Making a DIY 2x72" Belt Grinder from Treadmill Parts
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- In this video a 2 x 72 belt grinder is made from treadmill parts. This type of belt grinder is very popular with knife makers because it can remove large amounts of metal very quickly. However, it can be very useful for many other metal and woodworking projects.
Don't like the music? Watch the no music version here: • Making a DIY 2x72 Belt...
Get 10% off your first order at EmpireAbrasives.com. Use the promo code MAKINGSTUFF at check out. The perfect place to get your first order of 2" x 72" belts. lddy.no/tnvt
For more information about this project visit the Making Stuff web page at www.makingstuff...
The 3D Sketchup file is available to all Maker+ patrons at / makingstuff
Parts used in this project:
2" x 72" belts - lddy.no/tnvt
Flap Discs - lddy.no/tnvu
CRC cutting oil - amzn.to/2l1uEv6
Treadmill motor - amzn.to/2l1hGgQ
MC-60 motor controller - amzn.to/2l1rJ5E
10K potentiomter amzn.to/2kWXltj
Blue LED Tachomter - amzn.to/2kAfM6e
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#knifemakingtools
#beltgrinder
#2x72
I have watched approximately 20 builds of belt grinders, the detail and plans provided are great! Best video I have come across to date
Thank you!
Real good video bro lot of knowledge thank you I like these treadmill motors.there small with a lot of power you can get a lot of speed out of them
Fail early and often. Failure is an excellent teacher. Cool build. Thanks for documenting and sharing.
There's no substitute for effort, even if it leads to failure. ;)
Any info about sourcing the rpm display?
Link to tachometer is in the video description and on web page.
Thank you. Guess I could have looked. Appreciate your quick reply.
at about 11 minutes in I realized your primary skill is in electronics. You really did a good job on the custom controls box. It's clearly not your first time. The metal fab part was good but not your strong suit. lol Great job! It looks great! I love this video because I'm weak in the electronics side and strong in the fab side. I enjoyed seeing how you did your controls box.
Nice build, and good on you for pointing out the glitches!!
Thanks!
If they dont like the music their computer has a volume button. Thanks for showing the issues and corrections needed thats the most helpful aprt for those wanting to do a build . Keep it up!!
You got that right mate. The mute button is the greatest of all inventions.
I liked the music. Can't be too picky with free music anyway.
You are one smart crafty guy
Thank you!
Cool. Collecting treadmill motors for my little shop and this was exactly what I was looking for.
FYI: Serpentine belt idler pulleys, (Dodge/Plymouth are best because they have a flange), and a belt tensioner are great for making 1 x 72" or 1 x 42" belt sanders. Because of the flanges on the pulleys, you don't need an alignment mechanism. The idlers have sealed ball bearings.
You can use a smooth drive pulley from serpentines as a drive pulley on the motor. Use someone that non-slip adhesive tape for traction.
I like your design on the belt adjustment wheel. As well as the compression spring being integrated is cleaner and more compact.
Thanks for sharing your difficulties! Being honest is much more important than building a perfect Belt Grinder! ;)
I am making one in the next few weeks just getting materials up together. Grate info cheers.
This is one of the sweetest builds I've seen, brother. The satisfaction value is priceless.
Thank You!
Pretty smart stretching out the spring!
Excellent build. I was going to comment on maybe using different music, but then after seeing you, I decided using anything but metal would be inappropriate. Thanks for sharing and I was impressed by the cleanliness of your drill press table!
Very very nice work, and I like that you pointed out the issues, I had similar problems when I built mine. The music on the other hand, watching first thing in the morning with a hangover, holy crap! :D
Premium construction!! That's a serious diy belt grinder.thumbs up.
Thank You!
Nice tip on converting that spring!
