Creating my Ultimate DIY Belt Grinder: From CAD to REALITY - Part 1
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2024
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A big thank-you to SendCutSend for sponsoring this project: bit.ly/3Vu5cw4
Today we're building a belt grinder! This 2x72" belt grinder is my own design that I've been working on for about a year in my spare time. Today we're going to look at the design, order some powder-coated parts from SendCutSend, machine a few miscellaneous bits, and start putting it together.
Tools used in this video:
*This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Bondhus Metric Hex Key Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3eqZzwb
Bondhus SAE Hex Key Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3h9bJLZ
YG-1 1/4" 120 degree spotting drill (Amazon*): amzn.to/3sVSLgv
YG-1 1/2" 90 degree spotting drill (eBay*): ebay.to/2ssWyCF
Chicago Latrobe HSS Short Letter Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/2PWx0dL
Chicago Latrobe HSS Short Number Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/2Qgss0S
Chicago Latrobe HSS Short Fractional Drill Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3mkmziD
Aventor 12" DPS IP54 Caliper (Amazon*): amzn.to/3wULvE8
Starrett 3/8" Edge Finder (Amazon*): amzn.to/3CXja2N
HFS 1/4 x 6" Parallel Set (Amazon*): amzn.to/3kuPtQj
Astro Pneumatic Air Blower Nozzle (Amazon*): amzn.to/3oB5uE9
HFS 190-Piece (0.061-0.250") Gage Pin Set Minus (Amazon*): amzn.to/2DDSAf3
HFS 250-Piece (0.251-0.500) Gage Pin Set Minus (Amazon*): amzn.to/3cjEX5k
Starrett 91B Tap Wrench (Amazon*): amzn.to/38TUCYw
Wilton 6-1/2" Tradesman Vise (Amazon*): amzn.to/33fqPXz
Stanley Utility Knife Blades (Amazon*): amzn.to/3DN47aT
Milwaukee Fastback Folding Knife (Amazon*): amzn.to/3F4Ujs8
Raw Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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00:00 Introduction
00:49 The Design
10:43 Unbboxing the parts
12:24 Making the spacers
15:53 Making the tooling arms
17:43 Machining the idler support plate
21:22 Countersinking holes in the plates
21:58 Tapping holes in the laser-cut parts
23:02 Assembling the frame
32:19 Conclusion
![DIY 2x72 Belt Grinder Build [FREE PLANS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cAH3LldBWd0/mqdefault.jpg)
I've gotten a bunch of comments asking how to get the plans. I have everything hosted on Patreon. If you sign up to support the channel (patreon.com/clough42) you can get access to the files for this, and all of my other projects. The downloadable file bundle includes the full Fusion 360 model, a STEP export for use in SolidWorks or other CAD software, DXF files for cutting out the parts or ordering them, drawings of all of the machined parts, assembly drawings showing how it all goes together, and a complete list of all of the hardware you need, with links to sources.
I'm also seeing a lot of comments asking about pricing. In general, I try to stay away from discussing pricing because it's so volatile. I have machines in my shop that now cost double what I paid just a few years ago. That said, at the moment you could build this grinder exactly the way you see it in my videos for around $2K. You could of course save hundreds of dollars by ordering two sets of parts for you and a friend, skipping the powder coating, using an Asian import VFD, cutting out the parts yourself, etc. It all depends what you want and need.
2k for a 2hp belt sander that's pretty rough. Oh well, the cost of diy is often worth it! Great work, looks like a fun project
@@mattmurphy7030 2k for a belt sander that you can service yourself and order what parts you want than have some mass fabricated name brand that will break in a couple of years
I think this is a great design, elegant and accessible! An addition I think could be really nice would be a lasered a protractor/degree scale from the pivot point to the back of the platen support, and added a little indicator needle on the 1 1/4 bar so you could zero it perfectly, but have fairly repeatable rapid adjustments. I'm sure you have a friend or CZcams colleague with a fibre laser, but I'd happily do it for you if you could live without your grinder for the time it took to ship it back and forth
You should sell these as a kit, just the send cut send parts and hardware. Links to the other parts and some assembly/machining required would be very appealing.
Yes, will be nice if he can give opportunity to buy the flat metal as a kit from send cut send. Please let us know.
Plunk down $5 on Patreon and all of the parts lists, cut files, etc are yours for the taking.
Agreed, we need a kit or partial kit!
