[Leo Rousseau]

Hi everyone !

I'm looking for some tips about belt grinders. I need a tool in the price range 70-150€ and a place that sells it in Europe . I have found some on Ebay (the brand is Einhell and it is German) does anyone has any experience with it ?

It will be mostly used for grinding and polishing small blades and brass pieces.


Thanks in advance,

Léo.

[Isaac H.]

Greetings, Leo and welcome to the forum.

I tried finding the Einhell grinder you were talking about on Ebay, but didn't see it. A link to what exactly you are looking for would be very helpful . Most bladesmiths use a 2x72 belt grinder, and they are generally very expensive tools. There are not a lot of "middle of the road" options. There's the cheap kind, and the really pricey ones,like this : ( http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o202/maco_...G_0402.jpg )

You can buy a small belt sander ( like this : http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/pr..._11211.jpg )

It might do alright for smaller blades, depending on HP , and is better than no belt grinder if you have a tight budget. But if you're serious about bladesmithing, I would suggest investing in a quality set up.

I am in America , so I can't advise you on the availability of grinders in France, but I would assume most major grinder manufactures ( such as KMG, Kalamazoo, and Coote) ship worldwide . If you are mechanically inclined, a third option would be to build your own belt grinder.There are multiple tutorials to be found on that subject.

Best wishes, whatever you decide.

[Lee O'Hagan]

Great advice from Isaac,
over here I had more luck searching with the title Linisher,

I have an Einhall electric plane, good value for what it is, their log press's are well thought of too, haven't used their grinder,
what electric supply do you have ?
when searching there are a lot of 3 phase machines quite cheap,
but, motor replacement to 240 is from £100-500 going S/H or new,
Jet and Scheppach are other brands to look at, heard reasonable things about them,
a lot of the cheaper one's are geared for woodwork, suffer from belt alignment issue's and motors burning out from working too hard with steel,
the budget you mention, I'd save a little more and go for a Coote 48"
http://cootebeltgrinder.com/index.html
Then start a motor search, reconned ones on the bay can be reasonable,
if you do go separate motor-machine, ask around your social circle, air con -maintenance engineers could probly get you a motor at a good saving,
overall the Coote is worth getting, if you move up and get bigger its always a good spare or woodworker too, also great resale value,
good luck,

[Addison C. de Lisle]

If you're just doing smaller blades and softer metals, and are on a budget, you should consider just using files :D

Get a couple different cuts: a double cut bastard file, a single cut mill file, and a finer file should take care of you. Draw filing with the finer file (while keeping it clean) should give you a nice flat surface that won't take long to sand by hand (using sanding blocks). Well, it will take a long time but that's working with metal for you; mostly everything takes a long time.

Go for bigger ones, around 10" long or a bit more so you can hold onto the other end and still have a decent amount of working surface.

[Joel Minturn]

For a budget grinder I would recommend the Craftsman 2x42in sander. Get some quality grinding belts and its a great little machine. Its not as versatile as a true knife makers grinder but for the price its hard to beat. Even better when you upgrade this little sander/grinder will still have a place in your shop.

I may be a bit biased since I own one but I love it and if I had to do it again I would still buy one.

Not sure if/where you could buy one in Europe but worth looking for.

[Leo Rousseau]

Thanks everyone for all these infos.

Isaac here is the one I talked about (sorry it is in French) : http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Einhell-Ponceuse-a-dis...338aa037af

I have thought of making it myself but for now I have neither the place nor the tools to do so.

I have only standard 2 phase power supply. The Coote 48 looks really good though and I'm not in a hurry to buy the said grinder so maybe you are right as I might wait a little more and increase the budget I can put in.

[Thomas Newman]

I know it's an old thread, but maybe it will be a timely resurrection for someone...

Here is my sander, it is a Yates American S70 disc and oscillating spindle sander combo. I got it as a project, the previous owner dumped it over and broke the oss casting so the table is off of it there and in the other pic of the disc, I pulled that table so I could pick it up easier with my forklift. Disc is 30" diameter and 5/8" thick. It is in the 1750lb range. The last 2 pics are what is should look like together, these are from a guy I know that has one and I got the correct miter guage from.

I have the broken casting app halfway fixed, and the clutch mechanism fixed properly now, need to finish the gearbox casting and the trunnion and bolt it all back on. I have been using the disc sander side for awhile now, works awesome.

I also have a Powermatic #30 12" disc and 6x48 belt likw this https://mechanicguides.com/best-belt-grinders/ a Porter Cable G4 belt grinder 4x52 and a couple 2x72 shop made ones in the works and a Duro 6x44.