The Donated Acme 2C Edge Sander Restoration Project For The Knife Shop

[Just Duke]

The Donated Acme 2C Edge Sander Restoration Project For The Knife Shop

Basket Case! It runs though.
Wow! And I just got through looking at wood worker buddies motor pile and seeing a 3 phase 3450 RPM 1 and 2 horse motor. http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Overview/Catalog/Drives/GS1_(120_-z-_230_VAC_V-z-Hz_Control)
An upgrade from the 3/4 horse that's on it now.
I'll probably need to replace the idler pulley bearings with a High Speed one.
A 1/4" stainless steel table would be nice also.
Here's what it should look like. http://estrategy.net/bill/website/tools/restorations/acmeedgesander/acmeindex.html

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER1.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER1.jpg.html)

[Just Duke]

The platen it bent and wavy and needs to be replace if anyone out there has a metal brake can make me one. $$$.
It's 3/16 steel or could be 1/4"

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER2.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER2.jpg.html)

[Just Duke]

In the mean time I would like to incorporate this switch.
I'm not sure where to get the box that goes with it though.

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER3.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER3.jpg.html)

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER4.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER4.jpg.html)

[Frank46]

Bleep, Bleep. Sorry Duke couldn't resist this one. Frank

[smoked turkey]

Duke as for the box for mounting the switches shown above- Use a steel box. Best to use a "handy box" as they are called. You could also use an outdoor box such as is used for surface mounted receptacles/switches. The boxes will be set up for either 1/2" or 3/4" openings. I would think the 1/2" knockouts would be adequate. I would use 1/2" romex connectors to hold the wire as it enters the box. If using an outdoor box with 1/2" openings they are usually threaded for the romex connedtors. I would opt for as deep a box as you can get in order to provide adequate clearance for the wiring and switch parts. A single gang box would be all that is needed. I would probably mount it to a leg of the machine with machine bolts/lock washers/nuts. You may have to drill the back of the box and the machine let in order to get it where it is handy for the operator. If you go to a Lowes they sometimes have a display in the electrical section showing the various steel boxes available. If you take the switch parts with you, you will readily see what you need. Hope this helps.

[Just Duke]

Duke as for the box for mounting the switches shown above- Use a steel box. Best to use a "handy box" as they are called. You could also use an outdoor box such as is used for surface mounted receptacles/switches. The boxes will be set up for either 1/2" or 3/4" openings. I would think the 1/2" knockouts would be adequate. I would use 1/2" romex connectors to hold the wire as it enters the box. If using an outdoor box with 1/2" openings they are usually threaded for the romex connedtors. I would opt for as deep a box as you can get in order to provide adequate clearance for the wiring and switch parts. A single gang box would be all that is needed. I would probably mount it to a leg of the machine with machine bolts/lock washers/nuts. You may have to drill the back of the box and the machine let in order to get it where it is handy for the operator. If you go to a Lowes they sometimes have a display in the electrical section showing the various steel boxes available. If you take the switch parts with you, you will readily see what you need. Hope this helps.


Thanks ST. I got her all wired up now. All the wiring was brittle and had to be replaced.
New bearings have been installed in the idler roller.
The new steel platen is made and dry fit. The tempered 1/4" glass platen plate is be made as we speak also.

[smoked turkey]

Sounds good Duke. I would like to see a picture of the finished product. I am sure it will be a good one. Those are very handy. I wish I had one for sharpening chores.

[Just Duke]

Sounds good Duke. I would like to see a picture of the finished product. I am sure it will be a good one. Those are very handy. I wish I had one for sharpening chores.

Thanks ST. Here's some more progress pics.

The new platen
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER3-1.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER3-1.jpg.html)

All new wiring
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER4-1.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER4-1.jpg.html)

New bearings upper and lower.
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER5.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER5.jpg.html)

[Just Duke]

We need this other grinder for our knife shop that is featured on the BOWIE KNIFE FORUM HERE (http://bowieknife.freeforums.net/index.cgi?board=knifemakingtools&action=display&thread=15&page=1)

[W.R.Buchanan]

Duke: just a small note, and heads up.

Did you replace the motor with a 3500 rpm motor? If so you may have problems with the belt running too fast for steel.

The machine was originally designed to do edges of boards for gluing right? wooden boards? Trying to run a belt that fast when cutting steel only strips the grit off the belt instantly and doesn't give the grit a chance to cut. It also heats the metal much faster since when the belt stops cutting it is just wearing the metal away as there is a much larger amount of friction generated.

A new belt actually "cuts" the material and leaves little slivers of metal (very difficult to remove from the skin as they are very fine.) As the grit on the belt degrades the swarf starts looking like dust instead of slivers. When the belt is done, it stops cutting and just heats the material up by friction. It still will remove some material but it takes much more pressure to do so and massive heat is the result.

My metal cutting belt grinder runs at 1750 rpms with a 4" drive pulley which translates to roughly 1800 feet per minute belt speed. This is the correct speed range for belt grinding steels. Yours will be running twice that fast.

