A contact wheel is a must-have for hollow grinding knife blades, but they’re also fantastic for smooth, efficient grinding. This attachment is simply a fork that can hold either a 8″ or 10″ contact wheel, with an adjustable flange that allows the tracking to be adjusted independent of the main tracking on the grinder. This independent tracking adjustment is helpful to make sure the belt will always track correctly when switching between different attachments, different rotation directions or even different wheels within the attachment. The axle of the wheel is positioned in line with the axis of the grinder’s main hinge, which means the wheel tilts in place when you change the orientation of the grinder. This way the table doesn’t need to be moved at all when tilting the machine. To see it in more detail, watch the video below:

Plans

If you have a Gen 1 Tilting Belt Grinder and would like to build this attachment for it, you can download a Sketchup model of it below, as well as a PDF plan. This attachment is not compatible with the Gen 2 belt grinder. Click here to see the Gen 2 design.

Sketchup model: 10 contact wheel.zip

PDF plans: Contact wheel attachment plans.pdf

Note: The .zip file above contains a Sketchup (.skp) file, so you will need to un-zip and extract the .skp file before opening it. You will need the latest version of Sketchup in order to view this model. The pdf file can be viewed right here in your browser, or downloaded.