belt grinder wheels

K

KodyL

Joined
Jul 14, 2016
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I couldn't afford a good grinder and the ones that I could were pretty junky. I started to build my own. Could anyone tell me where to get a set of wheels ? It's going to be a 2x72" I only have a 1/2 hp motor right now to see how it goes, but watching YouTube it looks like it might work. What size drive wheel would you suggest ? I checked ebay and everything seems overpriced. Thanks
 
For a smaller motor, go with a 4" drive wheel. The tracking wheel is usually 2 or 3 inches. The idler wheels are 2". If using a contact wheel, 8" is the norm, but 6" will work and 10" is great.

There are sets of wheels available on eBay. Polar Bear Forge and places like Oregon Blade Maker sell lower price wheel sets.

Be cautious of trying to save too much on cheap wheels. They are the part of the grinder that does the work, and the quality matters. Some use skate board wheels. I have my doubts on their suitability, but they are cheap and easily replicable.
 
I'm curious about the cheap vs. great wheels thing. I know you get what you pay for, but a decent set of rollers seems to be essential to having a grinder last & run true. Wondering how many people have gone the "cheap" rout to get started, then had to follow up with better sets of wheels once the grinding started & the machine was working.

Skate board wheels sound really cheap, but do they actually work well enough & last for any reasonable amount of time?

Good steel or aluminum wheels should last for ever, seems like it's "false economy" to not use them.

I want to build a 2X72 that will last, run well & not have problems while I'm using it. Don't want to waste money, but don't want to go too cheap & have to buy twice. Best would be to buy a real machine, but that's a lot of money for me. I have more time than money at this point....
 
I've built three 2x72 grinders now. I've used wheels and pulleys from multiple vendors as well as a number that I made myself. The best value I've found right now in rubber contact wheels is first, this ebay seller kspirit9. He buys chinese contact wheels and then trues them up himself on a lathe in all axis, balances them, and places a spacer between the bearings so that they cannot be overtightened, which is a fantastic idea. It makes a solid stack of metal from the shoulder of your axle bolt through the first bearing race, to the second bearing race, allowing you to tighten it as much as you feel required rather than to a "feel" for how the wheel runs freely. Crank it down, it runs freely. I've bought 3 wheels from him, they are all true and balanced as well as anything else I've bought. Second for contact wheels is Ameribrade, which I assume does something similar bringing in Chinese wheels and remachining them. One thing to note is that all of these remachined wheels are really 1.938" wide or so, because they came in at a wobbly 2" wide and needed to be trued up. It doesn't bother me at all.

For idler, drive, and tracking pulleys, I think Oregon Blade Maker's "Lightning" wheels are a fantastic value. They run true, the bearings are replaceable, they're low mass so they have such a low angular momentum. They take little energy to start and little to stop. They are also fantastic to work with and bent over backwards to expedite ship me something so I didn't lose an entire weekend + vacation days I'd taken solely to get some knife work done.

I've made heavy steel wheels, that was me being cheap. They're all sitting in a scrap bin somewhere now and have been replaced with the above.

I even got quotes from 2 different companies that do the rubber surfacing of contact wheels for putting rubber on various wheels that I would machine and send to them, and just to get the rubber on them was equal or more expensive than buying from the above.

As for false economy, the first time bearings fail, replace them with higher quality ones if you feel the need. The bearings are really the only wear point anyway.

I'm all for buying domestic/quality but I can't justify $300 for a supposedly American made wheel of supposedly higher quality when I can get one that has been remachined and balanced by an American for half the price, made of the same materials, and in some cases with more/better features (like the bearing spacer).

My hogging grinder has a 5" drive pulley from OBM, a 4" tracking wheel from Ameribrade, a flat platen with 3" contact wheel pulleys from kspirit9/ebay, and I also have a 6" wheel from kspirit9 and a 12" wheel from Ameribrade. My first contact wheel was the 10" from Grizzly that I had to machine bearing pockets for and then true it and balance it myself like these guys are doing with the wheels they sell.
 
Some of the best wheels I've found are made by ebay seller VWJackStraw. A close second on price vs quality would be Oregonblademaker. I've purchased wheels from each, and they both work quite well. I also have some KMG wheels, and while I think they make some VERY nice contact wheels, you're going to pay for them.

There are some plastic wheels that one of the above makers sell (I think it's Oregonblademaker?), that you can get about as cheap as anything, but personally, I'd just go ahead and buy the VWjackstraw set and be done.

As for drive wheel size, that's more of a personal preference for most makers, but 4" is probably the most common. I'm running a 5" on mine with an 1800RPM motor that I've doubled the speed on using a VFD, and it goes probably about as fast as I'll ever need at 3600RPM.

