Back To My Grinder

My grinder parts are here.

1.5 hp motor, 5" drive wheel, 4" tracking wheel, 5" contact wheel. The drive and tracking wheels are from Wilmont.

These are fresh from the water jet shop. They were just a little too big for me to make at home. I'll be getting all of this fitted up over the next few days and then time for some paint.

Veneer Roller (pt 2)

I have finished Ralph's veneer roller...

The complete roller...sort of. Ralph elected to make his own handle. The specs: 3" wide, 1.5" diameter 360 Brass roller. Frame and axle are 304 Stainless, with stainless screws and a pair of bronze thrust washers. I left about 1/32" of "slop" on the roller (side to side). The axle is 1/4" with 10-24 threads.

Veneer Roller (pt 1)

I've been sent another challenge by Ralph. The time between, "yeah, I can do that" and actually figuring it out can go from hours to days.
This is one of the ones that takes a few days.

On the right is my test piece for the frame of the roller. On the left is the final piece. Both are made from 304 stainless.

Anyone Can Turn a Wrench...

It's true. Anyone can turn a wrench.

I can do it. I'm a hired wrench. I've been a professional mechanic my entire adult life. Since I was a kid, I've built things, fixed things, figured out things. It's all I know how to do.

Six years in the Army working helicopters. Nine years in so-called "civil" aviation. And the last two years and change in the paper cup business. Yeah...from flying high to making cups. I'll tell you what, though, it's still a friggin' challenge.

That's not my point. My point is that even though every Tom, Dick, and Harry can turn a wrench; not everyone can be a Mechanic. (I've worked with all three. Tom and Harry were HACKS! Dick was a good Mechanic)

EERF Grinder (cont.)

Continuing work on my EERF grinder:

This part was the largest, so I left it for last. It required a lot of hack saw work before being milled. The original design has this as two separate pieces of 1/2" steel sandwiched together at assembly. I elected to make it from a single 1" thick piece of aluminum.

EERF Grinder

Although I quite like my Kalamazoo grinder, it is limited when it comes to knife making. My problem is funding. A good, dedicated knife grinder can easily go from $1400 to $2000. I can't justify that kind of money.

I need an alternative.

The preferred size for a knife grinder is a 2x72. Like I said above, these get to be pricey. I ran across Wilmont a while ago: here. Wilmont makes grinders for sale, but also provides free plans for the "EERF" grinder. Hmmmm...right up my alley. A basic 2x72 grinder that I can build myself. Now we're talking.

I had a local machine shop that I've worked with for several years with my current job and my previous job quote me for making the basic parts. That came out to a bit over $600. That would send the overall cost of the project over what I can afford. Instead, I'm going to have them make the couple of parts that are too large for my mill. The remaining parts will be made by me. I'm modifying the design just a bit as I go to suit me.

The first few parts are already underway:

The tracking wheel pivot. I enlarged the pivot holes to accept bronze bushings.