Belt Grinder Question

I have a Kalamazoo belt grinder, 2" x 42" (I think) that the previous owner added a larger table, bigger 3 phase motor and a VFD controller, and put the whole thing on a nice roll around stand. I've been amazed how quickly this thing removes metal and how convenient it is to use. I'm not really into knife sharpening, and the belt I have loaded is probably too coarse for sharpening enthusiasts, but it sure does a good job on metal and wood chisels, and bigger lathe tools. Plus, rounding off corners on, say, half inch plate is quick and accurate.
 
these things really aren't for sharpening knives, they are useful if you make knives from scratch (I don't) and need to make an edge from scratch, and/or need to do a hollow grind. way too much for regular sharpening. mine is a 2x48. there are some nice accessories available. it came with the large, fixed table lying on the bench. the smaller table pivots for grinding angles. the double roller can be installed for grinding tight radii. I'm pretty sure that a big part of the price is using a quality VFD and motor. the VFD that came with this one is over 400.00 if you buy it alone.

PXL_20241007_161144605.MP.jpgPXL_20241007_161253208.MP.jpgPXL_20241007_161151913.MP.jpg
 
projectnut said:
This probably isn't what you're looking for, but I'll put it out there anyway. Like you for quite some time I was looking for a small belt grinder to touch up tooling, sharpen mower blades, knives, and do a little deburring. I have a 6" x 48" Rockwell Delta belt sander with a 12" disk. It's great for larger work, but a but clumsy for the small stuff.

A year or so ago I happened on a Kalamazoo 1 SM belt sander at a used equipment dealer. It's a basic 1"x x 42" vertical belt driven by a 1/3 hp Baldor motor. It doesn't sound all that powerful, but it easily grinds down the toughest mower blades and can sharpen even the smallest pocketknife. While it may not be as versatile as the 3-roller style it certainly gets the job done. The best part is that it only cost $150.00.


Even new they ren about the same price as the Grizzly, and I'm sure they're much higher quality. If you really want to go top shelf you might consider a Burr King. They start around $2,700.00 and go up to over $6,000.00. I'm sure one will last you more than a lifetime.

Belt Grinders - Burr King

www.burrking.com www.burrking.com

Here are a couple pictures of my machine.
Click to expand...

I like that Kalamazoo unit, and the nice thing is the small foot print and it is made in the USA. It looks high quality and again I like the small foot print.

I have plans for one like this, the more I think about it buying this unit with all the parts is probably a better way to go..... If I even go that route at all. If I end up buying a nice one no reason to make another one.
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yota said:
these things really aren't for sharpening knives, they are useful if you make knives from scratch (I don't) and need to make an edge from scratch, and/or need to do a hollow grind. way too much for regular sharpening. mine is a 2x48. there are some nice accessories available. it came with the large, fixed table lying on the bench. the smaller table pivots for grinding angles. the double roller can be installed for grinding tight radii. I'm pretty sure that a big part of the price is using a quality VFD and motor. the VFD that came with this one is over 400.00 if you buy it alone.

View attachment 504967View attachment 504968View attachment 504969
Click to expand...

What brand is yours? It looks nice and compact also.
 
it was made in Australia by a company called 84 Engineering and was sold in the USA by a YouTube blacksmith. he closed his online shop a while back. I was one of the first to buy on a pre-order offer. it was a very good price (still not cheap) but the prices went way up after the pre-order was over. I think I had to wait a month or 2 for them to be delivered to him from Australia.
 
Hello Tim,
On Tuesday morning (10/9/24), I saw a 2x72 belt grinder on Craigslist for $450 in Vancouver, wa. It was a single speed unit, but seemed like a decent deal. If I wasn’t in the middle of building mine (from Jer Schmidt’s plans) I might’ve bought it. I’ll have about $900 into mine when done, with a 3hp 3 phase motor and KB Electronics vfd. The vfd was literally half the cost, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it. Patience pays, as I’ve been gathering parts for almost 18 months to make this happen…I’m cheap
Good luck, can’t wait to see what you do.
 
Thanks for the tip Orangetruckman,

I have the same plans as you from Jer Schmidt, but I haven't started gathering stuff yet. I have too many other project that have priority over a belt grinder, that doesn't mean I don't want right now though.

I'll check Vancouver Craigslist, but I'm a long ways from there.
 
Don't know that this will meet your needs as it looks like you're interested in a multi-function unit, but I got a Viel 1x42 belt grinder and modified it for variable speed. My primary intended use was for knife and other edged-tool sharpening, which is why I wanted the variable speed function so I could better control heat build up damaging tempers. I have since used it for general shop grinding and deburring.

Source of info on the variable speed features were from the belt grinder section of Knife Grinding Made Easy. I posted the modifications I make on the BESS Exchange, a forum dedicated to sharpening and sharpness testing.
 
Orangetruckman said:
If I wasn’t in the middle of building mine (from Jer Schmidt’s plans) I might’ve bought it. I’ll have about $900 into mine when done, with a 3hp 3 phase motor and KB Electronics vfd. The vfd was literally half the cost, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it. Patience pays, as I’ve been gathering parts for almost 18 months to make this happen…
Click to expand...

Big fan of Jer and his grinder. Haven't built mine yet though so maybe my vote counts for half? The Seattle MetalHeads group went in together on getting all the steel pieces laser cut a few years ago, so I jumped on that. I think about 70 "kits" were made. But I already have a working 2x72, which has taken the urgency out of making it.

So at this point my knowledge of Jer's grinder is from
  1. Jer's videos, and
  2. Reports from the MetalHeads who've finished theirs, which is lots of 'em. They all rave about theirs, but maybe they're biased after putting in so much work. Anyway, haven't heard a single bad thing.
The MetalHeads group is mostly pros or retired ex-pros, so this is a tough audience. A lot of them have experienced Burr King and other premium brands, like on the job, but they like their Jer grinder better. Reports are unanimous, it's amazingly solid, with many clever well thought out details.
 
I have the Jer Schmidt plans, but like you so many other projects. I bought the Grizzly 2x42" back in August of this year. At that time it was on sale for $298, so it has gone up $100 in price in less than 60 days.

If you look on youtube there are a lot of reviews. Those comparing it to a 2x72" tend to rate it poorly (kind of a duh, in my opinion), those who are looking at it a step up from a 1x30 tend to rate it well.

At $300 I considered it a decent option even knowing I would make a number of improvements to it. Prior to this Grizzly the best "budget" option seems to have been a Jet 2x42" / 8" disc grinder and those are now $650-700 and they still required some work. At $400 it is probably still worth considering, but it is funny how $100 can make the difference between feeling like something is a good deal and meh, maybe.

I haven't had the time to do more that take it out of the box. I think it has good bones and the potential to be a really nice grinder. My plan is to still use Jer's plans and just scale them down. It appears serviceable for grinding lathe tooling out of the box, so I'll have something in the short term to use, but my plan is to "one piece at a time" rebuild it, in a few years I expect it will only be 50% Grizzly.

I do really like the size compared to 2x72". It is much more compact, and I'm short on space.
 
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