Anyone have any experience or feedback with origin blade maker 2x72s??
Also, has anyone tried the "das toobinator" commonly found on ebay, the price is relatively low (something like $700) ... I heard its made by origin blade maker?
I've heard mostly positive reviews about OBM chassis and parts, other than the platen issues already mentioned (and apparently rectified). OBM definitely fills a much needed spot in the market, and does a good job at it.
As for "das toobinator" (which I don't think is an OBM product).... it's fairly new, and it looks very well put together and at a reasonable price, BUT.....
I'd personally pass. I'm not a fan of the single speed motor design, nor am I a fan of that grinder design (which as stated in their description, is based off of a DC custom knives grinder build). No offense to D. Comeau, but I believe his intent with that design, was simply to build the cheapest and most simple grinder possible, and while there's certainly nothing wrong with that, there are better ways to build the mouse trap, IMO. I really don't like the tensioning mechanism (which I've stated in several similar threads to this one), though I think it can be easily improved, with either a pneumatic cylinder in place of the spring, or with the "lever" mod, as shown here, on D.C.'s youtube channel:
As it's currently designed, I think it'd be akward to tension belts if you don't have the grinder and it's workbench/stand set up just right, and to get any real belt tension, you'd need a much heavier spring than would be comfortable to compress using that mechanism. Just my opinion.
At any rate, there's a number of other etsy sellers and otherwise selling their version of that grinder design, and I've seen it cheaper, though maybe not as well put together. BTW, you could build your own for probably less than half the cost of what the das toobinator guys are asking, if you have a welder and some basic tools on hand.