Are you tired of the tiny platform that was supplied on your bench grinder? If youre not ready to shell out for a Wolverine grinding system, but cant stand the thought of sharpening another tool until its fixed, then heres the tutorial youve been looking for. All you need is an hour and a few supplies to make your grinding platform look like this!
So, first things first. You need some material to make your new platform out of. This is a piece of 1/4" stainless steel. The platform by no means need to be made of stainless steel. If you are unsure of where to pickup such material and dont want to pay McMaster, check around with your local machine shop for scraps. Ive laid out my cut lines (3" X 5") with a sharpie and will be using an angle grinder with a cut off wheel to cut out my piece. I find that I get a much better cut if I take multiple passes instead of hogging all the material away at once.
This next step was a little tricky, and my assistant wasnt home to take a process picture. Once the piece was cut out, I notched the recess in the plate with the angle grinder slightly wider than my grinding wheel. I then used the bench grinder to remove the rest of the material and create a chamfer on the underside of the platform so that I can have less clearance between the wheel and grinding platform. You may think that this steep was extra work. Maybe it was, but my reasoning is that I didnt want the platform to make contact with the side of the wheel while I was grinding the recess. Ive heard one too many stories about wheel exploding from improper use... Nuff said.
Now I need to mark where the original platform will register on the underside of the new platform. For this, I simply placed the new platform on top of the original platform (while on the grinder). After I was happy with the placement, I used a Sharpie to mark the outline on the underside of the new platform.
If that didnt make sense, heres what youre trying to accomplish. You want the notch in the new platform to be centered on the grinding wheel. You also want to be able to fully adjust the platform angle. If you have one of the Wood River slow speed grinders, your marking should be similar to mine. Either way, take your time with this step. it would really be a pain to undo this after the epoxy has set. I used the marine grade epoxy. If it would make you feel better, you can weld the two pieces together or drill and tap for from flat head screws. I dont foresee any troubles with the epoxy method. I did give the bond a full 24 hours to cure under clamping pressure before removing it. I also gave it a good smack with a hammer and noticed no degradation in the bond. I would encourage you to do the same.
I also decided to fix another gripe Ive had with this grinder, which is the platform angle adjustment bolt. Every time you need to change the platforms angle, it requires getting the wrenches. I replaced that bolt with one of these adjustable handles. Now changing the platform angle is very quick and easy.
I hope this quick tutorial was helpful and that you no longer fuss when you need to change around the grinder for sharpening a different tool.
As always, let me know if you have any questions or found this tutorial helpful. Also, if you modified your grinder, let me know!
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