Don't that is a good way to destroy something you enjoy by dealing with the ungrateful public people are so incredibly senility god forbid if they say your missing a Lil bolt evendors thought you waighed the full package and it was with in .5 grams or a pair of bolts where way off one had 2 threads more than the other last thing you want is to let the public in your shop
You’re not lying. Much easier to sell digital stuff and left people make it themselves. I think it’s pretty smart.
Excellent work! I can feel the satisfaction of it all coming together through my screen. Looking forward to the next installment and seeing first sparks!
Just discovered this channel a couple of weeks ago and in watching your back catalogue I’m so impressed with detail, care, and transparency of your projects. This one in particular makes me think it would be so cool to have an open source repository of tools someone could build with off the shelf parts, 3d prints, and/or laser cut parts. What a resource that could be for makers everywhere! I’m just a 3d printing enthusiast with rudimentary CAD skills, but this channel really illustrates what some patience, hard work, and perseverance can lead to. Thank you!!!
Wow, well thought out. I bought Jer Schmidt's plans a couple years ago as I feel it is one of the best designs out there. Need to be able to weld to do his project. Your design will allow more folks to build. Can't wait to see part 2.
Wow those parts look great. I used SendCutSend for the first time a couple months ago and also got it finished in gloss red powder coat. They do really great work! I've got my second set of parts from them coming next week for an amateur radio project. I'm not a machinist but it's so useful to have parts on demand at a reasonable price.
Truly amazing! Your details in the video and files make it easy for anyone to build one of these. Excellent project James. Thanks for sharing!
Excited to see this. Grinders are fun to design and build. I’ve been a big fan of the channel for a long time, and I’m a machinist at Ameribrade so this is right up my alley!
Those flange nuts are a nice touch, I'd also add a shim on the inside, so instead of having the rotating nut going straight into the bar, you'll have a no-rotating disk. This would avoid making scars in it, making fine adjustments of its position harder in the future, and the screw would probably be easier to turn as well (no direct binding).
Yeah, I agree, an aluminum or brass button in there will keep the bolt from biting into that bar. Eventually it may make fine adjustments difficult as they leave a big divot.
Very nice, and I LOVE the red and black combo! 😎
I would suggest that you mill out a 0.125"-ish deep slot along much of the length of one side of each Alum tooling arm, where the Kipp is going to touch. You'll find out after many tightenings, that the softish Alum will bugger-up, and then the tooling arms will not go in and out so easily, and the burr will start to scrape away the powder coat finish on the inside. Where that newly developed burr is skidding along.
Nice job James. The powder coating looks fantastic. I am looking forward to part 2. Thanks.
Looks awesome James!! I really like the color scheme too, the black and red look great together. Looking forward to seeing it in action. 👍👍
Nothing better than designing and building your own tools. It looks great, can’t wait to see it do some grinding
Very nice build James well thought out & solid design, looks great.
I know exactly the feeling you spoke of at the end of the video! I am a mechanical engineer, and find that feeling never gets old, is always just as good the next time and I've never outgrown it! Keep creating my friend!
Continually impressed by this channel. Im in the middle of building an Acorn CNC cabinet, and trying to follow along. Awesome project! Hope it works out!
Outstanding! I will absolutely be subscribing, downloading, customizing and building from these plans. Thanks so much for doing all the heavy lifting! I'll wait to see how the series turns out, so I can think about mods. I like some of the suggestions below, and I was thinking about an angle indicator on the idler plate, and putting the speed control over on the right side for easy access. I built a remote control box for my mill VFD, and really enjoy having it close to where my hands usually are. Maybe also a dust collection tray with shop-vac connector...
Nice build James! A beautiful machine 😍! I can only imagine the mental gymnastics necessary to design all the features and clearances in CAD. I have been planning on building one of these for a few years now. I have accumulated some of the parts, thought about what features I would want, and leaning towards my overkill tendencies I would definitely like it to tilt and to have a small radius attachment as well as different table options. Probably things I wouldn't use very often. Congrats on your year long dream coming true 👍 I've got to get life out of the way to get my grinder built! Lol.
You've really elevated the genre of 2 x 72 homemade belt grinder build videos.
I recently found this channel and have been loving the content. The grinder looks amazing! I'm a machine designer by degree and profession and there's some design cues that I really think I could use in my own field. I especially like the black on red "42", looks so good. Very well done.