In regards to all the negativity with your welds, if it holds it is a functional weld. I have taught welding for years. Some students that just have the knack, others should just stick with nuts and bolts. Most fall somewhere in-between. Your welds without a doubt will hold just fine, and that's their only function. On the topic of your grinder, seriously very well done! Great video construction, music was appropriate for the topic, editing was good, lighting good, in all nicely done! One thing you may consider, I suggest you need a few stickers on the grinder. Perhaps AC/DC, KISS, METALLICA, and or RUSH, and then paint some flames where appropriate! I'm just having fun with you, but in all sincerity thank you again for sharing your time, and skills with us!!!!
No it hasn't fallen apart yet, LOL. Thanks for your comment. Knowing my luck I'd get some type of content ID strike from RUclips even for a sticker.
I'm looking to build one of these. Need it low profile. Thanks for the video👍
Thanks for watching!
Very well done. Great video an wonderful craftsmanship
Thank you.
liked the vid.enjoyed the music. thanks. it takes a lot of different folks to make the world work.
Thank you!
Hello, I built the exact same model except it was right hand drive and had the exact same problem with tracking. There's a guy here who built the first of this style, can't remember his name but after watching his video 20 times it turned out that the top swivel piece for the tracking roller ended up being the problem. I had made it just a bit to far to the inside by the belt, it needed to be closer to the metal upright. Once I got that fixed it ran a lot better as far as tracking went. Great shop build though Thumbs up!!
Awesome video. Thanks for sharing your experience and ways to improve on it. Great build!
Thanks for watching!
Much respect and well done. you keep it simple and dont seem to fuss over the little Things.
I have a lathe and milling machine so I dont think I will have too much trouble building one.
Great job on the metal sander.
Very nice job, looks great, and it's yours to use, and save time building more stuff! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you my friend for engineer, Very good utility knife in my office. I am Brazil.
And major props for the hall effect sensor!!
Buddy it might be a little out of square, but I loved your video. Now I know how to put to use the treadmill motor I've been saving. Good job man.
It hasn't fallen apart yet, lol. Thanks for watching!
This is a great video! I've watched it several times as I plan my build. Digging the ingenuity.
Amazing work man!
Thanks a lot!
Yeah, like taurus dragon stated, your welds need a lot of improvement. I was a certified boiler maker, and I also have been welding for 30 + years and the welds have to be perfect. Take some lessons from a certified welder and stop drawing the beads and push them, holding the torch at a 90 degree angle to the workpiece and you will get much better or perfect welds. Also, watch out for the cold lap, this is proof that your welds are only connected to one of the base metals. And yes, your inventions/designs are AWESOME, keep up the great videos. Cheers
Awesome build man with great audio too. I loved it. Making one the very same as yours soon just gathering up the parts first. Good idea of stretching the spring. I will be doing that. Also I like the two colours you used the green platten looks cool against the black. Job well done sir
Thanks you.
nice job i have that same motor was wondering if the pipe welded to flywheel could be a couple inches shorter maybe 3 inch ???
Nice when you can take someone's junk and turn it into a useful tool. I enjoyed the little "'Mae It Extreme" format in the video, but prefer there is a dialog covering the what, why, and how which is beneficial to a broader audience.
Peace!
He used new materials, Junk would have been using a old bed frame and that type of metal too.
Gonna start working on one of these soon, Thanks for the awesome video.
The easiest way to get large compression springs is visit a motorcycle junk yard. Front forks and rear shocks come in all sorts of lengths and diameters. Rusty rear shocks with 'blown' dampers are real cheap, rarely more than thier weight in scrap value
A super project ! I'd recommend adding an emergency stop button though, or at least a machine type start/stop. Otherwise a nice, well rounded project !
and maybe some grounding...
Don't put your tongue on the DC Wires! But I'm going to say the 12-24-36 volts are pretty safe as long as your dry. Looking at the power supply the Amps are not that high its about 2-6 amps of current chances are you won't get bit by it You will on the 120 Volt side. But its a DC motor. At any rate the Electrical box was fully insulated by the plastic housing, you'd have to do something pretty dam dumb to get shocked with it.
Its highly unlikely.
I'd be more concerned touching a light switch with wet hands.
What a awesome build ! Great job
Thanks for watching!
