[Thomp]

I bought a small 3" bench grinder with flex shaft from harbor freight, i made paper and leather wheels for it, with some fender washers to support the floppyness of the leather wheel and use it for my power hone.

the motor is a brush type, 110-120 vac, and has regular clockwise rotation, which pulls tools out of your hand,
the wheel guards are one piece and the shaft Bering sets into them, so the guard cant be removed besides the flex shaft fitting is intrigue to one of the wheel safety guards,
but there is a small area where you can get tools to the wheels if you turn the grinder around and work from the back side.

still the wheel guards are in the way,

if the polarity or wiring could be changed this little baby would be just ideal, its variable speed and wheels are nothing to make for this thing.

any ideas.?

[Kenny_S]

Thomas, If it is already rotating clockwise, That is the what you want. Most bench griders run counterclockwise. You want the knife to be pulled away from you instead of toward you like the counterclockwise.
Some motors can not be rewired to run backwards sort of speaking. Delta has one that I know of which can't be wire to run clockwise. What some do is turn the grinder around backwards to make it clockwise.
My problem isn't that problem but to rewire it to run slower. The Delta I have runs in the 3500 rpms range or may be 3750 which if you watch what you are doing, works fine.
Just my thoughts.

[Thomp]

no this is the 3" mini bench grinder
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94071

and i have gotten use to working off the top of the wheel, with the motor turning counter clockwise, to hone my tools
if it grabs it pulls the tool away if the motor is running in reverse.

this i managed up to now by turning the grinder around and laying it down on its back to gain access to the work window, but the speed knob/switch is on the back of the grinder from where i work,

its all backwards to how the tool is made, the backwards, and if anybody goes to use it i got to stop and explain why its in such a contorted position..

when honing you cant use the tool rest as it manages to dull the blade if used in the manufactures configurement, ,,
i have went as far as to take it apart and turn the motor around on its base, which doesn't afford any change, the fields inside the case cant be turned around because of the way the case is made with brush access through the case.

the little motor is variable speed 0 to 10,000 rpm with no load and has the flex cable dremel style attachment if im doing lot of precise sanding or working hardwood..

im stuck...i guess

[Kenny_S]

Ok, I was thinking of a regular grinder. with double spindles on on each side of the motor. Sorry, My misunderstanding Thomp.

[R-OLDS]

I have used the 3" HFT mini grinder for honing for a few years I take it to carving seminars and such, it does lack in the TORQUE department but is ok as it has the small footprint. I have made cardboard wheels for the one pictured and a few other ones, notice I've made them large enough so you can do both sides of UR knive. I had to cut the guards off with a die grinder with cut off wheels, part of the guard is hard to get at so I had to use a small dremel type cut off wheel.
I sometimes use the flex handle with a floppy cotton wheel to get the insides of VEE tools gouges ETC...

Randal

[Thomp]

ok Randall,

that's the same as mine, the one featured in the link i posted is a strictly on/off mini grinder.

my flex shaft mounts off of the safety guard, then a cover screws on and it has the cable fixture for the flex cable to screw into. if its exactly like mine i see you left one side alone.

i see your hone is 6 inch paper wheel with leather glued on?

i wish i would have waited to make my wheels until i found a guinea pig that cut off the safety guards on their grinder.... HA!

the little grinder only cost $29.00 reg when i got it the thing was on sale for $15. wish i would have bought 2 now.. the pressed paper i made my first wheels out of was a Lowe's display case for some light fixtures but i dot a ton of it
thanks for the ideas

[GardenGnome]

I bought a cheap 6" bench grinder on sale for $25. It works fine and I grind a lot of metal and that sort of thing. It is just a cheap unit and it fell apart from vibrations. The bolts that hold the motors body to the stand came loose. Well, I had to take the thing right apart to put the bolts back. No brushes, and when I put the armature back I put it in backwards to how it came out by mistake. Imagine my surprise when I plugged it in and it went in the wrong direction!

I know you cant do this with your grinder as it has brushes, but perhaps you can get a cheap bench grinder like I did and reverse the armature to change the direction.

Just a thought.

GardenGnome

[Thomp]

GardenGnome,

thanks for the reply,

I found motors without brushed cannot be slowed down with a rheostat they refuse to start or run at 3400 then drop and run at 3400 jerky, or just refuse to start and just hmmm
brush type motors, on the other hand can be controlled with a router speed control or a household dimmer switch...or sewing machiene lfootpetal reostat

i have 5 or so 1 to 5 hp brush less motors from washers and furnace fans but that would be so much overkill., ill save them for my little table saw.
. when honing it doesn't take much pressure for it to work, and anything over 600rpm just slings the compound everywhere,

i think a 1/4" fan motor would provide enough energy to turn a small hone, but it would be rather touchy to use it without stalling it.

I didn't want to buy another grinder, heck i got 3 or 4 and several 4" side grinders and a 8" Milwaukee side grinder, heck im really grinder poor round here, I grind a lot of metal usually when i can get my wire welder to go..

i got the perfect motor out of a sears trash compactor its 1/2 horse 1750 rpm rated no load, you cant hold the shaft and start it because it will turn in your hand.
so it will take a load its capacitor start and is revers able,
i still got it in the complete wire harness boxed up so i cant miswire it.
but it would take some money to get parts together to make a regular sharpening station like 5 speed pulley a shaft pillar blocks Arbors, stops and all the wheels.
guess im just procrastinating the inevitable, but if i go that far i want it to have a leather belt and sanding/grinding belt as well, but first i got to find a shop stretcher cuz im litereally out of room,

[R-OLDS]

The wheels I make are out of SINGLE ply cardboard shoe boxes, soda can boxes ETC. I cut-em in circles and just glue with ELMERS type glue mixed half with water and just paint brush it on then use a long bolt with large pieces and clamp it all up for a few days. After your done then you must true it up I just run at high speed on the grinder and use an angle grinder with a course wheel and just run it and VIOLA lots of cardboard dust and it runs smooth!
I like the cardboard more than leather its cheaper and does a great job of polishing and honeing tools. I usually make 150 or more knives gouges etc every summer so I get lots of use from my cardboard wheels. I do not use the little 3" grinder in making the tools. I just use a 6" HFT snag grinder with cardboard and cotton wheels, I feel using LOTS and LOTS of polishing compond is the secret to FAST polishing it is messy but works great I also use an 8" wet grinder which is MOST useful in shaping the heat treated blades, final shaping and smoothing is sometimes done with diamond hones and or emery cloth on a flat piece of glass.


Randal

[woodguy]

I also have one of those little grinders, after trying to figure out how to make it work, I cut the gaurds off too. I also took the motor loose from the base, rotated it 180 deg. and reinstalled it. By doing this the switch remains on the front and the wheels turn clockwise. I have a floppy wheel on one end, and just ordered some small paper wheels for the other end.

Dave