I have always enjoyed making my own knives and lately it seems I have been doing more than I ever thought I would, with some now going to others, so it started to seem as if my little handyman grinder attachment was not quite up to what may be required of it. I have seen the really nice 72 inch (expensive) grinders that the guys have on the knife makers forums but being somewhat of a do it myself tightwad I wondered if I could cobble something together that would be just as effective.
Aboiut 40 years ago I bought a little dyco saw bench that I gave to my father when I moved up to a better model and when he died I got it back and having no use for a small saw bench I converted it to a sander.
The large drive pulley was replaced with a small one and with the two bench top bearings in place, I got a length of shaft and a larger pulley to slow the output down. To mae the drum I got a piece of 3/4 play and cut a circle then a number ofthers with only an inch in from the outer dia to make the drum. It worked very well but it no longer gets much use so decided to use it for the base of the new grrinder.
With the drum off and the top cleared it looks to be a good place to start