indepth plan for a grinder.
Have fun Bob
http://www.dfoggknives.com/PDF/GrinderPlans.pdf
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Old 07-01-2007, 07:18 AM
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Robert Mayo Robert Mayo is offline
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Sorry for not commenting on your contact wheel but with dial up it's not an option.
Bob
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Old 07-01-2007, 09:51 AM
goneflyin goneflyin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Mayo
Welcome to the forum Chris here is a link to a pdf doc. with an indepth plan for a grinder.
Have fun Bob
http://www.dfoggknives.com/PDF/GrinderPlans.pdf

thanks for the pdf file. That's just what I was looking for.

Chris
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  #9  
Old 07-13-2007, 09:16 AM
goneflyin goneflyin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Graves
I will be interested in how you attatch the rubber to the wheel. What are your plans? Will it be serrated or flat faced? Good luck!
I've been wondering about casting my own wheels as well when I get around to building my grinder and I was looking into some of the castable rubber materials. www.smoothon.com has some castable rubber materials but I'm not sure they would be strong enough for a contact wheel.

Chris
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Old 07-13-2007, 09:31 AM
goneflyin goneflyin is offline
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I was checking the smoothon.com website for castable materials that could be used for the conatact wheel and they have their items listed with a durometer number as well. Anyone else have any thoughts on this? I have a foundry at home so casting wheels would be a great money saver for me, not to mention allowing me to make custom sized wheels. here's the link http://www.smoothon.com/liqplas.htm

Chris
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  #11  
Old 07-19-2007, 10:53 PM
goneflyin goneflyin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Mayo
Welcome to the forum Chris here is a link to a pdf doc. with an indepth plan for a grinder.
Have fun Bob
http://www.dfoggknives.com/PDF/GrinderPlans.pdf
you know I started modeling that up in 3d tonight. there are a few parts missing from the drawings, I don't know if they were intentionally left out or what but I've got everything that was in the pdf file modeled up in 3d.

Chris
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  #12  
Old 07-21-2007, 08:41 PM
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ShaneMinnear ShaneMinnear is offline
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Thought I'd update on the contact wheel...

I had just to attach a rubber stip to the face to provide some give. I used F2 contact adhexive on the basis that if that didn't stick, I would try again with araldite (epoxy). Anyway, in the I fixed on the rubber and allowed it to dry. I placed on a belt (72") and fired up the grinder. It whired up to full speed, then there was an impressive crack and a pile of dust in the air. Not knowing what I had broken (but definately knowing I broken something) I powered it down and checked around. Well, the rubber stip I had glued to the wheel was in three pieces...I think what happened was that one end became unstuck, and was dragged with the sanding belt around the drive wheel. It could have been ugly! I'm just pleased that I don't stand in front of the grinder when I start it up...my power switch is off to one side, and now I realise why this is a good idea!

Anyway, I have to retry sticking with some other adhesive, or admitting defeat and sending the entire wheel off to a company that specialises in resurfacing rubber.


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  #13  
Old 07-21-2007, 09:03 PM
goneflyin goneflyin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by o'malley
Anyway, I have to retry sticking with some other adhesive, or admitting defeat and sending the entire wheel off to a company that specialises in resurfacing rubber.

I'm really glad to see someone persuing the idea of DIY contact wheels. I've got a foundry at home and have been doing metal casting for several years now, so I'd really like to try this myself. My idea was to take the aluminum wheel after truing up on the lathe and the making a mold that the wheel could set in, then pouring a castable rubber/plastic so it surrounds the wheel with no joints. There are a number of materials from http://smoothon.com/ that might work, then you could put it back on the lathe and true that up as well after it was cured. At least that's one thing I'd like to try.

I just got a copy of Wayne Goddard's book the $50 Knife Workshop and I've gotten really interested in building my own grinders. I made a trip to the scrapyard today and they had a huge bin of old casters , So I bought about a dozen of them to try some experiments with. Wayne used them in his homebuilt grinders that he made so I thought I'd give it a shot as well.

Chris
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  #14  
Old 07-26-2007, 04:36 PM
Ken Kelley Ken Kelley is offline
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KMG clone project

Chris,

Here's a post on Blade Forums I submitted after I finished building my KMG clone http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=471167. The post has links to many, many photos on Photobucket which you might find helpful should you chose to build your own. I think I attached one of the missing drawings to this post but I'm not sure. It's for the tension arm.

Ken
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  #15  
Old 07-26-2007, 04:45 PM
Ken Kelley Ken Kelley is offline
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Nope! Looks like the attachment didn't make it. If you need that drawing just send me an email and I'll get it to you.

K
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