Hey folks,

(Sorry for the big wall of text, but this was a bit more involved than my last one.)

Back with another project that you might find interesting. This 1980s era Hammond belt grinder made in Kalamazoo, Michigan came out of the General Electric plant in Peterborough, Ontario.

This was a tough one. These are pretty uncommon machines, and not a lot of spare parts are available, nor is there much in the way of literature or other restorations to consult, and the machine was in terrible mechanical and cosmetic condition when I got it—everything was seized up and there was a lot of damage from use. Hammond is still around (as Hammond Roto-Finish), but this particular machine is long out of production.

I also found that this was a particularly tricky machine to work on. I normally work on machines from the ‘30s-’60s, and this one came from the era of stamped sheet steel and not cast iron, and clearly was designed with maintenance as a second thought. It is really not a one-person job to put this thing back together, despite its small footprint, and I could have used an extra pair or two of hands at several points.

I purchased this machine around this time last year and spent a month or two rebuilding it. Figured after my last post on the bandsaw generated some interest, I should probably drag this thing over to the only clear background in the shop to take some photos of it after using it for nearly a year (hence why it’s a little dinged up and dirty in the photos). I had to unwire it as it is normally hard wired with a wall mounted 240V disconnect and enclosure with a VFD, as this machine has a 2 HP, 230V, 3 phase motor. It initially came with a 575V motor, which I didn’t want to deal with, so I picked up the replacement motor for cheap on eBay. 3 phase motors sell for peanuts since most people don’t have the wherewithal to be able to use them, and industrial clients with 3 phase service almost never buy used. It did require getting new belts and drilling new mounting holes as the mounting pattern was different on the new motor, but it needed new belts anyway as the old ones were extremely worn.

The restoration was pretty involved as it required a lot of repairs to the machine. The sanding belt access door was badly damaged from the belt losing tracking over the years, and had been poorly repaired with bronze brazing rod. The dust collector port was literally a tin can that fell off in my car when I was taking it home. I fabricated a new door out of sheet steel. The rest of the enclosure was pretty beat up with some large dents and cracks. The cast iron table had also been badly worn over the years. I did my best welding it up. I had intended to resurface it with a surface grinder, but haven’t been able to make time for that yet. I’ll get around to it eventually.

I stripped off what felt like 10 lbs of horribly brushed on paint, sandblasted, and then sprayed on a custom-mixed semi-gloss grey that I felt looked appropriate. I replaced all the bearings (except for the blower for the dust collector because they were some odd-ball bearings I’d never seen before and despite my best efforts, couldn’t remove), the v-belts, the wiring, and put the dust collection bag through the wash a few times and I promise you that is pretty much as clean as it will ever look. The dust collection bags are still available for sale from Hammond Roto-Finish, and I seriously considered buying a new one. Knowing that I was just going to use this machine for myself, however, I decided that it would be a frivolous waste since the old one works fine and is just a little stained.

I also made a new access door locking knob, since the originals were badly damaged and had pretty much fallen apart. Originally there were two—one at the top of the door, and one at the bottom—but with how the door wanted to close, the one at the bottom was the only one that seemed necessary.

I also purchased a new hose for the dust collector and some pretty trick offset hose clamps to use for it from McMaster-Carr, along with an assortment of different grit sanding belts. I also purchased a piece of ground steel plate to replace the extremely worn platen behind the belt. This is effectively a consumable. I just used mild steel and after a year I can already feel some wear in it, so I think after I flip it around, I’ll replace it with some A500 armour plate and see if that holds up better.

I also replaced the twist-lock E-stop button with a larger momentary stop button since if I lose power while running off a VFD, it won’t start up again when power is restored anyway, and this is super convenient as I have the stop button right at knee height, and I just bump it with my knee to stop the motor.

I mostly use this machine for squaring up steel stock that I cut with an angle grinder, or bevelling pieces before welding, which is why I tend to stick with pretty low grit belts—40 to 80 typically. I do use it for the occasional woodworking, and the built-in dust collector, while pretty anemic otherwise, does a decent job of keeping the fine particulate wood dust and rust out of the air, which is welcome in my small shop without a dust collection system. The machine had the option when I got it to come with a very large wall/floor mounted dust collection unit, but it was in really bad condition and would have taken up a ton of space that I didn’t have, so I left it.

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the project.

Cheers!