Yukon Tool Chest as Belt Grinder Cart?

[Chips O'Toole]

I welded up a project that turned a Harbor Freight 26" tool chest into a welding cart. It went so well, I'm thinking of putting my belt grinders on a rolling chest.

I have a 3HP 2x72 grinder with an Origin Blade Maker frame. I also have a 1x42 Rockwell grinder with a treadmill motor. They're both sitting on a plastic Northern Tool cart 40" long. They're not attached to it. I mounted them on heavy plywood.

It works, but it's not great. The cart supposedly holds 500+ pounds, but the top shelf is sagging. Also, the bottom shelf is not useful. I can put a few things in there, but they get covered with grinding debris.

I'm thinking maybe I should get a Harbor Freight Yukon 46" chest. These things are supposedly the best deal in the price range. They come with heavy wooden tops and 9 ball-bearing drawers. I could put the grinders on top, screw the VFD box for the big grinder to the side of the box, and put my belts and other junk in the drawers. I don't know if a tool arm will fit. I have to measure.

I figured the drawers will keep debris off the accessories. On the other hand, the chest is 6" longer than the plastic cart, and it takes up more room.

What are other people doing with belt grinders? I could weld up a mobile stand for each grinder, but that wouldn't help me with storage or keeping accessories clean.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

great idea about mounting grinders on the workbench!
albeit a bit cumbersome, you may wish to consider a dust cover for the drawers
sanding grit gets everywhere, even into closed drawers on toolboxes (drawer bearings especially)
a simple solution is a dollar store shower curtain, or other thin plastic,
deployed to shed dust/grit away from the drawers altogether and easily raised to get into the drawers

 

[Chips O'Toole]

Metalworking is a mess. I spent half an hour vacuuming after this project wrapped up, and I still have more than half of the workshop to do.

I would like to have some kind of bar sticking out from the big grinder to hold a bucket to catch crud, but it would hang in front of the drawers. I need to figure it out.

 

[hman]

Hmmmm ... howzabout an HF 4 drawer tool cart (https://www.harborfreight.com/30-in-4-drawer-black-tech-cart-64818.html?_br_psugg_q=4+drawer+cart ... also available in other colors) with a shop vac in the open space below the drawers? Of course, the hose to the shop vac would stick out on a side or end as it bypassed the drawer section.

 

[Chips O'Toole]

That cart won't hold two grinders, and if you put them on top, you wouldn't be able to open the lid.

 

[pontiac428]

If you can do sheet metal, it might work well if you made a frame and a single or double door that covers the toolbox drawers. UD speaks truth, the dust will find its way in. A tool chest is definitely a nice way to start a tool stand, we all need more storage!

 

[Chips O'Toole]

I suppose I could point the big grinder toward the back of the chest so the debris goes that way. Then I'd have to walk to the front to use the drawers.

The small grinder doesn't make as big a mess.

 

[pontiac428]

I imagine a 3 HP belt grinder could reduce an anvil to dust in a matter of minutes!

 

[Chips O'Toole]

I bought a 2HP motor when I was building it. The seller put it in a flat rate box with no padding. The base cracked. The USPS paid him, and they didn't ask for the motor, so I kept it. When I looked for a replacement, I saw that 3HP motors were easier to find and didn't cost any more. I ended up with a huge Reliance washdown motor for under a hundred bucks.

It turned out to be great. I think a lot of people choose 2HP because they want 120 volts, not because 2HP is enough. I'm using a VFD, so I'm already on 240, and a 3HP motor is no problem. If the motor was smaller, I'd be stalling it sometimes.

I can crank it up over 100 Hz and really make the steel fly, but usually, I'm around 90.

I used stainless wire to MIG the 2HP motor base back together, and it held! Now I have a beautiful Mitsubishi motor and a spare VFD in search of a job. I'm tempted to get a sealed KBAC VFD instead of using the Hitachi I currently have. I put it in a big steel box to keep dust out, and the box is under the grinder on the bottom shelf.

 

[Masterjuggler]

Not that I've specifically tried it, but I'm not sure how well locking caster wheels would keep the machine steady when using it. Personally with my 2hp 3ph motor (also 240V on a VFD) I can really put my body weight into it with a 36 grit ceramic belt, and it helps to have it mounted to a bench up against the wall.

My grinder isn't nearly as fancy as yours haha. Plywood pulleys turned on my drill press from before I got a lathe, skateboard wheel idlers, laminated mdf drive wheel, and made out of thin wall tubing from an old bench press, with a microwave transformer stick welder. It works well enough for my needs. Ignore the *slightly* scary rewound microwave transformer hooked up to the VFD. I was using that to step up from 120V to 240V, but have since run a proper 240V line from the breaker, 'cause ya know, dying isn't really my thing.



EDIT: Needless to say, nobody uses this thing besides me.