I have to get a fix on the size to reduce these via a new App I'm using.

Pics will start with me going high tech! My new Segway ish transport should really speed progress.

The Barnes build grinders which have already given a good 25-35 years of service ... but which required tuning and significant maintenance after being transported and set up again.

Note an industrial fire pit constructed to take advantage of the extremely wet weather to get rid of large wood debris. Serious dirt mount containment, doubled square wire spark arrester cover (didn't burn anything producing leaf ash anyway), tractor standing by to cover with dirt if needed. Water on hand. We reduced literal tons of bio mass that we didn't have to haul or store. The rainy season produced an opportunity. The tractor carried the stuff. I miss my tractor ...

Work in the shop which was progressing when I left. Will be great to get a whole bunch of days in there, under my belt.

Gary

Nice I see in the first Pictures that you got a Segway! I've been trying to get one of those for quite a while! So that big grinder close to the floor is that a buffer you made?

Thanks
Kurt

Hi Kurt,

Long ago - after pricing 24" contact wheels to make a grinder ... and finding myself sorely lacking ... phew!!!! .... I decided to make my own. I used the hubs from rotary mower decks, big pulleys I'd purchased many years before from a Roper Lawn Equipment parts room ... And powered it with a 2 hp double ended grinder I bought new from TSC. A 2 hp electric motor (single shaft) would have cost about twice what the grinder cost. Go figure.

I made the wheels from plywood, and used the matching itself as its own lathe to turn the wheels true. I then covered the right wheel with corrugated rubber and the left with leather. The right has a tracking device to track abrasive belts - same size as the other two grinders. . Schmartz .... Hehe. Left wheel is charged with buffing compound.

Point of the unit is to "hollow grind" blades from edge to spine and get a full blade sweeping arc that cuts like a flat ground traditional blade. Small wheels either leave a fat thick spine down the middle of the blade (sticks on everything) or else you grind the center of the blade way too thin trying to get the long sweep.

This grinder has been a great tool for about 25 years. The others are about 10 years older.

Story - I once had a fellow who seemed to really want to be friends. And wanted to learn. He had a small shop. Well, I decided to up and make him a small belt grinder from extra parts I had. Like the right one on the double table. Well - I presented it to him - he loved it. But his wife wanted him doing other things. He just faded quickly ... And kept the grinder!!! . Haha. No good turn goes unpunished. Haha. Boy - I need those parts now cause I have multiple buildings. Well - guess ill have to gather up more junk Haha.
Gary

Hi Gary,

Talk about vintage equipment. Sure, they don't build them like that anymore. It's nice to see you having some fun with your new toy...green transportation, cool stuff...

julio

Hello Julio!

Vintage indeed. Love the Segway. I named her "Dolly" ... Gift for names - it just came to me!! Haha.

It's green indeed. I hook it to a couple of Unicorns, and off I go!

Gary

Unicorn power, whoda thunk?

Must be manticores and hippogryphs slaving away in the basement somewhere, turning a crank night and day, keeping the machinery going.

Green power, renewable energy, that kind of stuff, you know.

Forget the Segway, I want one of those fire-pits!

It's pretty amazing that those plywood wheels have been dimensionally stable enough over the years to have functioned so well for so long.

They have remained far more "dimensionally stable" then I have, Sean. Or stable any other way as well. I'm looking into making plywood replacement parts for myself.

Gary

Better not forward that one to your new doc down in Florida, he might get ideas. Hmmm...plywood discs...how can I make that fit?