belt grinder DO not come with motor ! seriously ON TOPIC

[Alistair Hosie]

Well even if it Do come with motor, surely for this price you could do much better. I recon I could make this and Do it with a motor I have lying around. Question is surely this is a lot of money for a few days work and around maybe $50 -ish for materials someone is IMHO getting very greedy? Or am I completely wrong and indeed this is worth every penny? Alistair


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KNIFE-MAK...IAAOSw3YNXaBF3

[MattiJ]

Well even if it Do come with motor, surely for this price you could do much better. I recon I could make this and Do it with a motor I have lying around. Question is surely this is a lot of money for a few days work and around maybe $50 -ish for materials someone is IMHO getting very greedy? Or am I completely wrong and indeed this is worth every penny? Alistair


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KNIFE-MAK...IAAOSw3YNXaBF3

Maybe he is not very good in engineering department and it took him hundreds of hours to design
Construction looks bit flimsy, especially when you consider the price..

I was about to say that the rubberized contact wheels cost more than 50 bucks but it wasn't even included in the price

[Paul Alciatore]

I am not familiar with the value of the British pound, but that seems like about 10 times what is MAY be worth. Notice my emphasis on the word "may" as I am not even sure it would be worth 10% of their price.

It appears to be a shop made tool; home made, that is. They don't even say what it is made of. The bottom rails appear to be aluminum V rail. But then what? Aluminum? Steel? Clay? ???

And I don't like the design. That outboard arm that holds the idler roller is secured to the extension rail with a single bolt (1/4" or M6? perhaps). That is not going to hold it very well against the belt tension. Two bolts would be a lot better and a weld would be a lot better. There are other welds on it, so why not here at a critical junction point?

I would say it is a piece of cr#& and grossly, GROSSLY overpriced. You would be better served with a Chinese design.

[bollie7]

Wow. I see what you mean. Down here that would be around $3000 aud + the Australia tax.
peter

[reggie_obe]

I'd snap it up (were I in the U.K.) before another pair of sharp eyes sees it.
Wait a second, I've got an idea, power it from that treadmill you were given, that you stripped to bits. Variable speed, perfect!

[epicfail48]

Nah, that seems pretty accurate to me. Belt grinders are bloody expensive, even the flipping wheels cost ~$125-150 for a set buying them. Yeah, you can make one yourself for less, and a lot of guys do, me included, but if you dont have the requisite tools, then the value is determined by the person selling

[reggie_obe]

Nah, that seems pretty accurate to me. Belt grinders are bloody expensive, even the flipping wheels cost ~$125-150 for a set buying them. Yeah, you can make one yourself for less, and a lot of guys do, me included, but if you don't have the requisite tools, then the value is determined by the person selling

If you don't have the tools....or the time or you live on a tiny island which has scraped or sold off most of its major industries.

[MattiJ]

If you don't have the tools....or the time or you live on a tiny island which has scraped or sold off most of its major industries.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Belt-Grinde....c100005.m1851

Looks way more robust and comes with rubber wheels and motor

[KJ1I]

Did no one else notice that 3 others have been sold and that is the "last one"?

[Black Forest]

I think you all are being a bit harsh. The design is a proven design. If you look at the individual parts and what it would take to make them on a one by one basis there are a lot of hours involved in building this unit. Of course you could build it yourself for much less if you have the tools to do so but he built these to sell so that is a whole different ballgame. The overhead involved in production of an item is what raises the price.

For me his price is OK, not a bargain but certainly not a ripoff.

[Davek0974]

I think you all are being a bit harsh. The design is a proven design. If you look at the individual parts and what it would take to make them on a one by one basis there are a lot of hours involved in building this unit. Of course you could build it yourself for much less if you have the tools to do so but he built these to sell so that is a whole different ballgame. The overhead involved in production of an item is what raises the price.

For me his price is OK, not a bargain but certainly not a ripoff.

Nah, I'm sorry but i disagree, this is a pile of metal, thats all. The base is extruded channel - why, because its easy, why not use some box section. The rest is too simple to command that price, I'm not saying its bad just not worth the price.

Probably £100 max in metal, supposing buying in small quantities, a couple of hours to mill/drill, there are no fancy profiles, 20 minutes to clean/weld, no finish applied - powder-coat, spray etc.

If i were marketing that, I would pitch it at around £700 probably, WITH a suitable motor fitted and a free belt.

[Black Forest]

Nah, I'm sorry but i disagree, this is a pile of metal, thats all. The base is extruded channel - why, because its easy, why not use some box section. The rest is too simple to command that price, I'm not saying its bad just not worth the price.

Probably £100 max in metal, supposing buying in small quantities, a couple of hours to mill/drill, there are no fancy profiles, 20 minutes to clean/weld, no finish applied - powder-coat, spray etc.

If i were marketing that, I would pitch it at around £700 probably, WITH a suitable motor fitted and a free belt.

Does your estimate include bearings, nuts and bolts, etc.? What do you set as your per hour shop rate? Set up time is more than 20 minutes to weld even with my fixturing table.
Now we get to the business side of the equation. Lets say everything is ordered online as far as parts go. Look at how many parts are involved that would need to be ordered. Each part needs to be ordered and then at some time, time spent to pay the bill if not payed at time of ordering. We will lump insurance, electricity, etc. into the shop hourly rate you provide. Now we have marketing expenses which could be out of pocket as well as time. The list goes on as far as expenses he will have before he can count a profit. Think also on the time spent either talking with or answering questions with potential customers. Pick a number yourself regarding the numbers of inquiries. But think of 30 which I think is conservative. At only five minutes each is 150 minutes so 2.5 hours. The list goes on and on. If a company wants to stay in business they have to have a factor of a minimum of 7 and closer to 10 times the cost to sell at to remain in business. If not they are a hobby business and can not survive. China has other economic rules that don't apply here.

Just sayin.......!

[Davek0974]

This is all presumption but I would hazard a guess that this is not made in a professional production environment - more like myself - a home-shop micro business. The item does not look professional, does not even come with a motor! - This of course negates them from any issues with electrical safety etc but does mean you are selling a part-finished product.

Marketing expenses? Ebay is free until you get an order, even then it works out pretty much ok for most products.

There are far better finished machines than that for similar money WITH a motor fitted and (hopefully) aligned and tested.

I would plasma cut all the shaped parts, use steel throughout, MIG weld, minimal jigs needed, bearings are 10 a penny, very little to machine.

I know where I'd put my money if i wanted one.

[dian]

in the states you have kits for several hundreds $. here you dont. and a couple of hours build time? may be, if done by robots. its all in the production numbers. you can get several pcs of tvs for that price. but if i had somebody come in and fix the hydraulic pump on the sg, thats whad i would expect to pay.

[Black Forest]

This is all presumption but I would hazard a guess that this is not made in a professional production environment - more like myself - a home-shop micro business. The item does not look professional, does not even come with a motor! - This of course negates them from any issues with electrical safety etc but does mean you are selling a part-finished product.

Marketing expenses? Ebay is free until you get an order, even then it works out pretty much ok for most products.

There are far better finished machines than that for similar money WITH a motor fitted and (hopefully) aligned and tested.

I would plasma cut all the shaped parts, use steel throughout, MIG weld, minimal jigs needed, bearings are 10 a penny, very little to machine.

I know where I'd put my money if i wanted one.

The unit if made in a production shop could be made for less money per unit if making parts for 100 belt grinders at a time. It costs the same to order materials for 1 as it does for 1000 in terms of administrative man hours.

And I would make a bet you couldn't build and exact replica of that belt grinder in less than 8 hours. Wanna bet, I'm in?