a table, a metal shaft...

[marthandan]

a table, a metal shaft, two blocks of plywood with circles drawn on them, two pillow block bearings, a couple of couplings, some MS angles....any guesses what these are going to ed up as ????

DSC04056.JPG

(no...the axehead is not a part of it )

[jonahpach]

disk sander?

[Grumpy]

Could be a lathe ..... but I`ve no idea what the wooden discs are for.

[Mark]

My guess is the same as Jonahpach, it looks to me like you are making a disk sander/grinder. Are you planning on putting a pulley on your grinder in the pic? Are those going to be 6" and 10" backing plates?

[marthandan]

jonah, mark- pretty close. i am building a belt grinder. the smaller wheel is the drive pulley (150 mm) while the larger one (300 mm) is the hollow grinding attachment. will also fabricate a flat grinding attachment. will be using a 1 hp motor to power the set up.

DSC04057.JPG

[Mark]

good start! I look forward to seeing it progress. Are you using plans or figuring it out yourself as you go along?

[marthandan]

not using any specific set of plans. planned something that will be an amalgamation of the belt grinder fabricated by michael morris and the KMG tuned to my preferences.

[Mark]

Well it looks like you are off to a good start! Just keep in mind that the plywood will need something softer to cushion the belt a little. If you have some thick leather or thick fabric like a tow strap or section of fire hose it will give you a less bumpy experience.

[jonahpach]

Trouble with wooden wheels is that they are too light and cant develop any kind of momentum needed for serious work. This results in needing higher RPM leading to additional stresses which the plywood cant take or is dangerous.

[jaz]

belt grinder1.jpg

marthandan ,
We are into manufacturing of belt grinder , bench grinders and polishers for casting & forging components.
you have to do reverse engineering first of all 1. select belt width and dia (e.g. 50mm x 200mm) / 50mm x 3500 mm (any grain size you require Like initially metal removing 60 grain and finishing with 120 /220/ finally 400 grain for vitrinox like sharp edge & hollow finish .
2. secondly you will have to make a jig for holding knife to give it a fix motion for proper hollow ( many demos on you tube available)
3. in how much wide space you want to hollow material according to that diameter of rubber contact wheel have to be decided ( say 6" or 10" ) take a paper pencil draw flat strip size and then with compass a round wheel to decide how much metal is removed with specific dia meter of wheel.
3. KMG belt sanders are not a very good design Practically that I knew you will not find a single knife maker using KMG . Pick some better Idea from you tube.
Most important is rubber wheel idle pulley for rotating belt and how to give tension to belt .
I am just posting a picture of belt sander we make for heavy forging industry so that you may understand.

rp,

[marthandan]

@ mark...don't think cushioning is necessary. it could blur the bevels (theoretically speaking). what steel did you use for your knives? forged or stock removal?
i am keeping the set up as basic as possible. the set up at this stage has just the following components - (i) a direct drive motor with a tracking frame & (ii) the grinding wheel whose shaft will be anchored with 2 pillow block bearings.this way i can easily identify and sort out issues that may arise during operation. AND, the set up is dirt cheap . initial trials will be done using the motor from my table top milling m/c.
jaz...thank you for the suggestions. i am reverse engineering. i will be using a 50 by 2000 belt. the current hollow grinding wheel is 300mm in dia. will be adding a 200 mm hollow wheel, a flat grind platen attachment. the flat grind platen attachment will also moonlight as the convex grind attachment (by simply removing the platen). grit size will be a trial and error process. the finish does vary with different brands, steels, HT of the steel. tension will be provided by the motor itself (via a hinged motor platform).
no jigs for me. just an adjustable work rest. jigs have two issues - one, while the initial grinding results will be much better, it does restrict the learning curve and you kind of get stuck; two - jigs lack flexibility. they are great for reproducing the same pattern again and again, but not that good for variety.

a few queries about your product,
1. how does it track. i am not able to figure out a tracking mechanism.
2. is the idler wheel crowned?
3. do you sell the mechanism?(without motor)
4. if yes, could you pm me the cost of sending it to me in chennai?

[jaz]

bro ,
tracking is not required in heavy forgings of auto parts/ defense items , Grinding is done free hand.
our mechanism is very heavy duty for knives you need some thing very very lighter.
Go for 200 mm contact wheel instead of 300 mm rubber confusing is most necessary that you will came to know when you grind your first piece.

rp,