That being said the one thing I don't like is how the tooling arm locking handles bear down directly on the soft aluminum. I'd imagine those will make some pretty gnarly marks over the life of the machine.
Those extra holes were meant to add a parts tray or LED goose neck light. :) Looks beautiful!
Or a small water tank for cooling of the item that you grinding.
cupholder 😆
I've always wanted to build one of those. Now looks like a good time.
Very informative video liked how you went through cad and explained everything. Great vid. Thanks 👍
That is really looking awesome. Very well done! Thanks again James!
So excited about this new project!
I built one years ago from 8020 extruded Al. Most is 40x40 with 80x40 legs. The table support and the roller support are on either side of a fixed frame member, not vertical. I fabricated end wheels from 11 inch rubber coated to 1/2 inch. GREAT DIRT MAKER!!!!!
Great build. We shared this video on our homemade tools forum this week 😎
Very cool! Also just recently started designing and building my own, luckily my workplace has offered to produce some of the parts for me.
Great project James. Well done!
one of the best features of this build is that it doesn't require welding, which literally every other belt grinder build I've seen required. great work.
Looks pretty good. I suggest putting the clamp handles on the other side so they push onto the plate that the motor is mounted to.
Hello there! :)
I am an amateur machinist but I used to work in a metal shop where we used a lot of laser cut steel plates and if I may make a suggestion here, when you specify holes diameter that will be tapped, have them made a few thousands smaller than tap size!
The reason for that is when laser cutting thick aluminium the hole will be kind of cone shaped, and in steel, the surface inside the holes will harden quite a bit. In both cases, you may break your taps.
The idea then is to enlarge the holes with the proper tap size required and this will remove the hard surfaces and bring the holes to a perfect cylinder making tapping a lot easier with less risk of breaking the tap.
You don't have to ask how I know! :)
I really like your VDOs, I really learn a lot from them.
I’m a new subscriber. Your enthusiasm is contagious. Good stuff sir👍
Looks so good and sure will work so good. Thank you for sharing.
Owww, this looks cool!! Can’t wait to watch this series. Thanks for the awesome videos 🍻
Love this idea, I have been wanting to make one of these for awhile 👍
My shop needs one! Love the ELS, wonderful investment!
Awesome, happy to see this.
Check out Phil Vandelay’s video series on his own diy one. He ends up designing in spark guards which make a huge difference for keeping the shop clean.
I haven't seen his, but I already have some idea for that.
Phil is the first to admit that his design is over-the-top, but it sure is beautiful. 👍
@@Clough42 Definitely worth watching, his is one of the nicest designs out there IMO. (Yours is good too!)
Shop AND lungs clean. Some of those metal and abrasive particles must be 2.5 microns for inhaling deeply
Send cut send is great to work with. Affordable and fast shipping. I use them all the time for several of my projects.
Clever minimal and solid design, well proportioned!
That is a beautiful design James. Very nice.
Very nice and well thought out design.
Great job! By using laser cut mortice and tenon/bolted edge connections you can avoid all bends and the drilled spacers.....The laser is king for this sort of machine. The less manual work the better. I look forward to the next video.
I wanted some adjustability to allow flexibility for different bar dimensions, and I thought tabbed connections would make that harder. It would be tempting to design for captured nuts to avoid threading, too, but if you laser-cut the spacers, it drives the price up considerably, and there's always a little taper in the laser cut that could cause issues. In an earlier version of the design, I looked at tabbing steel spacers into the sides and plug welding them.
The extra holes are aux. mounting holes for future expansion. Very nice James, well executed and designed. Love the two tone colors really looks good. 👍👍👍👍👍😁😁😁😁😁
Yeah, there's a good chance I'll build a spark chute of some kind and that seems like a great place to mount it. :)
Ha! I work on stuff between my workout sets as well. We have to be as efficient as possible with time 😂 this project is amazing. Great job!
Great project! That idler plate looked like a cheerful comic book alien character whenever you set it down with the arc slot facing up 😂
Its absolutely gorgeous. I just recently began knife making and i wad only able to affors a cheap 1x30 belt grinder. I hope to one day be able to afford a belt grinder like thia one day.
That looks great. Can’t wait to see it in operation. I’d love to know how your tracking system works in reverse, if your VFD can run it backwards. It took a lot of fiddling to get mine to track backwards, but it’s really great for sharpening operations with sharpening belts (when making knives). 👍🏻
Will deffinatly be buying this! Thank you!
