6061 KMG Clone Build Along

[bjansen]

6061 KMG Clone Grinder:

After much debate, I decided I was going to make my own belt grinder, specifically a KMG clone.  I knew that the cost of making my own chassis would not be too far off from actually buying a professionally built KMG chassis, but for me the fun is all in the make.  I obtained Michael Clerc's plans from a post online and reviewed them along with many pictures of other grinders to make adjustments to make it just a tad different (and easier to build).

I have a woodworking shop, thus selected 6061 aluminium for ease of working.  I found a new 1.5HP surplus motor from **** and purchase a new KBAC 27-D VFD from Wholesale Electric Motors.  Nuts/bolts/wire/gas spring were from McMaster-Carr. I purchased pre-cut aluminium from MetalsOnline and I bought the tracking wheel, drive wheel and platen directly from Beumont Metal Works.

Note: I would suggest if you are ordering anything from Beaumonth Metal Works, to call them to place the order and ask them for the price for the total order including shipping.

I saved all of my paper work, scanned it to a PDF and wrote notes if anyone would like to see them.  I would be happy to email them if you send me a message.  
Here is the start.  Most of the components to get started.  

     
To start, I thought I would make the tool rest. Something simple to get the hang of drilling/tapping.  I used layout fluid and some woodworking scribes to get the layout.  
     
     
Worked pretty well.
     
It was evident that I needed to square up the rough cut pieces.  No mill, but I used my 6x80 sander with a 36 grit zirc. belt and that worked well.  I used a bolted down miter guage and an extra piece of aluminium for the 90 degree fence.
     
     

[bjansen]

Next the tracking adjustment and tracking arm.  
 
 
 
$100 drill press, $250 drill press vise (borrowed from my buddy Mark).  Could not have done this good of a job without that drill press vise.  Precision where you need it I suppose.
 
 
For the arm holder, instead of using a solid piece of aluminium (and having to mill it), I used 3 seperate pieces bolted together.  This worked well and I am certain that the spacing and tolerance is far better than I could have achieved trying to cut a solid piece.
 
 

[bjansen]

I used a piece of ¾” round stock for the handle
 
On to the main piece
 
Drilling the initial holes
 

[bjansen]

Lining it up to drill through the bottom (to ensure a precise line up)....my measuring/layout/marking would never be as precise as a cheater method. I marked all the inside surfaces with fluid and marked front/back/top bottom to make sure I would not misplace a piece.  
 
Drill one at a time, tap, bolt, line up and drill another.
 
 
 
 

[bjansen]

Once you get at least 2 or 3 bolts in, then do the rest.
 
 
 
 
 

[bjansen]

Now for the side supports.  I used masking tape on each side of the tooling arm to provide for adequate spacing.
 
 
 
 
 

[bjansen]

Same deal, drill to mark....take apart and drill all the way through, put back together and bolt, clamp and drill the next.  
 
To attach the swing arm to the body:
 
 
 
 

[bjansen]

Feet and base plate:
 
 
 
 
Tooling arm:
 

[bjansen]

Check square one more time:
 
 
 
 
Gas spring:
 
 
 

[bjansen]

Now for a base....a piece of LVL beam
 
Quick dry fit:
 
 
Dado that in a bit:
 
 
 

[bjansen]

Time to get filthy polishing alumimum.  I basically scuffed everything with 220 first, then polished with whit rouge on a sewn wheel. I intended to polish up the moving surfaces

 
And got a little carried away
 
And then might as well jewel it
 
 
 
 

[bjansen]

And ended up polishing all moving pieces, and jewelling everything else
 
 
 

 

[bjansen]

Made a aluminium mounting plate for the VFD
 
 
And then final assembly  I used .020 washers as a spacers to allow adequate room for tooling arm movement.  Worked well and you can’t hardly tell they are there.  
 

 
 
 
 
 

[bjansen]

All in all a success and very happy I decided to put this together.  The machine is quiet, tracks and works as it should.

[Lin Rhea]

Excellent work! Thank you for sharing that.

[bjansen]

Thanks Lin

 

 

[James Oertel]

Great job , very informative

[Kevin Evans]

You do good work.  

[Rusty Snuffers]

This one should get a sticky.  Good stuff!

[madness522]

Outstanding build along Brad!  That jeweled look really sets it off!