I enjoyed the video and the music. Learned a thing or two.
Thanks, glad you liked it!
Cool video. You really know how to make things. For the rest of us, we have to buy our stuff. Thanks
Giving you a thumbs up in spite of the awful music 'cuz it was a great build. Nice job
Thanks for watching! Music on newer videos is gone, can't remove it from old videos.
That is one heck of a terrific looking and well built tool box! Well done!
I would like to dabble in metal work, but not sure what type of welder to buy. It looks like a lot of fun.
Thanks 👍
wonderful job. Congratulations from France
Thank you. Glad you liked it.
awesome , sir you gone and got yourself another subscriber
How has everything held up on it? I want to do the same thing but I worry about welding that tube on the flywheel. Seems crazy it doesn't mess with the rotational balance. Great job!
All good. I use it all the time, nothing has broken on it yet.
Nice build
Thank You!
Wow excellent build love to make the same 👍👍👍👍
Glad you liked it, thanks for watching!
I thoroughly enjoyed this build and music aint a big deal if the content interests me. Good Job!
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
А мне всё понравилось. Молодец мастер. Теперь ещё ленточную пилу собери, вообще отлично будет.
Awesome build my man. And thank you for sharing what design flaws there were. Great insight into building my own. Pretty bad ass doing that on the fly with no plans.
nice informative vid and link to cutting list.very helpful as i make my grinder,cheers from the u.k.
Thanks for watching!
awesome build
Neat grinder!
Been planning on making one for years but I ended up buying one of the Polish ones on Ebay cause I figured I'd screw something up
After stretching the spring you should put it in the oven at about 280'c for half an hour and the will stress relieve the wire and give you a much longer life from the spring. Im a spring maker by trade.
Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try it.
I love your spring converter. You think I can go to me.local home depot and find that tool in stock and on the shelf and think they will load it for me in my car?
I don't like your weldings , but love your spring converter ...lol
Nice job!
Thank You!
Great video and grinder!!
Thank you!
14:45 you could weld on 2 more nut's and screw in the bolt's a bit above the bottom of the inner pipe. if you do that on both side's you could get the extra wobble out.
Very nice! Thanks for sharing.
muy buena licuadora y muy buen diseño . Te queria preguntar si la banda de color verde es mejor y si fuera de base de cerámica? . muchas gracias
Se basa en cerámica
that into is very cool
Gday
I seem to have the same problem on the vertical wheel, because it rotates very little and there is a little play between the metal boxes
What u think?
must have funny treadmills where you live, never seen one made from steel tube or angle iron before, what about those rollers the belt rides on what part of the treadmill were those off of?
I am building my first 72 in belt grinder. The hole thing is built but I cant get real poser out of the tread mill motor. It spins up to speed but then i apply pressure to the belt and it comes to a stop. I am at a loss to figure out what is going on. Any help would be great.
Sounds like your motor driver may be bad.
Great video and machine!
Fantástico trabajo!!! Gracias por compartirlo! Un saludo. Carlos C.
Great video
Thanks for watching!
i wonder if it's possible to temper a stretched out spring. i've read that if you quench it too quickly it will be brittle, too late and it's too soft.
Love your build very different from other RUclips videos, Good Job. Would you please tell us about the rollers from where you get them or you bought them? You didn't put that in the description. Thank You.
I got them on ebay. The seller I bought them from no longer has them on ebay, but if you search for 2x72 grinder wheels there are plenty to choose from.
How have those belt wheels held up over the years? I'm not crazy on the idea of poly wheels if they wear out quickly. I understand trying to limit expenditures to keep costs low, but I think that these wheels are vital component for a belt grinder build. Pretty cool though. Love the idea of the treadmill motor, as they have more torque than an ac motor. Cheers!
They have held up fine. No problems at all.
Very much dig it.
You need to make one!
Looking at the heights of your welds it appears you either need to slow down the wire feed or increase the amps a bit. The last thing to consider is you are moving the gun to fast since the puddle is not leveling itself out, but instead it is just making a mound of non-penetrating metal.
