[HELP] Which type of belt grinder to buy?

[Old Minger]

Morning everyone from a very sunny Vancouver!

I have been saving my pennies for a belt grinder and now I have massed enough to start to think about what type of belt grinder I should get. Let's say for arguments sake I only have room and resources for  one belt grinder. What will I be doing with it? Well everything from sharpening tool steel to even the odd lump of wood that might need a quick sand but main duties will be metal biased. Any suggestion as to what type of machine to go for? I'm thinking a 2 x 72" or 6 x 48".

Thanks
John

[Roadracer_Al]

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.

[Old Minger]

Interesting thoughts, thanks for the input. I must confess I'm leaning towards the 2 x 72 option but nothing decided yet.

[the penguin]

Let me buffer my remarks, by saying I have all the respect of Roadracer Al's comments, they show a vast experience in the use of his equipment and agree a belt sander is a viable piece of shop equipment.  But I've never been really impressed with a 6 x 48 belt sander, maybe I have had the wrong ones, I had a Jet, a Craftsman and currently have a Delta/Rockwell. They seem way to big and slow, for what I work on (lots of small 1/4"-1/2" thick pieces). I do have a 2 x 48 high speed belt sander/grinder, I wouldn't be without it. I had a 6 x 48 long before, I got the 2 x 48, since I got the 2 x 48, I haven't used the 6 x 48 more than twice. My 2 x 48 will take metal off 4-5 times faster than the 6 x 48 (use the same type belts), the 2 x 48 is more versatile.

The belt speed make a huge difference, the 2 x 48 is 3600 fpm, while the 6 x 48 is around 1200 fpm.

Maybe if I worked on bigger stuff, the 6 x 48 would be more of a go to piece of equipment.

One of the reason I went with 2 x 48 machine was the availability of belts locally, 2 x 72 is not stocked by anyone locally, but all 3 of the industrial suppliers stock, multiple options of 2 x 48 belts, in construction and grit.

[Roadracer_Al]

I think you're right - I haven't completed my 2hp 3k SFM belt grinder yet, and I'm quite sure that it will degrade my opinion of my 6x48 sander once I do. In fact, I was working on the plans for the adjustable work table earlier today until a client called with a disaster. This thread lit a fire. :)

[the penguin]

I bought a Jancy RadiusMaster Ram 1000 in 2009, its an Australian design, incredibly versatile machine. That has a radius cartridge, with 3 different size radius rollers, a fully rotatable head assembly, that can be used either in the vertical or horizontal mode. Belt speed is 3600 fpm, the belt tracking in super easy, belt replacement takes about a minute and the unit has been flawless.

1 - the unit
2 - the radius rollers
3 - tracking assembly
4 - drive roller

[the penguin]

5 - unit laid over
6 - with side table
7 - end tables
8 - tables

[the penguin]

9 - The belt assembly is full rotatable in a 360 degree circle
10 - the other side, with the locks for the tables and belt repalcement

[Dr Stan]

Nice looking machine.

[Old Minger]

Looks like it does just about everything but make a capacino! Thanks for posting the pics.
Do you remember where you sourced it from?