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As a sort of girly girl growing, I never took shop classes or summer jobs doing construction and such. So, I'm starting a small part-time business and one of the pieces of equipment is a bench grinder. I would like to be portable with this line of work, but I don't know what I need to get the bench grinder off the bench in my house and onto a table at a flea market without a plug-in and make it work.
What I've figured out so far is that I'll need a generator or work it off a battery of some sort. I've read things about inverters and don't know how they figure into it. I do know my sister says that her big generator will blow out her microwave if she tries to nuke something while on generator power, and I don't want to ruin my grinder motor because I'm using a wrong hook-up/power source.
Can anyone tell me or point me to some good basics of setting up something like this? Much appreciated!
Yes, it does plug into a wall outlet. That picture you've posted seems like overkill for intermittent use of an 8" bench grinder. I was hoping that I could get something small, quiet and not too fume-y.
I think I need to keep researching; I'd like to understand the process!
Generally speaking just to run a bench grinder assuming it is 3/4 HP and there are other things that you will enevitably will want to run as well like lights or refrigerator and such I wouldn't recomend any thing less than 3500 watt generator.
Honda makes the most reliable and almost the most quiet units available.
Any good generator is going to cost you, and it will take some learning to appreciate what you can and cannnot do with it ,and how to take care of it .
And no matter how people beg you never compromise loaning or letting others running stuff while you are in operation.
For that matter you are not a public utility .
A generator is like a car or any other piece of machinery and in time wear and tear begin to take their tole,the closer you run things to it limits the faster it will age,and vise versa. Usually I prefir a generator twice, or better ,as large as required for this reason.
Your motors in a grinder or refrigerator have asignificantly higher starting amperage ,up to 4 times the full load running amperage .
People burn up air compressor motors and the generator because of this issue.
Remember to use fuel stablizers when ever you fill it ,for a couple of reasons .
Generators usually set dormant for long periods of time ,gas ages.
Generators get very warm while in operation and there is vibration , this also excellerates the age of fuel.
Stablizers help deal with moisture but it is also important to keep the fuel tank full to reduce moisture from accumulating in it .
Water ,even little bits are not your friend neither is alcohol laden fuels which are usually water laden as well.
Water will rust the fuel tank and corrode the carborator bowl .
Beyond the leak that is enevatable due to corosion the corosion will create a debris breaking down the float valve seal .
If you are storing fuel in gas cans ,especially for this operation ,NEVER empty the storeage vessel in the fuel tank ,and you may avoid inadvertantly dumping water in.
And yes you can get water directly from the pump , it happens.
I hope this helps
Humid atmospheres tend to be more troublesome in this area, but all areas can have problems.
I have been a small engine mechanic most of my life, and my family has an air compressor shop we work on generators as well.
A bench grinder is an odd bit of equipment. Normally it is very intermittent in use, but takes a high current draw. Something smaller, like a dremel tool, takes minimal current and yet can put an edge on a blade. Setting up a generator in a flea market is going to make you a pariah. What you could do instead is make a pedal powered one, something like this:
Thanks, everyone. This is really helpful for me. I am starting a knife sharpening business and that's what the grinder is used for. Speed = volume = profits in such a business. I've got an Apex for hand honing blades, but that wouldn't be fast enough to do 6 or more dull blades an hour. With a grinder and a variety of wheels & rouges, I can set up and polish an 18 degree edge very quickly.
Maybe an inverter and battery setup would be better for me.
In the places I've scoped out, it's very hit or miss if I could get a close-enough space, or be able to idle the car enough to run equipment without creating an issue from exhaust fumes.
But with all the good info you fellas have given me, I've been reading and googling and it looks like I can get a decent sine wave inverter and battery and battery charger for the biz all for less than $500, and probably under $350. That's great!
I really appreciate all the help I've gotten. Thank you all so much!
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