I’m not going to try to describe what this video is about except to say you may enjoy it if you like working with metal or tools. I recommend watching it in full-screen if you can. The cinematography is beautiful.
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 "Here, the rescued charcoal grill once again stands tall, thanks to its newly donated and professionally fitted prosthetic leg. The grill appears fully ready and even eager for handling yet another full summer of seriously grilling many more delicious meals." Reporting by Blabbermouth Bobblehead While pictures of the heroic rescue and salvage operation were unfortunately unavailable for publication, DP reporters were able to obtain exclusive images of the miraculously salvaged charcoal grill, which appears ready to stand tall through yet another summer of heavy cooking use and abuse thanks to its custom new prosthetic leg, shown below. This leg used to be a mop handle, and was made available by the tired old mop, which had selflessly signed a permission slip authorizing medical authorities to use any such body parts as may be of use to help others when it passed away. It died peacefully of old age in its sleep just as the need to use the grill arose, and so authorities wasted no time in putting together this rescue/salvage operation. Both a 4×6 metal cutting bandsaw and an X2 mini-mill volunteered their services for this emergency grill rescue, although the X2 mini-mill humbly downplayed its part in this miraculous salvage operation, referring to itself as only being used as just a “precision drill press” in the resuscitation efforts. The 4×6 bandsaw offered no comment, preferring to stand quietly in its corner of the garage, out of all the hubbub and excitement, just waiting to cut something, anything, hopefully soon. The 4×6 bandsaw cut the metal tubing mop handle to length, and the rubber handle end was cut down just a bit to remove the hole in the end that was previously used to hang the mop up on a hook on the wall. This was deemed to be too structurally weak for grill leg duty and so was simply removed, leaving the remaining rubber handle to act as a foot. Here some of the details of the X2 mini-mill’s efforts can be seen, with 3 pretty close to identical sheet metal screws being dug out from a scrap box and used to attach the prosthetic leg inside the top mounting end of the grill’s original leg. Three screws spaced roughly equidistantly apart now hold it securely in place: Further investigation by this reporter revealed that it is common for grills of this type to rust away and weaken at the spot near the base of their legs where they are drilled through for the bottom grill rack to mount into. What eventually happens is this spot rusts, weakens, and finally the bottom of the leg breaks off. This makes the grill become prone to falling over and unsafe for further use. Often such afflicted grills are retired and salvaged out to metal recycling plants. Thanks to the selfless gift of life from the now dearly departed old mop, and of course the tireless and skilled efforts of the 4×6 bandsaw and X2 mini-mill, there is at least one charcoal grill that is not going to go out that way just quite yet. Lots of life to live and grilling to give left in this old beast, for at least another long hot summer, maybe two. DP – Disassociated Press. All Rights Reserved. John Z. can be found offering excellent advice in a number of machining and metalworking discussion groups. – Editor
The OEM table is made of cast aluminum. It pivots on and locks with a single large screw. Firm pressure on the table can overcome this screw and the table will move with the belt running, which is very dangerous. My advice is to dump it and build a decent table. The OEM platen is stamped mild steel. It is okay for light use like shaping Popsicle sticks but will not last long grinding lathe tools. The platen is mounted solidly to the chassis and is fairly stiff but pressure on the belt will wear a divot into it quickly so basically it’s useless once this happens. Resolving these deficiencies isn’t difficult but it requires some fabrication. I’ll show you how I addressed them. The Platen FixA grinder platen has to be solid and unyielding, flat and ideally long wearing despite driving a grinding belt and grit over its surface. No steel platen I know of will withstand this kind of abuse for long but a ceramic glass liner will. This liner is actually a high temperature glass material originally developed by Corning and is commonly sold by knife making suppliers in 2-inch wide X 1/4-inch thick slabs of varying lengths. Commonly known as Pyroceram, it is usually mounted to a steel backing plate with JB Weld. This stuff is highly wear and heat resistant and only a full-time knife maker is likely to ever wear one out. If you do no other mods to your grinder at least do this one. I used a 2-inch wide X 9-inch long X 1/4-inch thick piece of O-1 precision ground steel as a platen/backing plate because I wanted a flat mounting surface that would not move with heat over time. I know that mild steel can move with localized heat and while this may not break the epoxy bond … it might. So far, I have had no separation issues so this worked for me. I drilled and tapped two 1/4-20 holes on each edge so the platen can be flipped over if the liner ever wears on one end. A piece of 1/8-inch thick X 1.5-inch wide angle iron (not aluminum) is used to attach this backing piece to the side of the chassis using the OEM screws and platen mounting holes. The mounting holes in the angle iron are slotted to allow squaring of the platen to the belt. Offset your platen and chassis screws if you copy this; the way I did it works but it would be better if the screws were clear of each other.
I put some oil on the tip of some 1/4-inch screws and use nuts to lock them down with their ends just flush with the epoxy side of the steel platen. This is to keep the holes clear of epoxy. After cleaning both contact surfaces with lacquer thinner, a 2 X 9 X 1/4-inch piece of Pyroceram is bedded onto the face of the platen with an even layer of JB Weld. I covered the face of the glass with a thin piece of plywood and clamped it with 4 spring clamps and allowed it to dry for a full 24 hours. JB Weld has the highest heat tolerance of any commonly available epoxy, at least to my knowledge. Ideally, you want to have a ledge under the glass liner to keep it from being knocked loose but mine has been stable for many years without a ledge. Be sure to use blue Loc-Tite to attach the platen to the grinder chassis so it won’t vibrate loose but can be easily removed if needed.
The Table Fix
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