Parabéns gostei muito do projeto; Congratulations I really liked the project;
When assembling the platten plate with the idler pulleys, it's a good idea to put a piece of normal writing paper under the platten. It sets the flat plate back from the pulleys by a tiny fraction of a mm, which ensures the belt isn't running over the sharp corner. Makes the belts last a bit longer.
Hey mate you did a really good job of that grinder it looks awesome 😎👊 cheers Kurtis
Thanks! I'm having fun with it.
Looking great! Been wanting to build one after seeing Jer Schmidt's version a while ago... although I have a half-dozen other things to finish first.. lol. I do wish SendCutSend would do countersinks on thinner laser-cut stainless stock, but I imagine that'd be a pain for them to get a good yield. Def plan on using them in the future tho.
All this really does for me is makes me want to design something and use SendCutSend to source the parts. Very nice!
I know the feeling. It's like having a 3D printer; you start seeing applications everywhere.
I'm excited to see this series!
Nice one, i like the clean design.
Looking great! I really have to get back to my belt grinder as well, pile of parts been sitting here for a year ;-)
I think James is an H2G2 fan. The videos are great. They are all the projects I want to do, as soon as I get some free time, what ever that is.
Nice James - dead jealous! I'd be really interested to know what it would cost to have SendCutSend supply all the parts. I suspect the international shipping would kill it for me but it would be useful for US residents and also as a benchmark of what sort of ballpark figure we're looking at.
Thank you for your videos . I think the Fusion 360 design process would make a great video
18:00 You have made a very happy boomerang right there sir.
wow...astonishing. And again, instead of working, I was watching your video. I put me in quite big trouble my dear ah,ah,ah,ah. Regards from a sunny Florence, Italy
Darn. I’m 99.99% complete - soon to finish Phil Vandelay’s design. I love the simplistic design of your grinder and I bet it’s waaaay more cost effective. I knew I should have waited…. :)
Yeah but Phil's is so beautiful, and incredibly versatile. Different machines with very different aims. I'm sure you won't regret building yours!
@@cooperised agree it is a sweet machine. I followed every detail in metric. In the US I had to order 3”x79” grinding belts Vs 2x72s.. I’ll be wiring it up to the Mitsubishi VFD next weekend, testing before I cold blue the hardware. And… I’ll be using the Owatrol oil to finish as well. The spark deflectors will be the final phase of the build. I’m interested in James’ spark deflection design…
Perfect example of CAD/CAM doing the work. Autodesk really did us a huge favor with Fusion 360. Imagine doing this without CAD? This device is going to change your pristinely clean shop a little - maybe time for those vinyl panel curtains we see all over industry 🙂
Very beautiful mechanical art
a talented guy you are james!
Excellent work as always. I, like you want one but with my own elements. I'll get to it someday. Lol
Looks like a solid design. Also looks like there are 4-5 things that could be done slightly differently for someone without access to a mill. Or who doesn't care for tapping holes. I've been in need of one of these for a while and I will definitely be borrowing some ideas from this one.
You could probably drill through most of the parts and put a bolt all the way through with a nut.
@@ADBBuild Definitely. Not nearly as neat as all those tapped holes. But definitely serves the purpose. The platen could be slotted instead of the aluminum mount as well. Would mean an extra tapped hole or two, with a stud threadlocked in to provide clearance for the tool rest. But then the same design can be done without a mill at all. The spacers between the two side plates could be cut to size on a table saw to a good enough precision, if aluminum was used. Love the basic layout though and it leaves a lot of room for adaptation. I think this could be completely built without CNC too probably. Drill press and something to cut the material (plasma, metal cutting circular saw, jigsaw, bandsaw, etc.), pretty much good to go!
Another nice thing about the design of those handles, is that even after assembly you can easily rotate those nuts to change the clocking of the threads (and thus the angle where they tighten up). Just remove the bar, push the handle in against the spring to push the nut out of the hex, and then rotate it to the next 60 degree step. So you can ensure the handles all point in a position that makes them the most ergonomic.
The handles are adjustable. Just pull, twist, and release to lock in a different position.
I custom designed and built my own out of an aluminum frame. I used thrust bearings on all pivot points for the spring coil over air shock design. I ended up using a 1400 watt servo motor on mine.
really really amazing 👌🏻❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Nice Job! I would suggest that replacing the square aluminum bar and the aluminum spacers and resizing things for some simple HSS tubing or crew tube would make this design far more economical as aluminum solids like those are quite expensive now.
