Knife Making Supplies
 
free ezine newsletter
knifemaking tutorials
knife making beginners
knife making basics
instructions for knife making
istock removal methos
knife sharpening
knife making supplies
knife making kits
knife blade blanks
damascus knife blanks
knife blade shapes
knife handle materials
knifemaking technology
knifemaking books
commercial knives
pocket knives
custom hunting knives
western folding knives
bowie knife
knife steel basics
rockwell hardness scale
japanese kitchen knives

Belt Grinders - Grinding and Smoothing Your New Knife

Belt Grinders are an important device used in grinding and smoothing the knives. The most important part of the belt grinder is the contact wheel, a tensioning wheel or pulley and a platen that is intermediary. The platen wheel is behind an abrasive belt. The idler wheel or tensioning wheel and the contact wheel are used to mount the abrasive belt. The platen is used to back up the pieces that are ground using the abrasive belt. There is a possibility for the belts to get damaged due to rising temperature while grinding. That is why the platen is made of low friction materials so that the heat is reduced and the damage to the abrasive belt is also reduced. Flat platens play an important role in smoothing the surfaces of the piece of metal, be it a knife or something else. There are edge sanders that are used to smooth and sharpen the edges and these are usually stationary. A horizontal belt sanding surface which is in front of a long flat platen is used in sanding.

The contact wheel plays an important role in smoothing the surface of the metal. There are different types of contact wheels. They vary according to the aggressiveness to which it is used. The type of finishing that is required also affects the type of contact wheel that is used for grinding. If the work is going to be less aggressive then a soft rubber faced contact wheel can be used. Such soft rubber faced contact wheels can be used for smooth operations. For more aggressive work hard, serrated, rubber faced wheels can be used. Instead of rubber faced, metal faced or steel faced wheels can also be used. These give the most aggressiveness for the operations.

There are many brands of belt grinders available in the market. Out of these Radius Master is a belt grinder that is available with most features. This belt grinder is more popular among the users of grinders. The small wheels available in the Radius Master Belt grinder are meant for continuous operations. This is one of the advantages of using the Radius Master Belt grinder. In the conventional type of belt grinders you have to mount the different types and sizes of contact wheels using bolts before you use them. But here in the Radius Master Belt grinders there is no need for such tedious tasks. All the types of contact wheels are already assembled there. All you have to do is to use an index knob and rotate it to bring the desired contact wheel into action. A lot of time is saved by running the small wheels continuously. Radius Master is a complete belt grinding machine. In the conventional machines you need tools to change the wheels or to tilt and change belts. Without using any tools you can do these tasks in the Radius Master Belt grinders.

There are five types of work stations available in this belt grinder. They can be used for flat grinding, square grinding, and for making external and internal curves in the metal that is being worked. Different sizes of contact wheels are used for grinding purposes. The standard sizes that are available for grinding are 1/2 inch, 1 inch, 1 1/2 inch, 3 1/2 inch, and 8 inch. For people who are not familiar with this metric they can ask for the sizes in mm as 19, 25, 38, 89, and 203 mm. the index knob that is available in the belt grinder can be used to rotate the desired wheel into the position you like. The smaller wheels are available in a separate carriage that can be revolved to the desired position with the index knobs available for that purpose. Polyurethane wheels are used for super tracking and they allow for precision finishing. Machines like these are made wear out proof with the use of Teflon between the moving components. Apart from these components there is another important component that is used in the belt grinder. It is the motor that is used for rotating the wheels during the operation. This is a very important component in the belt grinder.

The operations that can be performed on these belt grinders are internal grinding, external grinding, and hollow grinding. Flat grinding, edge grinding and edge profiling can also be done. For edge profiling the table in the belt grinder can be tilted. Grinding in horizontal and vertical positions is possible with the belt grinders. There are many brands of belt grinders available in the market. All you have to look for is the type and quality of the components that are used in it and then make a decision to purchase them.

Return from Belt Grinders to Knife Making Supplies .net