Scrap Metal Grinder Tool Rest

I've been wanting to build some new Tool-Rests for my grinders for a while, the ones that come with the grinders are generally useless. Seeing as there is a competition currently going to build something on the cheap I figured it's a good time to dig through my scrap bucket and make up a prototype tool rest. The only thing I had to buy was a pack of M6 bolts with a counter-sunk head.

1. 7mm Plate
2. 10mm Flat Bar
3. 20mm Round Bar
4. 50mm x 3mm flat bar
5. M5 Bolts (long)
6. M6 Counter sink bolts
7. Print out the attached plans

Tools

1. Bench Grinder
2. Angle Grinder
3. Drill
4. M6 Tap & Tap Wrench
5. Hacksaw
6. File

The first step was to cut a couple of pieces of the 50mm x 3mm flat bar to length. I then clamped the two pieces together and traced around the original toolrest, but for your convenience just print out the PDF plans and glue them onto the steal.

Now centre punch a couple of holes that are outside the pattern and drill them out, you can now bolt both pieces together and remove the clamps. This is an easy way to make sure both mounts are identical.

Punch and drill the two holes that will be used for the slots then use an angle grinder and hacksaw to cut the slot out. Use a file to smooth the slot and take it to the correct size, test the bolts that hold the toolrest onto the grinder can move smoothly in the slot.

Next mark and drill the final hole through the mounts. You now need to bolt the two mounts together through this hole and one of the slots and remove the other bolts.

Lastly, just cut out the final shape with a grinder and smooth off all the edges.

The spacer needs to be the same length as the grinder guard is wide. Measure your grinder and cut the spacer to this length. I used an old piece of round bar off a shaft of some kind.

Mark the centre of the bar and then drill it all the way through.

Since I'm using scrap for this project I had to cut the plat out of this piece of junk from my parts bucket.

Once the plate was ready I cut it to size and then cut a slot into one side, the slot needs to be a bit wider than the width of your grinding wheel. On the underside of the rest grind or file a 45-degree bevel on the slot. This will allow the tool rest to stay close to the grinding wheel even when it's on an angle.

You need to work out the spacing for the holes, just partly assemble the toolrest and then measure the total width of the grinder and the two mounts.This is the outside distance of the blocks (seen in the next step), the holes need to be drilled in about 5mm towards the centre of this (this is the centre of the 10mm blocks).

Once I drilled the holes I measured the head of the bolts and counter sunk the holes with a larger drillbit. The counter sunk bolts are the only item I had to buy for this project. I actually assembled this with some other random bolts I had on hand until I got the correct ones.

I used a piece of 10mm flat bar and cut off a couple of pieces and then drilled the centre hole. Similiar to the two mounts, we are going to bolt these parts together to make sure they are the same size.

I then ground one side flat and drilled out the holes on each block. Next, I just used an M6 tap and threaded the holes.

I then used a couple of long bolts to act as handles while I ground the other end of the blocks into a semi-circle.

You can test fit the parts at this stage.

I had some more 3mm flat bar that was an offcut from my Epoxy Mixing Table it even had a couple of holes already drilled that I used to clamp it together!

I then marked out the layout of the sides and drilled the holes, I had the distance a little wrong so went back and drilled a few more holes so I had some adjustment options, I didn't want a slot as it would be harder to keep the toolrest level.

I once again bolted the parts together through the new holes and cut out the sides with an angle grinder.

Lastly, they just needed the ends rounded over and the edges smoothed over.

Assemble all the parts and test the Toolrest on the grinder to make sure it works as expected, I had to make some adjustments to a few parts at this stage. Don't worry though, the attached plans are up to date so you don't have to make my mistakes.

Finally, just give all the parts a clean-up or lightly sand them. I used some brake cleaner on the treaded holes to remove any oil and then used some thread locker to hold the bolts in place. The other bolts are just what I had on hand, it would be better if they were slightly longer and had some quick adjustment nuts, but this is fine for now.

Now just give everything a light oil to prevent rust and install it onto your grinder.