Surface Grinder Restoration & Belt Conversion WIP

Here's a shot of the vac hooked to the surface grinder. Smallest Grizzly vac, with flex hose and 5" galvanized flue piped out the wall.

Then a shot of my grinders and the Big 2hp vac mounted outside.

Both are piped to the end of the shop and blow out in the grass.





 
Thanks Don for taking the time to take pics for me and explaining things. I can't say it enough but the knifemaking (and machining for that matter) community is filled with nice and generous people.

I will take your (and javand) advice and start with wheels. I thought that it was much more expensive than that. I saw the same holder in the KBC catalog at around 30$. The only thing I have to figure out is what insert to buy. Mainly, USA made or import and what size diamonds? The later makes a big difference in price. They don't have Norton wheels but some similar ones that should be perfect to get me started.

As Corey said, I have a little...let's call it “cleanliness obsession” so the dust extractor is already being planned. Got the 5” piping, just need to build a collector for it that will catch as much as possible without getting in the way. I also blow the dust outside using a 1HP blower with gates on every collectors so I can have only one open at a time. Works pretty good, so much so that I had to put a grill at the KMG collector cause it kept pulling belts out of my hands when I was changing then and making confetti. ;)
 
Moving to the spindle. If I follow the instructions, I need to remove the top bolt first and I guess I can't do that without removing the whole head since the fine feed is pressing on that particular bolt.



Here is a pic of the instructions on the side in case someone would want to do the same and it was missing their grinder



Front view



Back view



So it looks like this will end up being a complete dismantling after all. If I go as far as removing the head, the only thing left will be the column and the base so why not. Plus cleaning parts of it and leaving others cruddy was bugging the heck out of me (and my mild case of OCD). ;) At least I don't have the means to strip the pant and start from scratch or you know that's what I would end up doing. :( Gotta get back to making knives eventually. ;)

Thanks again for following and helping me with this, very much appreciated.
 
Patrice, I bought two diamond dressers, so they can't be very expensive. Have used one for 15 years, so didn't need to buy two. :)

I'll be watching your spindle disassemble, as I've not done that.

Thanks!
 
This is my favorite kind of thread. Thanks for starting it Patrice. Pics of DHIII's shop? How cool.
 
Salem Straub said:
This is my favorite kind of thread. Thanks for starting it Patrice. Pics of DHIII's shop? How cool.
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Thumbsup


Pat

I'd be pretty nervous about pulling that spindle apart and would just change fluids without pulling it apart
Do you have torque specs on the reassembly ?
 
I agree with Don and the Count. I have been in my dads machine shop since I was 12 (30 years, that makes me shudder) and I wouldn't pull the spindle apart unless it is making noises.
 
Don - thanks for the shop/dust collection pics............... I have space issues to deal with but seeing what others have done helps me think.

As for the spindle dis-assembly instructions, I read them twice and starting going cross-eyed. That's a disaster waiting to happen I think and I've been through some hairy transmission rebuilds on cars.

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
 
Don, the diamond point dressers range in price from:

Import: ¼ to 1 carat, 7$-26$
Norton: ¼ to 1 carat, 49$-140$

So depending on how “frugal” you are, it could have been any of those. ;) In any case I'll buy only one if you say they last this long. Plus, I won't do nowhere near the amount of grinding you do.

I'll ask about them on the Toolmakergrinder Yahoo group too. If any of you have this type grinder and need help or want to learn more, it is a great resource with the nicest and most helpful gents, just like over here. I am posting this WIP on there too.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/toolmakergrinder/

I'll try and document my spindle disassembly as best as I can with pictures to help you if you decide to do it on yours.

Salem, I am glad you are enjoying this. I love those kind of threads too. :thumbup:

PS: Thanks for the spindle warnings, I will inquire a little more on the Yahoo group before attempting this.
 
