Horizontal Grinder Building - Thinking it through...

Instead of turning the whole grinder sideways, why not just make a vertical tool rest and hold the WORK sideways??
 
It's possible, and I've thought about it, but it's just not optimal. Probably why we write on desks and not walls. It's just not a natural work plane.
I wouldn't mind paying for this and let someone else make it, but there just isn't one out there that I would want to own, at least not for the price.
If I have to shell out 2 grand for it, I want it to be exactly what I want. But yeah, I can be my own worst enemy when it comes to eating up my time with this stuff.
But one day I'll be happily grinding on a really nice horizontal grinder. :)

What do you use Bill?
 
You might include the ability to put another 2" on the small wheel mount. Just in case you want to run faster.
 
I will Jesse. Still working out how the whole small wheel part will work, but want to go from maybe .25 to 2 inch.
I am kind of thinking about cutting away part of that corner and maybe using small wheel holder on a small tool arm.
I really don't know though. If anyone has a fantastic idea... :)
 
Brock Cutlery said:
I just saw an over center a week ago and like the idea, but there wasn't enough detail in the vid to see how to implement it. Have any drawings or info that might help me understand it?
Otherwise, ratchet could be good too. You make a good point on the two handed issue.
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Kevin's GIB modification has a pretty good one. Otherwise something like this:

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If I were building a horizontal grinder I would use 3 inch wide wheels and run 2 inch belts.

You can then move to a fresh bit of belt with a tweak of your tracking wheel, no work rest adjustment needed.

You can do this to a certain extent with 2 inch wide wheels (I suspect everyone does) but with 3 inch you would have a lot more room for movement.

This would be particularly useful when using small contact wheels where belt movement on a 2 inch wide wheel is restricted by the bearings.

Agree with everyone else that the carousel is not a good idea - you want plenty or wrap on your small wheels.

Rubber drive wheel is good, mine is aluminium and does have limited traction. It struggled when I ran a 3mm contact wheel !!

Also you want enough of adjustment in your tension mechanism to accommodate all your different wheel combinations, but I guess you know this already :)
 
Mike Read said:
If I were building a horizontal grinder I would use 3 inch wide wheels and run 2 inch belts.

You can then move to a fresh bit of belt with a tweak of your tracking wheel, no work rest adjustment needed. ..... :)
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That is an interesting consideration Mike. I'll give it some thought. Not sure it will be worth the extra headache, rather than moving the work-rests up. But worth thinking about!
 
Considering the extra cost of 3" wheels, I'd just go with standard 2" wheels and move work rest up to use other parts of belt.
 
Brock Cutlery said:
Mine will be. Do you currently use a horizontal grinder?
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I do have one, it was a one off and a first by someone who usually makes vertical grinders.

It does the job and is very useful, it didnt cost too much either. It gets used more than my vertical grinder which now just does bevels and sometimes profiling when there is a lot to remove.

Now I have been using it for a year or two there are many improvements/changes I would make if ordering/making another.

3 inch pulleys and better (more easily adjustable) work rests being the main improvements. I would probably use a smaller motor too, 2hp is way more than you can use on a horizontal.

I would still recommend using 3 inch wide pulleys, on your small wheel attachment at least.
 
Mike Read said:
I do have one, it was a one off and a first by someone who usually makes vertical grinders.
It does the job and is very useful, it didnt cost too much either. It gets used more than my vertical grinder which now just does bevels and sometimes profiling when there is a lot to remove.
Now I have been using it for a year or two there are many improvements/changes I would make if ordering/making another.
3 inch pulleys and better (more easily adjustable) work rests being the main improvements. I would probably use a smaller motor too, 2hp is way more than you can use on a horizontal.
I would still recommend using 3 inch wide pulleys, on your small wheel attachment at least.
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Interesting that you use it more than your vertical. Seems for me it would be about 50/50, which is still a lot.
I can say it is not an easy piece of equipment to design. There are so many facets, it just boggles my mind at times. But am making headway and not in a rush.
Want it to be well thought out. So all options are still on the table.

Do you have pics of your machine? Sounds interesting.
 
Mike Read said:
................ I would probably use a smaller motor too, 2hp is way more than you can use on a horizontal.
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That is what I was thinking also. Do you think 1hp would be sufficient? OR, a 1.5 hp? I'm thinking use a 3" diameter drive wheel because I can't imagine using more than 2,000 sfpm, or even that much on a horizontal. Comments please
 
I think you guys are right. Lengthwise bevel grinding is probably the most taxing task on an H grinder, right?
That can require some torque. So it depends on how you are going to use it.
I'll be doing a bit of that most likely, but primarily cutting notches and curves and profiling handles.
 
Well, consider when I've got my grinder horizontal I seldom if every go over 1500 sfpm, which is about 25% speed. I suspect that's less than 1hp.
 
I will try post some pics when I get home form work tonight. I have to find a photobucket alternative first.

My grinder is very simple - nothing to shout about.

Regarding power - profiling doesn't take so much power, I guess you are only using a few mm of belt at a time.
Also it is harder to control your blade on a horizontal so you tend to use less power/speed. Unless you fit some sort of stop fence on your work table (which is not always practical) things can get thrown around the shop quite violently.

So I guess 1 to 1.5 hp would be plenty - Not sure about grinding bevels length wise, I have never come across this and it sounds interesting, I suspect it would need more power.
 
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