Surface grinder options; Wuertz attachment or modify a dedicated grinder?

Bob Ohlemann

Bob Ohlemann

Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
1,180
I want to add a surface grinder to my shop for getting my blades flattened out and consistent thickness. I see my options as adapting the Travis Wuertz grinding attachment to my GIB or buying an old manual feed 612 or 618 surface grinder and converting it for 2x72 belts. First question is, does anybody know what Travis is getting for his grinder attachments? Cost is always a factor and I only have about $1k to spend. I'm pretty sure I can buy and convert a old surface grinder for this task within budget but there are a lot of unknowns when buying old iron and it would take up a fair amount of floor space which I could probably free up with some rearranging. What do you guys think?

Bob
 
I have the Wuertz surface grinding attachment and it works very well. I don't remember what I paid for it. you can go to the Wuertz web site and call Travis to get the price.
 
What is the advantage to converting an old surface grinder over to belts?
 
Last edited:
You can take a lot more off per pass with practice, and you can use finer belts to get a better finish than possible with a stone. And, less monkeying around dressing a stone wheel.

As to the original question, no doubt the TW surface attachment is a very handy item- but I think it may even be up $1500 right now. A dedicated surface grinder, if you have to floor space and can supply correct power, will have more capacity and be preferable. It may get you up to $1500 though if you buy one at $900 and have to get a VFD and convert to belts... I'd still rather have the floor model. A 6x18 will give you a lot more room for blades or billets. Make sure though, that you get a working mag chuck with the machine- acquiring one separately, even used, can add hundreds to your cost.
 
I think the points in favor of a stand alone grinder make sense for me. Additionally, I do other machine work so the flexibility of having a dedicated grinder will probably fit my needs better. Anyone have any links to belt conversion projects for surface grinders?

Bob
 
If you have the room, a standalone grinder is capable of doing much much more than the attachment. Especially once you start factoring in things like mag sine chucks, fixtures, etc.

You can easily find one if you're patient and good at finding deals for less than the price of the attachment.


If however space is at a major premium, or you've got bad luck with used tools. The attachment may make sense. I wouldn't trade my surface grinder for anything else in my shop though personally.
 
I just received my SG from Travis today.
He has two units available, 9 3/4" SG is $1,500
And the 13 3/4 model is $1,800.

I agree that a stand alone may be the way to go if you have the room but Travis's SG will take 10 thousands per pass without any problem.

-Eric
 
So I just missed out on a really good deal on a Boyar-Schultz 618 w/chuck for $750. I was at a horse show Wednesday through Sunday. Wednesday night when I got to my hotel room I checked out Craigslist and this grinder which had previously been posted for $1k had a price drop to $750. Problem was I was committed for the next four days. I decided that I would call the guy if the ad was still up when I got home. Yesterday morning the ad was still up so I called the guy. He says it's still there but a guy was coming in from Arkansas to pick it up; should be there within the hour. He said he'd give me a call if it fell through...it didn't. Bummer! Not many of these come up for sale in the DFW area. If anyone has a line on a similar machine in the sub-$1k price range, hit me up. I am on the hunt!

Bob
 
Oh man, sorry about that deal you missed! I hate it when stuff like that happens to me. I have had it happen to where I was in a hotel on the other side of the country and idly looking at Craigslist back home, saw a great deal and couldn't get to it.

Keep looking, you'll find the right machine for you.
 
It'll happen. Surface grinders don't pop up on a daily basis, but there's a limited market for them. Just because a guy came from far away doesn't mean you missed a once in a lifetime deal, just that he was ready to buy one at the same time as you.


Although be prepared to jump when they happen. The best deals wait for nothing.
 
I dont know why I thought I needed a surface grinder but I purchased one and basically never used it. I hated that machine as it was so tedious that I would go an entire year without using it. I decided to convert it to belts and could not be happier, I use it all the time now.
 
It might take some searching and a little patience, but you could definitely find a used SG and even convert it to belts for significantly less than what a TW SG attachment costs.

I paid about $450 for my 6x18 SG with power feeds, and I already had a VFD to run it, which was only $130 anyway. I haven't decided to convert to belts yet, but even if/when I do, I'll only be up to about half of what the TW SG attachment cost.
 
I've been waiting and searching and it looks like it has paid off. I'm going to look at (and most likely buy) a Boyar-Schultz 612 handfeed today. Looks pretty good in the pictures, has mag chuck, work light, a good supply of wheels and the price is right. Even going to be able to run it first. I'm pretty stoked!

Bob
 
I use mine on every single knife - as well as other projects.
I'd be lost without it.

It's the only use I ever found for my POS Grizzly Grinder I bought in '96 - besides sharpening pencils.
The tooling arm for the Grizzly grinder makes for a really nice conversion.
And you can buy the tooling arm separate from Grizzly. Or find an old one.

This is back in my old shop - but you get the idea:

 
Bob I picked up a B/S 612 with the hydraulic table and magnetic chuck for $350.00 at an auction.
I would strongly advise waiting until you can find one with the hydraulic table. The manual table will give you a workout.
I bought some 3/4" Norton pink wheels off eBay for about $10.00 each and I can get a mirror finish with them.

Jim
 
Alright everybody, I really appreciate all the input. Here's what I came home with. I ran it at the guys shop and it seemed really smooth and quiet. Produced a very nice surface finish and the chuck is actually electric. It is exactly what I wanted due to the small footprint. Cost me $750. Seems to be the going price in this area so I'm good with it. Came with about twenty wheels in gray, white and pink. Gotta go fire up the tractor and get it unloaded now.

Bob

Added: Yes it is missing the guard. I didn't make a big deal of it since I'm going to convert it to belts but, I might check ebay to see if I can find one for when I want to use abrasive wheels.

Boyar-Schultz 612 by Ranger_Bob, on Flickr
 
Ok, got it unloaded and put in position. I actually found the guard buried in the back of the cabinet so that's cool. I'm going to call Contact Rubber Corp. tomorrow and order a 6" wheel to fit the arbor. I'm leaning toward a serrated unless anyone has any reason I wouldn't want it. I really like the way Karl reutilized the grizzly arm but I can probably make my own for substantially less money. Grizzly wants $360 for the arm assembly.

At first I was planning to connect this to my 3-phase circuit fed by my RPC. Problem is, that the circuit is on the other side of the shop. I put the SG next to my GIB so I'm thinking it makes sense to run it off the KBAC-27. I need to figure out switching for that. I was hoping to do a disc grinder also so I need to switch between three machines. I know there was a thread on that so I'll have to do some searching.

Bob
 
That looks really clean.

I have a Boyar-Schultz 612 (manual too) with the same cabinet that was cheaper but not nearly as new looking. It came with a dandy dust collector (which made a lot of sense considering that it was in the guy's basement). The previous owner (handy guy as you might expect) fabbed up a sheet metal shroud to make connecting a 2 1/2" hose for that collector very easy.

BTW You're gonna want 2 kinds of oil for that:

Spindle (something really light)

Way (something much heavier)

I got a gallon of each of those (clearly a lifetime supply) from an industrial supplier here in Chicago who took pity on me pricewise so if you want me to ship a pint of each (also a lifetime supply) off to you (on me) let me know. Consider it me paying it forward.............

Email me (cdgimbel@att.net) and just get me an address, if you want me to send those.

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top