Grinder Adapter

[Dave Monk]

A couple of years ago I bought a Rikon variable speed grinder to sand and shape my intarsia pieces. The top picture is an adapter that I found that would fit a 5/8" shaft. For it to fit good I had to cut the threads off the grinder shaft.  In December Rockler had the low speed grinder on sale so I bought one. The slower speed  seems to work better for sanding and shaping.  I decided I didn't want to cut the shaft off so I went to a machine shop and had an adapter made. Works great.  Sure wasn't cheap but boys toys aren't.

[jollyred]

I did the same thing for an old furnace motor, but I had the end of the shaft threaded to fit a 1/2" Jacob's chuck.  The motor is 1750 rpm, which I think is just right for sanding and shaping with larger bits.   I had it done for free at a technical college I was teaching at.  One of the students in the machining course got to thread a hardened shaft to fit the chuck, and I got a basically very versatile tool at low cost.  Been using it for about 35 years now.

Tom

[rjweb]

Dave, nice setup, how did you ever make out with your sander or bandsaw that the company wasn’t helping, RJ 

[Dave Monk]

8 hours ago, rjweb said:

Dave, nice setup, how did you ever make out with your sander or bandsaw that the company wasn’t helping, RJ 

I did get the bandsaw blade replaced. 

8 hours ago, rjweb said:

Dave, nice setup, how did you ever make out with your sander or bandsaw that the company wasn’t helping, RJ 

After jumping up and down and screaming I did get their attention.  That is an exaggeration. I finely was able to talk to a customer service person which I told that I would come in person to their office ( only 45 minutes from me) until something got resolved.  Long story short I did  get the part I needed to fix it but I will never buy another piece of equipment made by them.