I also ran into this with buffers. 1750 rpms allows the buffing compound to actually cut the metal. The one I have that runs at 3600 rpms just makes the blades hotter quicker and doesn't polish the metal nearly as well as my slower one does.

For wood, speed doesn't matter, the faster you run it the faster you get done.

With metal it is a different story. Faster is not better.

Randy

[Just Duke]

The VFD gives me speed options. Thanks for all the info.
And yes this would be for wood also.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r1x2ppeX66w

[Just Duke]

Not sure how fast this one is running.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvdvqezKWIk&feature=c4-overview&list=UUqRoUzi_mehQO4DnTL-BncQ

[W.R.Buchanan]

It's a Burr King Knife grinder and it runs about 1800 FPM.

Seeing one of those, and not being able to afford it was why I built my own. In 1984.

The VFD will give you lots of options.

Randy

[Just Duke]

The belt wouldn't track correctly so I cut a sanding belt down to 1 inch and turned the machine on and crowned the idler wheel with my belt sander while the edge sander was running.
It's OK some what. I need to send it to someone that has a lathe and can crown it correctly with precision.
I'll get a pic up.
We have the glass for the platten.
I'm cancelling putting the 3 horse motor on this machine. I'll build a much better one here shortly after we have made some $$$ with it. ;)

[JesterGrin_1]

Duke instead of Glass have you looked into some HDPE? There are different types of which is designed for bearing surfaces. It would give you a flat surface for the belt to run on and it is slippery. :).

[W.R.Buchanan]

Duke : what you did to crown that pulley is fine. Doing it one a lathe is a waste of time. When I was a Millwright we had to modify the crown on conveyor belt pulleys in place all the time to get the belts to track right. They either didn't have enough adjustment or didn't have any adjustment at all. The belt had to track in the center of the frame and you couldn't have it rubbing on either side of the frame as it would destroy the belt.

WE would hook one of those segmented emergency vee belts onto the pulley and spin it with a drill motor, and the other guy would go after the pulley with a sidewinder with a sanding disc on it to modify the crown. It was a trial and error method and that's why we didn't take the pulley off and do it in a lathe. You never knew where success was going to be, and just a little more here or there was the order of the day.

You done good.

Randy

[Just Duke]

Duke instead of Glass have you looked into some HDPE? There are different types of which is designed for bearing surfaces. It would give you a flat surface for the belt to run on and it is slippery. :).

Thanks Clifton. We already have the glass on it. We have used the replaceable HDPE for dog sled ski's.

[Just Duke]

She's running now. We still need to do some more work on the idler wheel to get the belt centered.

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER6.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER6.jpg.html)

[JesterGrin_1]

There is all kinds of HDPE. It is some Great stuff actually.

[Just Duke]

Duke : what you did to crown that pulley is fine. Doing it one a lathe is a waste of time. When I was a Millwright we had to modify the crown on conveyor belt pulleys in place all the time to get the belts to track right. They either didn't have enough adjustment or didn't have any adjustment at all. The belt had to track in the center of the frame and you couldn't have it rubbing on either side of the frame as it would destroy the belt.

WE would hook one of those segmented emergency vee belts onto the pulley and spin it with a drill motor, and the other guy would go after the pulley with a sidewinder with a sanding disc on it to modify the crown. It was a trial and error method and that's why we didn't take the pulley off and do it in a lathe. You never knew where success was going to be, and just a little more here or there was the order of the day.

You done good.

Randy

I'm going to try that and thanks.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Duke: If the idler pulley is aluminum charge your sanding disc with Bees wax and it won't load up. That's how you grind aluminum.

Randy

[geargnasher]

Duke: If the idler pulley is aluminum charge your sanding disc with Bees wax and it won't load up. That's how you grind aluminum.

Randy

You just made my day there, Randy. That's a perpetual issue at work when I have to weld aluminum, usually a lot of sanding and grinding involved to clean up the parts for repair and the discs/belts/wheels load up badly.

Gear

[W.R.Buchanan]

Gear: I learned this while building aluminum hand rails at Proctor and Gamble when I was a Millwright. Obviously all the welds had to be ground flush with the rest of the 1 1/4" aluminum pipe we used.

We used 4" Makitas with 60 grit sanding disks and then charged them with Bees wax. The wax plugs up all the nooks and cranny's in the disk but still lets the sharp points of the grit stick thru. Net result is the disc cuts and the chips fall out rather than embedding themselves in the disk. This works on Sanding disks, grinding disks, belts, rotary files, band saw blades and any abrasive cutting tool used on soft metals. Drill bits too!

Hope this works out for you.

Randy

[Just Duke]

You just made my day there, Randy. That's a perpetual issue at work when I have to weld aluminum, usually a lot of sanding and grinding involved to clean up the parts for repair and the discs/belts/wheels load up badly.

Gear

Yep I even use it with a chop saw when I used to cut aluminum. It's comes in 2-1/2 stick about 16 inches long.

[Just Duke]

WERE DONE! :)

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOP/SANDER8.jpg~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/SHOP/SANDER8.jpg.html)

[Just Duke]

She's in her permanent home on the patio seeing the dust that bellows up.