A feature I added to my 1" belt grinder is variable speed. I changed out
the motor to 3-phase and bought a VFD to match.

It has been a wonderful thing to have on a general purpose grinder. You can
run fast with a coarse belt for rapid stock removal and slow with a
polishing belt for finishing, knife sharpening, etc. Medium-low speed with
plastics avoids melting.

You can also tune for minimum vibration for precision work. Any belt
arrangement will have likely have several fixed speeds where the unsupported
belt vibrates like a guitar string. Variable speed lets you avoid those
vibrations.

Randy

"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
ups.com...
I am considering building a belt grinder.

Hey, who am I kidding...of course I am going to build one. One can
never have too many tools. ;)

I have taken the time to look at a number of commerical and home built
versions.

Of course after doing this, I have more questions than answers. ;)

If you were going to build a belt grinder, what form would it take?

I note that 2"x72" seem to be the most common belt size.

Would you recommend a different size?

Would you use a vertical, horizontal, adjustable platen or none at all?

What size of motor? Speed?

Any dust collection?

If you are aware of any good designs to copy, please feel free to offer
a pointer to them.

I am not trying to build just one grinder but it would be nice to keep
the number to a minimum of variations.

Thanks

TMT