Question About Grinder

[Vic Castello]

Hello all,

A while back, I bought a Delta variable speed grinder to exclusively sharpen, polish up carving tools and knives. I keep it at the lowest speed as this is best for most carving tools. What I don't really like about it is that the grinding wheels rotate towards me...or clockwise where most other grinders I had used before rotate the opposite way. I find it both dangerous, and unnatural to the proper way to sharpen or touch up carving tools. I tried turning the tools chisel down and handle up, and sharpening them from the bottom of the wheels, but I don't like that either.

Does anybody know how I can possibly reverse some wires around in the unit so that it will turn the other way???

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Elmo, you cannot run a grinder in reverse direction as the wheels will come off when the spindle nuts unscrew themselves.

I have seen people interchange the right and left wheel guards and tool rests so that you are now grinding from the reverse side, with the wheel moving upwards.

I have a 1" belt grinder that I use for sharpening so that I can select up/down belt direction.

regards, Rod.

[Vic Castello]

Thank you, Ron....

Actually, that's what happens sometimes when I use my reversible flexible shaft Foredom power carver. If I don't remember to switch it to the forward position, anything screwed to a mandrel in the reverse position will quickly unscrew itself, and fly off the handpiece.

I probably should have returned this grinder shortly after buying it. What attracted me to it was that it was one of the few variable speed grinders at the time, and carving tools are best sharpened and polished at lower RPM's. But, I've come to realize that I just don't like to use this grinder. You may have seen some low speed specialty grinders out there especially built for these types of tools. They look like lathes with multiple sharpening and polishing wheels on them all right there in front of you, but I think they run close to $300 bucks! Maybe someday!

Thanks.

[CPeter James]

Are you sure that you can't reverse the left and right guards and get the results you want?

CPeter

[Vic Castello]

I just went downstairs to look at that possibility.....CPeter, and I thank you very much for the suggestion. The guards probably could not easily be reversed because the holes for the screws that keep them in place wouldn't match up from side to side. It would also make the machine awkward to use because the flexible shaft for it's lighting fixture runs all the way down the back of the machine between the two grinding wheels. This is the machine:




I spoke to a friend of mine tonight who is an electrician who wants to look at it. He said that getting it to run in the opposite direction is simply a matter of locating and reversing the correct wires. I told him about Rod's concerns about the wheels coming off, and he said that we might be able to get around that too, with lock washers, or something similar....especially since with carving tools, I barely allow the tools to make contact with the relatively soft wheels that I use in any event. He's figuring that if tightened in this manner, and given that I use slow speeds, I won't be putting enough pressure on the wheels to cause the nuts to unscrew themselves. What the heck...we may as well give it a try. We'll just make sure that we have shock proof gloves and welding helmets on when we throw the switch for the first time!

[Randal Stevenson]

I just went downstairs to look at that possibility.....CPeter, and I thank you very much for the suggestion. The guards probably could not easily be reversed because the holes for the screws that keep them in place wouldn't match up from side to side. It would also make the machine awkward to use because the flexible shaft for it's lighting fixture runs all the way down the back of the machine between the two grinding wheels. This is the machine:

I don't know about the base and switch, but in your picture the guards are black. Don't just reverse the end covers, pull the whole guard off, and the ends should be similarly predrilled.

Another option is to look at adding something like a 362 multitool (also found as multi tool, two words, but the 362 IS important to find easliy). These have been on Ebay under the Bluepoint name for around $100, and from the mechanics and metalworkers I know, are worth their salt, the only problem is finding belts locally.

[Vic Castello]

Thank you so much....Randi. I will look into that for sure. I'm glad I finally found this board because now there are thousands of knowledgable woodworkers in my own backyard! Reminds me of that cell phone commercial where they show a crowd of network people standing behind the dude with the cell phone!



I'm strictly a wookcarver. I can make stuff like you see below, but I can't build a simple frame, or even a damn easle! But, I can bang out pictures in wood.

Go figure!

[John Baranowski]

If you are worried about the wheel coming off, see if you can retrofit a cotter pin to the shaft, as that would keep the nut on.

[Vic Castello]

So far...John, reversing the wires, and figuring out a way to make sure the wheels don't unscrew themselves appears to be the best solution to my problem. Given that I work with the slowest speeds, and that I do not put heavy pressure against the wheels, I think my electrician friend and I are going to pursue that course of action. Cotter pins might be the way to go. Thanks!