Yeah... except that tubing isn't very accurate dimensional, so there'll be some - or a lot - of messing about to make it fit properly. He did it that way because it insures an immediate precise fit without modifying anything.
nice design!
I'd love it if you could offer kits here with just the slotting operations and the guide bar machining complete, for those of us without milling machines. Countersinking, threading, drilling, etc, are easy enough to do with hand tools or a drill press, but.... well, appropriately jigged, it would be _possible_ to cut those slots in aluminum using a router, and get those guide bars to size with a table saw, but that's still sketchy enough that I'd rather buy a kit with those ops pre-done.
I got the housemade revolution plans, it was a fun project and a great addition to the shop
Great job!
dang it, i just figured out the sheet metal design and you pull this.
It already looks kewl....
Nice, very nice!
Amazing!
Very nice James 👌 👍
Looks like an awesome design! Will there be a metric version of the drawings for other parts of the world? X'D
I'm buying the plans immediatelly if they are metric.
Nice build.
Beautiful
Good stuff
You could always say those evidence holes, are actually handy pen holders ;) never underestimate the power of BS.
Also design wise this is elegant, the kips bolt holding technique is f'ing Art. I did not understand why you didn't just order a half inch plate till i saw that. Bravo Sir!
I would suggest milling a slot in the arms. In case those Kipp handles raise a burr on the arms
You could also mill a pocket where the holes got goofed up. Laser etch a Clough42 badge and epoxy it in
Or put a slug behind the flange nut to spread out the contact area and avoid contact between the Kipp handles and the arm. It could be brass if you are really worried about it.
I have had a belt grinder for sometime now, only thing you should get is a ceramic platen you won't regret it.
Fabulous 💪
Thanks, James - an assembly that requires no welding is just my speed 👍
You might want to consider slotting the adjustment bars so they don’t gaul and interfere with sliding in and out.
Yeah they need a thrust Gib or something so the steel screws dont mash into the aluminum bars.
Love it. Wondering if you now were thinking using the same size faster on the pivot would have been more functional. One tool to adjust instead of two.
Yeah, in retrospect, this would be good.
Came here to say that as well, hindsight does wonders for design choices
You could turn down and rethread one of the larger screws to fit the smaller hole. Or make a custom screw with an oversized head. Or just use a Kip handle there.
Very functional and efficient design, James. Any plans to sell the files?
@@g.tucker8682 oh, I like that idea. It's overly-complicated and it'll work great. :)
@@g.tucker8682 I think I would just put a threaded insert that matches the small hole into the larger hole (or both really). Then you also get steel threads instead of the aluminum ones, which is beneficial where it will be tighten/loosened frequently.
Very good
Hmm... I should not have put my lunch in the oven and start your video.
That timer I heard meant I could have had my lunch without the black crust on top 😲
I love the black&red color scheme - this is one nice addition to your workshop
Hi folks, for those in the UK worried about metric equivalents aluminium stock is readily available here in imperial. There are also suppliers of imperial nuts and bolts although things like imperial flanged nuts may be more tricky. The shipping costs probably negate buying kits from the US. I've no idea if the equivalent 'Send Cut Ship' services are available over here. If they are it would not be difficult to modify the design detail to specify bolt metric sizes, then just get the spacers right and you would be ok. Nice looking design and build, I bet James finds he needs accessories for it!
Most of the hardware is 1/4-20, which is very close to M6. In fact, the existing holes in the drawings would likely work. Substituting 6mm plate for 1/4" also shouldn't make much difference. The parts I would be most worried about would be the square bars. I assume those would want to be 25mm? That would probably require extending the slotted holes a little to allow the channels to close down enough. I'm not sure at all about the wheels and motor, though. I assume there's some other face/foot 2HP motor configuration that's more common outside the US? The one I used has imperial flange and thread dimensions.
Is it worth putting a nylon cap on the kip handle screw that clamps the bars? To avoid the steel bolt eating into the aluminum?
Always enjoy the candy:)
it would be cool if you offered a complete kit that could be purchased.
Nice design. It's funny, but my (6x48) belt sander design took a bit over a year as well.
LOL, The idler support plate looked like the face of a smiling cat when you first clamped it in the vises.