Milling machines

I have seen a very low priced surface grinder listed by KBC for about $4500. Has anyone here used that machine?
Frank
 
Frank Niro said:
I have seen a very low priced surface grinder listed by KBC for about $4500. Has anyone here used that machine?
Frank
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Have not seen that one Frank, but have used the lower priced Grizzly surface grinders and they do fine.

I paid $800 from this old Delta / Rockwell many years ago.

 
javand said:
Except on integrals, I do not use a mill (I have two, very nice, knee mills) at all for making slipjoints. Neither does the guy that taught me, and he's an ABS Mastersmith that's been making pocketknives for 30 or 40 years.


We both wouldn't want to live without our surface grinders.


I will contest the idea that you need to convert a surface grinder to belts however. I do have one SG converted to belts, but I made sure to build it so I could switch back to stones conveniently. The only serious advantage of belts IMHO is in the ability to hog material, or occasionally to use odd abrasives for the finishes they offer (like scotchbrite belts or gator belts). This hogging ability is really useful for making damascus, not nearly as necessary for other work. In fact, in most cases, you're sacrificing accuracy. No matter how true or hard your contact wheel on a belt converted SG, the wheel will flex. It will cup and dish, and on top of that you have to deal with inaccuracies and variances in the belts, which aren't precision abrasives the way stones are.

Some people may think you need a belt conversion to keep from switching stones to get a fine finish. This is incorrect. I can put a better than 400 grit belt equivalent finish (that can be hand finished directly at 600 grit with minimal effort) with a 36 grit stone dressed properly, that'll be much more accurate for parallelism and flatness. I'm not just speculating here, I've indicated for this accuracy. Now of course there are techniques to mitigate this when using belts, however, unless you need the raw hogging ability, I have to ask, why make it more complicated if it's not necessary?


Many people will disagree with me here, YMMV, but I'd wager I've logged a few thousand more hours in front of a SG than 90% of other knifemakers. I don't say this to disparage anybody their tools or techniques, simply to challenge the idea that a belt conversion is necessary. I'm arguing that in most cases not only is it unnecessary, it's detrimental if you're doing it without good reason.


If you know why you need it, you definitely do. If you're just doing it because you heard it was a good idea, please save your money until you do have a legitimate need, and you understand the pros and cons.
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I agree mostly with Javan here, cept I can 'hog' as much or more with a stone than a belt set up. I've used surface grinders set up with belts in other makers shops, but will always run a stone here.
 
Not here either. There is a chance when using new or surplus stones, that they have a crack, typically from shipping. There's a simple "ring" test you can do to make sure they're sound. This should be done with *all* grinding stones of any type on any machine btw. When they shatter, they do so violently but if you ring test, you can be very confident they're sound.


I've crashed numerous parts and sent them flying into oblivion, never to be found again. On the stone side of these catastrophes I've had 3/4 deep chucks missing, but never had a broken stone.
 
Thanks for all the info. I found a 1hp 3 phase motor and will be looking for a VFD. I contacted Beaumont Metal Works about shipping a disc to Canada. I think I will try the one degree offset one.
 
You might like to look at a Rod Nielsen magnetic disc set up. You can get as many discs as you want with a magnetic hub and that way not have to take off the sandpaper every time you want to change grit size and waste a bunch. He is in Canada by the way.
Frank
 
I'll second the Neilson disc. I had two aluminum discs before I got it and didn't like them.

The Neilson discs are steel, you can get them with a knife edge (which is REALLY useful for many tasks, especially when working on pocket knives), they're very accurate. The hub is machined very accurately and mounts easily and true on a motor spindle. I had two aluminum discs that were out pretty bad and had wobble that couldn't be eliminated.

Of course, I also don't like the beveled discs, but you can get discs for the neilson that are beveled.
 
javand said:
I'll second the Neilson disc. I had two aluminum discs before I got it and didn't like them.

The Neilson discs are steel, you can get them with a knife edge (which is REALLY useful for many tasks, especially when working on pocket knives), they're very accurate. The hub is machined very accurately and mounts easily and true on a motor spindle. I had two aluminum discs that were out pretty bad and had wobble that couldn't be eliminated.

Of course, I also don't like the beveled discs, but you can get discs for the neilson that are beveled.
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+2 on the Nielsen system. I have both flat (knife-edge) and beveled discs... I use flat 95% of the time.
Erin
 
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