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All parts listed in our store are in stock & usually ship the same business day or the next.
Absolutely. Each item ships in the smallest possible to container, insured, expedited & tracked. We can however combine several items into the next box size to save some costs; savings are automatically refunded back to you. Please understand though that most parts are heavy & it makes no sense to cram too much stuff into a certain sized package, the parts will arrive damaged. If you’re purchasing one of the larger items, for instance a grinder chassis, as well as some of the smaller items, we can ship some of the smaller items in the same box as the chassis: the weight goes up so Fedex charges more but it does work out slightly cheaper than shipping parts individually. If you have your eye on multiple products & need an accurate shipping quote, shoot us an email & we’ll work it out for you.
Any motor from about 3/4hp & up works fine. 1700rpm motors work, they just do things a bit slower than 3450rpm motors (including making mistakes!). Either speed motor will do stock removal at full speed just fine; to turn small wheels or sharpen knives the belt speed will have to be slowed down & there are various means available to do this. A vfd is the ultimate to have, it obviously allows the widest range of speeds. Alternatively pulley systems & our 2-speed drive wheel also work nicely.
Here it is very important to be warned about folk selling open vfd’s for use on their “knife grinders”. These are vfd’s that are not designed to be used as standalone units, they’re designed to be incorporated in electrical enclosures on larger machinery. You can easily spot them by the vents on the sides & they normally have open electrical contact points on the bottom or back. They show up on Ebay listings with grinders (especially from places like Poland & China). Folks, these things ingest not only grit from grinding but also water when blades are quenched & they are therefore an extreme hazard in a knife making environment.
Our vfd’s are totally enclosed in nema rated enclosures.
- We do not have a Store Front but we do have a "Local Pickup" option where you can pick up your order in person after you completed the sale
- We need a day or two to get your order ready will send you an email as soon as everything’s ready to be picked up
What do I look for in a knife making belt grinder?
A. Versatility, Durability. Reliability. The absolute worst so-called knife grinders on the market are the ones made with pieces of grooved extruded aluminum. Why do folk use that then? Because it’s cheap, in most cases even free because they cut up salvaged server racks. Grinding grit builds up in the grooves & in no time your machine is worn loose. Some of these machines are painted black to hide the extrusions, be careful. Then there’s the machines made with steel tubing. A bad idea. They use tubing tooling arms which vibrate. You cannot upgrade to aluminum arms because the inside of the receptacle tubing has rounded edges. Often the “tension arm” is just a piece of tube stuck vertically into another piece of tube, on top of a spring. Grinding grit & water gets into that tube, soon rust & wear is the order of the day. Then there’s just a whole bunch of rip off artists selling absolute junk: feel free to contact us & we will point out the absurd flaws in their designs.
Our machines have evolved into highly reliable, highly versatile, dependable workhorses with an unparalleled range of high quality accessories. Buy with confidence!
A. Our wide range of manufacturing capabilities allows us complete freedom to select the correct design criteria. So if a part needs to made of steel & welded, we do that. If a part can be formed, making it stronger & cheaper than a milled part, then we form it. If a part needs to be steel instead of aluminum, we use steel & powder coat it to make it corrosion resistant. We laser most sheet metal, but if we can shear it we do that. If a part can be waterjetted instead of routed out, we do that. It is best to illustrate the value of this by analyzing some of our competitors’ products. First of all there are the guys working out of their garages. They can saw, drill & tap… so basically their whole machine is made just with those capabilities & it clearly shows, the machines look as if they were designed with just a ruler. Then there’s the next level, we call them the “mini-mill” guys. They have a little cnc milling machine, so their whole grinder is come hell or high water going to be made on that mill… & they mainly use aluminum because it machines easily. Then there’s the folk who design a rickety bolt together machine just so that it can be broken down into a small box, thereby luring customers with cheap shipping (the local guys selling a pile of plates in a box & just about all of the overseas guys). Now let’s compare this to the automotive industry. Imagine your car or truck was made exclusively on a milling machine, using billet aluminum. Can you imagine the cost! Can you imagine the wear! Think of the gears inside the transmission being made of aluminum instead of steel, just because aluminum machines easily? Or imagine the vehicle being made just so that it can be folded up & put in a USPS large Flat Rate box? Consider this when you shop for a belt grinder or grinder parts. Are you willing to overpay for parts that are badly manufactured in the most expensive way? How soon will aluminum parts wear out in a grit filled knife making environment? Is it worth pinching pennies on shipping costs for a machine that’s going to be bolted to your bench for a long long time?
And then there’s obviously the volume factor. OBM sells more hobby knife making equipment in more countries than our five closest competitors combined! That means we do absolutely everything in bulk & there’s no better way to make parts effectively than churning out huge numbers.
Our machines have evolved into highly reliable, highly versatile, dependable workhorses with an unparalleled range of high-quality accessories. Buy with confidence!
A. It’s all about money from advertising. Youtube has recently started allowing channel owners to remove comments as well as replies to comments which they don’t like, believe it or not. Couple that with folk who make “review” videos for a living (yes, these are not just guys in their garage, making unboxing vid’s for fun, they are highly monetized on Youtube & make small fortunes) & you end up with heavily skewed product reviews. Next time you look at a review of a grinder of which you can clearly see the flaws (no paint, flimsy design, high price for what you get etc.) & every single comment is positive, be very weary, you’re being misled.
“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. Abraham Lincoln