Edited to add: The thing I like about the VWJS wheels is that he included spacers between the bearings, and uses wide race bearings, so you really don't even need machine bushings. Just run a 1/2" bolt through it for the axle, and tighten it up. No matter how tight I crank my bolts down, the wheels still turn freely.
Even on the higher priced KMGs I have, the bearings will bind if I tighten the bolts too much.
 
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A couple of comments on choice of wheels.

I do not like solid metal wheels on the platen. Sometimes I use them for small contact wheels and metal just doesn't make for good grinding. The skateboard (actually "longboard") wheels of 3" diameter and 2" wide with a 72 hardness work good and do seem to last a long time. I've used them on two different 2X72 grinders I built. I've been using the same set for around 2 yrs now. Bearings hold up good. Only problem it takes a custom axle to use them.

A nice thing about a 4" drive wheel, the belt speed is VERY close to the motor (or shaft) rpm.

Ken H>
 
Thanks for all the replies guy's. Lots to work from. I watched a lot of clips from youtube and taking the best of the best and building a design that hopefully works better. LOL I'll post some photos when done. Thanks again ,,,, Cheers
Ken H> said:
A couple of comments on choice of wheels.

I do not like solid metal wheels on the platen. Sometimes I use them for small contact wheels and metal just doesn't make for good grinding. The skateboard (actually "longboard") wheels of 3" diameter and 2" wide with a 72 hardness work good and do seem to last a long time. I've used them on two different 2X72 grinders I built. I've been using the same set for around 2 yrs now. Bearings hold up good. Only problem it takes a custom axle to use them.

A nice thing about a 4" drive wheel, the belt speed is VERY close to the motor (or shaft) rpm.

Ken H>
Click to expand...
 
i just bought a grizzly 2x72 grinder/sander and the contact wheel has no bearings
it's like you have to tap it witha hammer to get it on the shaft.
now i'm all new to this but is that ok or no?
 
hayshaker said:
i just bought a grizzly 2x72 grinder/sander and the contact wheel has no bearings
it's like you have to tap it witha hammer to get it on the shaft.
now i'm all new to this but is that ok or no?
Click to expand...

That's how it is on the Grizzly


That's what makes the Wheel Go Round And Round -
 
Kind of off topic, but do any of you use crowned rather than flat wheels on your grinders? Because one could build a wheel from MDF stacked and glued together and turn it true to make a good wheel, crowned or flat. I have made large (12 inch) v belt pulleys that ran very smoothly with simaler methods, so I would think a grinder grinder wheel could be done too.

And if you have the bearings these wheels would only cost you time to try out.
 
velferd said:
Kind of off topic, but do any of you use crowned rather than flat wheels on your grinders? Because one could build a wheel from MDF stacked and glued together and turn it true to make a good wheel, crowned or flat. I have made large (12 inch) v belt pulleys that ran very smoothly with simaler methods, so I would think a grinder grinder wheel could be done too.

And if you have the bearings these wheels would only cost you time to try out.
Click to expand...

The tracking wheel is almost always crowned, as often (but not always) is the drive wheel. Idlers and contact wheels are generally flat just because of the nature of their use.

I imagine you could get away with all flat wheels if everything was balanced and aligned properly.
 
Well I finally finished my belt grinder. My .5 hp motor didn't work out, so I've been shopping around and found a good deal on a 1.5 hp motor. Regular $300 Sale $150. Question now is it states it's a open motor. Would the dust and grime of a "normal" home shop ruin this type motor ? I suppose I could build a cover for it.
 
You're better off saving your money than buying an open motor. You're going to be grinding metal and once it gets sucked into th motor, sticks to the magnets and fries it you're starting over. Look on eBay and shop around you can find deals on motors. You need tefc. Going the enclosure route is a major PITA... Ask me how I know..
 
An open frame motor can be used "IF" it's almost free. By far the best is to buy a 3 ph motor (new or used) then spend $100 or so for a cheap Chinese VFD and have a variable speed motor. A new Ironhorse 2 hp, 3 ph motor is $166 shipped last time I checked. The cost of a 1ph motor vs 3 ph motor is about the same, and the Chinese VFD will be less than you'll spend for all the bearings, shaft, and extra pulleys to build a 3 step pulley setup.

The Chinese VFD is open so will need either putting filters over the inlets, or putting inside a dust proof box.

Ken H>
 
3 ph motor would be a pain where my bench is located. I will see if I can find a single ph 1.5 hp enclosed motor. Thanks for the replies
 
What does your workbench location have to do with whether you want variable speed on your grinder or not?
 
Motor mounting on bench has nothing to do with 3 ph or 1 ph motor, they will mount the same. Are you planning a direct drive? OR - using pulleys and jack shaft? Direct drive is usually MUCH easier than jack shaft and pulley mounting, and with VFD so much nicer - quieter and smoother.
 
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