Finally some good music
It occurred to me that if either your drive or tension roller was 3.82" diameter your DRO could display Feet per minute as well as Revs per minute. Nice build!
building stuff with metal, with metal. great :)
buenisimo!! muy detallado el vídeo!! gracias por el aporte
very impressed with the idea of using a tread mill motor on a knife ginder and other shop equipment so after seeing a number of builds using a tread mill motor I tried one also. However i didn't have as good of luck as others seem to have. I have no tork and can stop the motor with little pressure applied to the belt. I even changed out the original controller to a dimmer style and rectifier and had about the same luck. Is it just me expecting to much from the motor. I have a 2.5 hp dc motor, 120 volt @ 17.2 amps. I have a 5" pulley on the motor with the flywheel still attached, running it at 2,000 rpm and stalls more like a 1/3 hp ac motor. any ideas to fix the problem
I can stall mine if I press hard enough at slow speeds, but the controller detects this and tries to pick up speed. Not really sure what is going on with yours.
my treadmill 2 1/2 hp motor has no detect circuit only 2 wires black and red. I only apply Little Pressure ( 1" wide 1/8 " thick) and can stop it with one finger pressure. I've used two different controllers. Could the motor be bad?
2:14 .....The easiest step in the entire tutorial is to take the tractor to open the spring .....:) :) :) congratulations very good machine
May favorite part too. Thanks for watching!
Awesome man, nice toys, nice work!
Thank You!
Making Stuff np thank you for the video
Nice build and good information at end of video Thanks!
Great explanation and tips. Subscribed.
Regarding the spring, a simple cam over design would have eliminated the need to stretch the spring. Also, try annealing the spring and then stretching it, then hardening it after stretching.
Muy buen vídeo, de las que he visto creo que es la que voy a construir...sólo que no se de donde voy a sacar un tractor para estirar el resorte je je, saludos
This is so badass! This has to be my next project been wanting one for years
Pehnchord very good construction
Awesome video and thanks for the explanation at the end.
Awesome video and awesome site kepp em comin!
The MC 60 control board usually is used along with a beefy reactor connected in series with the DC motor. It looks like a decent sized transformer with only 2 leads coming off. The reactor's inductance along with the heavy flywheel helps to mitigate the fairly poor performance at lower speeds.
Have you had any problems running your sander/grinder at low speed?
If yes, you might want to consider adding back the reactor on the black leg of the motor.
The board is also known for it's soft start "feature", where it fails to start if the pot is set in a particular range and needs to be taken back to zero to allow starting- as it's expecting a treadmill type usage, of beginning at speed zero and increasing.
There a number of mods, each with different degrees of impact,
Clipping the RPS 3 resistor has been the easiest reported mod to tone down the "soft start"
How did you cut the smile into the piece of steel so you could change angle of grind ?
I had a welding shop cut that piece out on a plasma cutter. It only cost $20 for the steel and to have them cut it. More info at www.makingstuff.info.
Can you explain a little about how you build that speed control box so can try to build it my self thank you
It's the one that came out of the treadmill. Just google MC-60 speed controller. There is a ton of info out there about them. Very easy to hookup.
Very informative and thank you for the precautionary tips
Please indicate basic size
i don't give comments if i have no good thing to say. this time i would say great job sir. i'll make mine soon but i don't upload videos
Very nice!
Extension springs can work like they were compression springs, you just have to mount them differently.
safety tip. when converting the spring run a rope tbrough center of spring in case it lets go.
That's a really good idea. I'll remember it for next time.
You better park your tractor at my house for Safety!
Not to have a dumb question but with the tachometer, where did the power come from? Did you have two power cords going into outlets or did you wire it in with the 120?
The power comes from the wall transformer that I cracked open and put in the enclosure.
@@MakingStuff I did see that. I was curious where it was getting power from. I'm guessing it was wired in with the same power that is powering the board. I can't imagine that tachometer is drawing that much voltage/amperage