05-02-2016, 01:09 PM
Hello John - a subject near and dear to my heart.
To my thinking, the difference between a belt sander and a belt grinder is power compared to the usable work surface. A 6x48 grinder has about a 6"x15" area of platten, whereas a 2x72 grinder has only about a 2"x6" area of platten, making it harder to stall even when using the same motor.
20ish years ago, I bought a Grizzly 6x48 belt sander and doubt I'd willingly opt to be without it. My observation about the quality and design of the machine is that it's a bit underpowered, uses cheap bearings (easy to replace with quality sealed bearings, however), and the table tilt mechanisms are a bit cheesy, and the disk is too small to be very useful -- I'd actually prefer it without.
I value the large flat surface of the platten - I do a bit of stainless steel exhaust work, and it comes in very handy for flattening the mating surfaces of a joint for excellent fit-up.
I also do a lot of fabrication and welding: if you're trying to grind to a line in 1/4" steel, it could use more power for that. I've considered buying a bigger motor.
A good friend asked me for a recommendation for a 6x48 sander, and I recommended this one to him: http://www.jettools.com/us/en/p/j-4200a-...1ph/414551 It's awesome, much more power, the fit and finish is very nice, and it's a real heavy duty machine. More than twice as much money, however.
I'm also a hobby knifemaker, and have done quite a bit of research on 2x72 belt grinders before deciding to build my own, which is yet another stalled project of mine, so don't ask for pictures.
If you are a machinist and can weld, or have access to a welder, it's a fun project. You can either buy or build your wheels. I recommend buying the contact wheel, but the rest are easy to build.
There are at least a dozen makers of belt grinders, and there are kits (Grinder In A Box), and there are plans (No Weld Belt Grinder).
Here's a pretty comprehensive list of 2x72 grinders on the market:
https://sites.google.com/site/vorpalcust...3/grinders
plus...
http://www.mickleyknives.com/html/no_weld_grinder.html
Then there's this thing, which is highly specialized, but totally bad-ass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GVB0qkRF1c
If you are not planning on making knives, many of the options and accessories would be unnecessary for you, with the possible exception of different diameter contact wheels, which are used to make hollow-grind edges. This could be beneficial if you're doing any kind of tool sharpening.
To my thinking, the difference between a belt sander and a belt grinder is power compared to the usable work surface. A 6x48 grinder has about a 6"x15" area of platten, whereas a 2x72 grinder has only about a 2"x6" area of platten, making it harder to stall even when using the same motor.
20ish years ago, I bought a Grizzly 6x48 belt sander and doubt I'd willingly opt to be without it. My observation about the quality and design of the machine is that it's a bit underpowered, uses cheap bearings (easy to replace with quality sealed bearings, however), and the table tilt mechanisms are a bit cheesy, and the disk is too small to be very useful -- I'd actually prefer it without.
I value the large flat surface of the platten - I do a bit of stainless steel exhaust work, and it comes in very handy for flattening the mating surfaces of a joint for excellent fit-up.
I also do a lot of fabrication and welding: if you're trying to grind to a line in 1/4" steel, it could use more power for that. I've considered buying a bigger motor.
A good friend asked me for a recommendation for a 6x48 sander, and I recommended this one to him: http://www.jettools.com/us/en/p/j-4200a-...1ph/414551 It's awesome, much more power, the fit and finish is very nice, and it's a real heavy duty machine. More than twice as much money, however.
I'm also a hobby knifemaker, and have done quite a bit of research on 2x72 belt grinders before deciding to build my own, which is yet another stalled project of mine, so don't ask for pictures.
If you are a machinist and can weld, or have access to a welder, it's a fun project. You can either buy or build your wheels. I recommend buying the contact wheel, but the rest are easy to build.There are at least a dozen makers of belt grinders, and there are kits (Grinder In A Box), and there are plans (No Weld Belt Grinder).
Here's a pretty comprehensive list of 2x72 grinders on the market:
https://sites.google.com/site/vorpalcust...3/grinders
plus...
http://www.mickleyknives.com/html/no_weld_grinder.html
Then there's this thing, which is highly specialized, but totally bad-ass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GVB0qkRF1c
If you are not planning on making knives, many of the options and accessories would be unnecessary for you, with the possible exception of different diameter contact wheels, which are used to make hollow-grind edges. This could be beneficial if you're doing any kind of tool sharpening.