Patrice, I'm pretty sure I got a USA diamond dresser (I'll check). Don't need a huge rock on that thing . ;)
 
Don, that's good to hear. My wife is the best and so understanding of this knifemaking obsession....errr I mean passion but getting my grinder a bigger rock than I got her might change that. ;)

After a bit of reflection, I've decided to move ahead with the spindle work. First reason I am even contemplating this is because I know I have the guys on the Yahoo group to help. Second one is I've had a few comments about people looking forward to seeing this, maybe to do the same to their machines. Since I don't have a lot of knowledge to share this would be my small way to give something back for all the help I've received. In any case it promises to be... lets say interesting. ;)
 
Ok, back to work. The column and head is off. Boy was that thing heavier than it looked. :(



I am now rethinking the whole dismantling thing...again. I think that the base will be cleaned in place as will be the head on the column. I'll only disassemble the spindle. Toward that end, here is a pic of the front of the wheel adapter.



There is a set screw in there (B) and what I gather is the locking nut (A). I guess a special tool needed for the locking nut so I'll have to make one. Anyone knows in what order should I remove it and the set screw?

Thanks

PS: You'll see that I ask questions that may not be easy to answer for people not familiar with this particular grinder but I am also posting this to a yahoo group dedicated to the Toolmaker grinders. I am not necessarily expecting an answer to these questions here but I still want to post them and I will also post responses I might get on the yahoo group so that people that find this thread get all the info they can to help them attempt th same thing with their machine.
 
Patrice I always end up learning so much from your threads! This one has been great to follow.
 
Thanks KalEl, glad you find it helpful.

...

Spent another 2 days cleaning parts. I have my fill of doing that for a while. :(The head was dismantled (except for the spindle, which I'll do last). It was easier to clean that way and not as heavy to put back in the base. Now time to start putting things back together. Keep your fingers crossed that I don't end up with too many left over parts. ;)

Here are the old felt and pipe cleaner wicks that were in the oiling holes and the oilers, and the felt I have from the lathe cleanup. The thing is, it is a little smaller in diameter than the oiling holes so I don't know if this will still do. I guess it will expand a bit once filled with oil so it should be ok, right? As far as the pipe cleaner is concerned, is there a better alternative or is this what I am suppose to use?



A question about the gib strips. I have read that you can lap them to get less friction and a smoother action. Is it worth doing or even needed? I thought I'd ask now since I am pretty sure I won't be dismantling the grinder again any time soon. ;)



And finally a progress pic of the whole grinder. It does look pretty good except maybe for the green paint that was put over what I guess is the original gray paint.



One last question. I am looking for ISO22 oil as recommended for the ways and pretty much all the lubrication on the grinder but I can only find ISO32. I've read that is was basically the same thing, as far as the need in this particular case but I wanted to check first with the oil experts.

Thanks for your help and following along.
 
Lookin very good Patrice! This thread has pushed me to clean mine up after 15+ years of hard use. :)

For oil, I just use 'way oil' from MSC in the cups, not sure what type. I use 20 W motor oil in the spindle.
 
Generally speaking, spindle oil is a light clean oil without EP additives or tackifiers etc. Things like way oil or motor oil (sorry Don) are better than nothing, but they have a lot of additives and can run hot and provide less than optional performance in a spindle bearing application.

I use Mobil DTE light for this though there are plenty of alternatives.
 
Glad to hear it Don. I did not want to mention anything but it does look like it could use a little TLC. ;)

I had also read that motor oil had detergent in it that helped collect metal shavings and that's bad for the spindle. Of course this is not first hand knowledge and it's obviously been working for 15 years.

Thanks guys.
 
Patrice Lemée;12515219 said:
Glad to hear it Don. I did not want to mention anything but it does look like it could use a little TLC. ;)

I had also read that motor oil had detergent in it that helped collect metal shavings and that's bad for the spindle. Of course this is not first hand knowledge and it's obviously been working for 15 years.

Thanks guys.
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That is generally true. For example you wouldn't want to use motor oil in the head stock of a lathe without an oil filter because it would keep particles suspended instead of letting them settle to the bottom. Also, the EP additives can eat up copper bearing elements such as bearing ball retainers and thrust washer and bushings etc. In this grinder spindle application those concerns may or may not be relevant. Any oil is better than nothing. In a pinch I'd go to Napa and get some hydraulic circulating oil.

Spindle oils are similar to certain hydraulic circulating oils in that they need to be low foaming and without tackifier or EP additives. If you have trouble finding something suitable in less than 5 gal buckets let me know and I'll send you something.
 
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