Hello from Coastal Georgia

**EricBon** · Jun 15, 2017, 12:21 PM

Hello everyone! I'm so thankful to have found this group. There are so many, well-thought-out ideas and plans to discover here. As a custom knife maker, I am always looking for ideas and tooling that will enable me to be more efficient and more precise in every aspect of my craft. So nice to see all these other master tinkerers all in one place.

Thanks again!

Eric Bonner
Bonner Knives

**Jon** · Jun 15, 2017, 05:52 PM

Hi Eric - welcome to HomemadeTools.net

Always good to have a knife maker on board. What are you working on next? Do you already have a belt grinder that you like?

**EricBon** · Jun 20, 2017, 12:42 AM

Thanks for the warm welcome Jon. Right now, I have several new blades that I am trying to get out the door, but I am having a great deal of issues with my 10" flat contact wheel. I've been running a Bader BIII for the last five years, and have never had problems until recently. My flat wheel is the one I use for my finishing grinds, which have to be flawless. However, the wheel has been wearing on one side to the point that I cannot fight it any long and still be able to get the crisp plunges, and matching radiuses that I have to have. I contacted the factory, and they can turn the wheel and true it up again, but it still does not address the root problem. These machines are not new to me, and I have looked it over extensively, but nothing indicates why this would be happening. Also, the side of the wheel that is wearing is not even on the side of my dominant hand. Overall though, the Bader is not giving me the rigidity and precision that I need at this point. So any advice, ideas, or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

**Jon** · Jun 20, 2017, 11:44 AM

Interesting. I'm going to put your question in our newsletter to see what kind of replies we can get. We love a tool mystery.

**garycullen** · Jun 21, 2017, 08:20 AM

Originally Posted by EricBon

Thanks for the warm welcome Jon. Right now, I have several new blades that I am trying to get out the door, but I am having a great deal of issues with my 10" flat contact wheel. I've been running a Bader BIII for the last five years, and have never had problems until recently. My flat wheel is the one I use for my finishing grinds, which have to be flawless. However, the wheel has been wearing on one side to the point that I cannot fight it any long and still be able to get the crisp plunges, and matching radiuses that I have to have. I contacted the factory, and they can turn the wheel and true it up again, but it still does not address the root problem. These machines are not new to me, and I have looked it over extensively, but nothing indicates why this would be happening. Also, the side of the wheel that is wearing is not even on the side of my dominant hand. Overall though, the Bader is not giving me the rigidity and precision that I need at this point. So any advice, ideas, or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I am wondering if an idler wheel or the axles that support it are worn and causing all the belt pressure to be on one side of your contact wheel. I would take it completely apart and measure everything with a micrometer. There is a group on Face book called : Home Built Belt Grinders that you could post your question on and see if any one has had this problem. Most guys on there are knifemakers or at least try very hard to be. Here is a picture of the grinder I built. It runs very good but I don't make knives. I did some 45 years ago but I couldn't make more than $1.00 an hour! LOL

**garycullen** · Jun 21, 2017, 08:28 AM

I have several Belt grinders. I like them all equally as they each have their own purpose.

Hello from Coastal Georgia-img_0834-1-.jpg

**paulseso** · Jun 22, 2017, 02:00 AM

Hi Eric, What Gary says makes the most sense to me. From your description it does sound as if something is out of alignment. The friction is normally spread equally over the entire surface which results in equal wear straight across.
The amount of misalignment would not even have to be visible to the human eye. You didn't mention how long it took to get to this state but I'm willing to bet it didn't happen overnight and was over a long period of time.
Axels take a lot of pressure and if not high tensile metal they can end up getting slightly bent, but in your case you mention that the side wearing down isn't even your dominant hand side, which does in a small way exclude the axle from being bent from user pressure. Also check the wheel bearings on the wheel for more wear on one side than the other.