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Old 06-06-2017, 01:36 PM
jimmontg jimmontg is offline
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Location: Now live in Las Cruces NM.
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My Dayton 2x48 Review

It is basically a metal hogging machine with a 12" platen that is integral to the side plate that holds it to the motor and the idler wheel is anchored to it (it's a big cast steel angle). There isn't any way to change it except to put rubber on the drive wheel for small hollow grinds. No slack wheel grinding at all, but for sheer metal hogging and flat grinding it is great and is very quiet and for the price I paid, $228 shipping included I couldn't pass it up, but that sale price is over but I still can recommend it to anyone at $356 as a starter machine.

It has 3/4 HP TEFC Motor and is quite powerful. I thought mine was a 1 HP, but I misread the plate on the side of the motor, it is 3/4. I have shoved a piece of steel into it hard, but it kept going and it has more power than its next competitor the Kalamazoo 2x48 which has a 1/2 HP Baldor motor. The Dayton does not vibrate at all, something that cannot be said about the Kalamazoo even though it's not bad, but then the platen on the Kalamazoo is removable for slack belt grinding. The Dayton weighs 67 lbs. as compared to the Kalamazoo's 46 lbs. You can see where the vibration comes from right there and the Kalamazoo also has a sheet metal, too wide for the belt platen. The Kalamazoo also has a 5" rubber coated contact wheel for shaping or small hollow grinding. The big difference is the price, the Dayton is presently @ $356 shipping included and is made in Taiwan. The Kalamazoo is $409 at Jantz supply (the lowest price I've found) without shipping and is made in America, so you would pay almost $100 more.

The Dayton tracking is solid and there is no wobbling, but you need an Allen wrench to adjust it and it is inside the guard, the guard is the only sheet metal on the machine and even it is heavy duty. In the pics you will see where the tracking bolt is, it can be turned by hand a little and I suppose with use it will get a little easier because at first I couldn't move it at all with my fingers and I can now. In the fuzzy pic you can see the tracking bolt. Dumb place to put it between the moving belt. You can also see in the pics how thick the platen is. If you had access to a mill you could easily mill it for a two inch wide flat instead of the dumb 2 1/2" flat. The work table is small, but just as solid and thick as the rest of the machine, putting a bigger plate on it would be easy. It is adjustable in and out and the angle too.

As to the guard it is two pieces so if you want to remove the bottom to grind against the drive wheel you can, but I do not recommend this until you put some cork or rubber on it which I have done, but more because I bolted a .125 thick piece of stainless 2" wide on the platen. Here is a link to the grinder as sold.

https://www.zoro.com/dayton-belt-gri...Q&gclsrc=aw.ds

Bottom line on this machine, it is quiet, solid and built like a tank, more than powerful enough to hog metal at 4500 SFPM without vibration. It's problems are that the platen is 2 1/2" wide for a 2" belt so for plunge lines you'd have to be adjusting it side to side all the time or add a piece of 2" wide stainless like I did and put rubber on the drive & idler wheels to compensate for the extra thickness. It also is adjustable in that you can lock it in in position from vertical to horizontal.

If it was still $228 with free shipping I would recommend it to anyone happily, but for $356 shipping included I still would with some caveats, it does need some modifications, simply adding some 1/8" cork will make up for adding the 1/8" plate to the platen, there is enough "travel" in the belt tightener to compensate and it's easy to do as is drilling two clearance holes in the platen and tapping two 1/4-20 holes in the 2" wide plate I added. If you are a beginner and can do those two modifications it is a great machine, but it is flat grind only, but it does it very well.

This machine may have a low price tag, but it is not "cheap" it just doesn't have the flexibility one may want. 2x48 belts last a good while, though not as long as a 2x72, but are widely available and are less expensive. This machine will last a long long time if the motor is as solid as the rest of it and it seems to be.

Oh as an addition Tru-Grit.com will custom make 2 1/2x48 belts or will split 6x48 to 2 1/2 for you, but they have 10 belt minimums per grit for the custom made ones, but this machine will take them.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg belt sander 002.JPG (78.8 KB, 43 views)
File Type: jpg belt sander 003.JPG (81.6 KB, 37 views)
File Type: jpg belt sander 004.JPG (107.5 KB, 39 views)
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  #2  
Old 08-17-2017, 06:18 AM
SMT SMT is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
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Can you post pictures of mods made to accommodate 2" belts
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Old 08-18-2017, 05:24 PM
jimmontg jimmontg is offline
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I would, but am in hospital and not sure when I'm getting out of here. It is simply a 2 inch wide by 7 inch long piece of 1/8" stainless bolted onto the center of the platen so I can do a plunge cut. Don't really need the cork on the wheels. I'll take pictures of the modifications when I get out of here.
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Old 08-19-2017, 06:50 AM
SMT SMT is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
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Please get well soon and thanks for the info
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Old 12-23-2017, 04:06 PM
Lctm1982 Lctm1982 is offline
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Any updated pictures for these modifications. Thx
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Old 12-26-2017, 10:24 AM
jimmontg jimmontg is offline
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I'm sorry I don't have a camera right now and my phone is a flip phone and though it takes pics there isn't anyway to load into my PC.
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2x72, angle, baldor, beginner, belt, belts, custom, easy, flat, grinder, grinding, guard, hand, kalamazoo, lock, made, make, metal, motor, small, stainless, steel, supply, thickness, wheels


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