Hi all. I am thinking of buying a set of pillow blocks / mandrels, a nice grinding wheel, a belt, and a motor and making my own grinder.
My reasons: I already have a motor. I like the simplicity and challenge of the build. I would really like a nice blue norton 3x wheel but don't want the whole system to break the bank. I would ideally like an 8" wheel but want slow speed. I believe if I understand the physics correctly that a grinder run off a belt would actually spin slower than even the direct arbor slow speed market grinders (picture a half rotation of the motor sheave, then compare that to the larger arbor sheave, it goes maybe only a quarter of the way, so your slowing it even further. And to start I already have a 1750 rpm so I could probably make an 8" wheel have a surface speed close to that of a slow speed 6" wheel.

I figured I could make a pretty good set up with some high quality mandrels and hardwood. I see Lee Valley has some and Brownells has some. Does anyone have experience with any of these, or others? The Lee Valley is appealing because I trust their quality and they look nice, but they are only 1/2 inch which I'm worried may be smaller than ideal (though i know the one way balancing system does offer a 1/2 inch mandrel adapter).

Thanks for any advice and/or shared experiences.

Tyler