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Old 06-22-2014, 10:39 AM
Jeremy Jeremy is offline
Steel Addict
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Idaho
Posts: 234
I think it's finished...mostly. I did some testing and checking and it appears like things will work. I know I'll be fine tuning as things go along, but it seems that it at least works relatively well at the moment. I got some Lexan from the big box store, cut it to size, then used my heat gun to get things warm. Bent it around the top wheel above the platen and let it cool. Bent up some flat bar, drilled holes in both, and bolted them together. I ground down the heads that were sticking through so I could position the guard close to the belt. I used rare earth magnets to hold the bar to the platen and it makes it easy to adjust the angle/position of it. (Noticed later the nuts were vibrating off the bolts, so I added some permanent thread lock to them.)






I used more flat bar and magnets on the tension bar with the drip line. Then I bent up some flashing I had for the gutter to catch any water/spray, since it was sitting around and I also had access to a metal break to make things pretty easy. I drilled a hole in the flat bar to put the drip line through and zip tied the end of the tube to "plug" it. I did some previous testing before cutting the drip line shorter to see what would work. I used some little drill bits and pin vises to put in some holes for the water to drip through. Just a little twist of the valve on and off and it controls the flow. A little fiddling with the Lexan shield and it keeps the water going where I want it. I found out when I position it close enough to the belt, I can actually see the water it catches from flying off gathering in a wide "drop" between the belt and the bottom edge of the Lexan before falling down the face of the platen.

It looks like the metal splash guard is out of alignment, but it's just the angle of the photos.







This was a fairly old/dull belt and when I started grinding to see how it did, things still heated up, though not as quickly as before. Guessing a sharp belt that actually cut vs this one would probably stay cool longer. At a minimum, though the dust will be kept down which is huge for me and my little shop.

Thanks to everyone for great advice and help. There's no way I'd have thought to try something like this without ideas from others.


Jeremy
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