Wheel guard for my tool & cutter grinder
It's not uncommon that when you get a machine, some of the tooling has walked away. A tool guard was one of the things missing for this machine. I had some 5" wheels that needed a guard, so I made one out of a piece of water pipe. The ID is 5". I cut off a 2" segment on my band saw. The regular vise wasn't grabbing it very well, so I added another clamp to hold it in place. After that was done, I took a block of scrap for the lug on top and drilled a 3/8" hole for the stem, and a 5/16-18 hole for the set screw. When that was done, I welded them together.
- - - Updated - - -
After the wheel guard itself, I turned to making the bracket that holds it in place. A piece from my old garage door opener was 1x1/4" in cross section, and already had some 3/8" holes in it. Perfect for the base of the bracket. After milling the slot, I drilled the end hole 23/64 and then turned a short segment of the 3/8" diameter stem to be 0.002 over the hole size, and "pressed" them together with a plastic mallet. The T nut was a leftover from a milling machine I sold a few years ago, and needed to be made a little lower to fit the T slot in the angle plate of the K.O. Lee grinder. When the bracket was done, it was time to assemble it.
I left it as a complete ring which is set back about 1/4" from the grinding face. K.O. Lee made some of its wheel guards that way, so that's the way I made this one. It is a little different, so I may saw the bottom half of it off if I don't like having the wheel completely surrounded.
It's not uncommon that when you get a machine, some of the tooling has walked away. A tool guard was one of the things missing for this machine. I had some 5" wheels that needed a guard, so I made one out of a piece of water pipe. The ID is 5". I cut off a 2" segment on my band saw. The regular vise wasn't grabbing it very well, so I added another clamp to hold it in place. After that was done, I took a block of scrap for the lug on top and drilled a 3/8" hole for the stem, and a 5/16-18 hole for the set screw. When that was done, I welded them together.
- - - Updated - - -
After the wheel guard itself, I turned to making the bracket that holds it in place. A piece from my old garage door opener was 1x1/4" in cross section, and already had some 3/8" holes in it. Perfect for the base of the bracket. After milling the slot, I drilled the end hole 23/64 and then turned a short segment of the 3/8" diameter stem to be 0.002 over the hole size, and "pressed" them together with a plastic mallet. The T nut was a leftover from a milling machine I sold a few years ago, and needed to be made a little lower to fit the T slot in the angle plate of the K.O. Lee grinder. When the bracket was done, it was time to assemble it.
I left it as a complete ring which is set back about 1/4" from the grinding face. K.O. Lee made some of its wheel guards that way, so that's the way I made this one. It is a little different, so I may saw the bottom half of it off if I don't like having the wheel completely surrounded.
