Hanging a manual grindstone?

FortyTwoBlades

FortyTwoBlades

Baryonyx walkeri
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I've been trying to think of how to put together an old-fashioned treadle-powered grinding wheel using a modern 10" stone with a round arbor hole. Any ideas on how to go about it? Most historical ones had the stone hung in the center of a frame with bearing pillow blocks on either side with the 90° arm for the treadle coming off one side. What would be the best method for trying to go about this using as many off-the-shelf parts as possible?
 
If the stone has a larger center hole, you need a set of adapter collars. You could turn a set of collars in aluminum, or even hardwood yourself if you have the skills and a good lathe.
The collar center hole should fit a standard arbor shaft with bearings.
If the hole in the wheel is small, get the matching size arbor, but use two 3" stabilizer collars/washers on the wheel sides.

DO NOT POWER THE WHEEL WITH A MOTOR unless it is rated at that speed. They do best at slower speeds, anyway.

If setting up a foot treadle, just bolt the crank arm on the end of the arbor between two nuts and washers. The connection arm goes from that to the foot treadle. Give the wheel a starter spin and pump the treadle.
 
For anything from antiquity I have used, 10" is very small... I have used stones with a side to side tipping treadle like a spinning wheel, front to back treadle like a sewing machine, or just a simple crank straight off the shaft on one side. Some have a square hole for a drive shaft to keep from spinning on the shaft, but it really isn't all that necessary I don't think as the shaft is a tight fit and it is slow starting with slow speeds. The ends simply ride in crude capped 'pillow blocks' or not even capped at all as the weight of the stone is enough to keep it in the slots.

The drive is as simple as can be... An arm extending off at a 90° like you mentioned. Like Stacy mentioned, a good shove gets it rolling the right way and the feet take over... I absolutely love cool projects like this... pictures and a WIP would be great!!

-Eric
 
Yeah the whole point would be to NOT power it with a motor! :D I've got a Grizzly G1036 wet grinder that I really enjoy but I'd love to put together a non-electric unit for fun as well as to provide a low-cost blueprint to others that want to build themselves a wet grinder for less than buying a quality motorized unit. Sink more money in a quality stone and less on the rest, etc.

Yes, a 10" stone would be small compared to historical examples, but it's one of the larger sizes of bonded abrasive wheels you can find with relative ease and not too great of expense (for the average hobbyist) on the current market.

My big question is how to affix the wheel to the arbor so it's actually turning. Normally you'd use flanges, but those need something to attach/screw to, so I'd need to figure out what kind of off-the-shelf arbor I could use. Ideally it would be a unit that could be supported on both sides rather than a unit that's supported on only one side since the stone isn't exactly light and it would help to balance it. On historical stones with square holes it's easier to hang since you don't need flanges to grip and turn the stone, but those aren't available these days short of being lucky enough to find an antique in good shape.
 
You just use any commercial arbor that would take a wheel. If you get one with threaded center, all you need is the collars/bushings I mentioned above. If the center is made for a pulley, then you will need to use two locking collars and adapter bushings for the wheel hole. It might take some fiddling, but you should be able to lock the wheel tight enough between the collars and bushings to work for foot power. You could even use epoxy or JB Weld to assemble the wheel to the bushings.
Jantz has them, as do most hardware stores. jantz also carries the support collars/washers. Arbor is part #BL4224
http://jantzsupply.com/
 
I'm less concerned with getting the stone moving so much as not causing it to just spin on the arbor when I bear down on the stone. Hence why I was hoping to find an arbor designed for center-mounting with a pillow block on either side and a way to actually screw the flanges down tight. I'm not sure I could get collars to grip tight enough unless they had threaded holes for set screws or something, and then I could put a washer between the stone and the collar. Anyone know if such a collar exists?
 
Couldn't you cut or chisel a square hole in place? Or, if you needed it smaller, cast a square hole in place. Even casting one should give you enough grip to keep it turning at the loads it would be used for.
 
At $60 or so a pop I would be afraid of cracking the stone I would prefer to find a way to do it without altering the stone if possible.
 
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