Surface Grinder Restoration & Belt Conversion WIP

Nathan the Machinist said:
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.
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Nathan, the 20w motor oil I use is made for electric motors. Still bad?

Also, there is no way for me to known how much oil to add to the spindle cup? The cup will never fill up, it will eventually start leaking out around the spindle shaft if I add enough oil? I just put a good squirt in there every few weeks. Any ideas here?
 
Don Hanson III said:
Nathan, the 20w motor oil I use is made for electric motors. Still bad?

Also, there is no way for me to known how much oil to add to the spindle cup? The cup will never fill up, it will eventually start leaking out around the spindle shaft if I add enough oil? I just put a good squirt in there every few weeks. Any ideas here?
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I don't know the answer to that. Generally speaking if an oil is intended to be used on a system with an oil filter then it should not be used on a system without a filter. This holds true to machine tool gear boxes, air compressor crank casings and even things like yard equipment.

20 weight oil is a little thick for the application. Spindle oil is frequently more like an ISO 32, which works out to about a 10 weight oil I believe.

I don't mean to over complicate this. For our intermittent use, so long as the oil you're using doesn't make it run hot you're probably fine. At the end of the day, the bearings on a grinder like this are small and subjected to relatively low RPM.

As far as the oil leaking out, I don't think it is supposed to do that. You wouldn't want the oil getting on the stone or your work, so I have to think they didn't design it leak out like that. There may be a bad seal somewhere? Hell, it's probably felt... Again, the lubrication demands on small low speed bearings aren't very high so I suppose a little squirt of oil every once in a little while may be fine. Just be careful, the bearings for a grinder like this aren't cheap.
 
Here is a pic of one of the gib strips. It is a brass one. I used the granite plate and a sheet of 320 grit Rhynowet to lap it a little. As I suspected, there is some slight grooving there. Not much but I think I'll continue lapping to try and get rid of at least some of it, being careful to keep the strip as flat as I can on the granite plate. I'll also do the other strips although since they are steel and harder I don't expect that kind of grooving. Maybe go up to 500 grit to get a better surface finish and hopefully a smoother action.

 
You normally wouldn't want to do any hand work on a precision tapered gib unless you really knew what you were doing, but this is a straight gib with adjustment screws along the length of it so I see no harm in it. Be aware that gouges in a gib are not uncommon and are generally not harmful. In fact there are usually a few deep gouges put into a gib intentionally when they are new. This is often done by hand with a hand held die grinder so they frequently look like hell and out of place on a factory new machine tool. They're there to facilitate oil flow.

Any time abrasives have been used on a way surface things should be cleaned meticulously before reassembly. Hand work on way surfaces are frequently done with scrapers and files, though this is a specialized skillset.
 
Thanks Nathan, I will stop the lapping and clean as best I can.

Don Hanson III said:
Patrice, your OCD is really starting to show! :D
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Don, I thought I only had a mild case of it but now I am starting to wonder if I am not a little farther along the road to crazy town than I thought. :o ;)

Thanks for keeping an eye on me guys. :D
 
I had mine tore down over the weekend, then realized I needed to use it yesterday. So I finished cleanin it and got it back together, resurfaced the chuck and grinding knife parts yesterday. :)
 
Patrice Lemée;12522155 said:
Thanks Nathan, I will stop the lapping and clean as best I can.



Don, I thought I only had a mild case of it but now I am starting to wonder if I am not a little farther along the road to crazy town than I thought. :o ;)

Thanks for keeping an eye on me guys. :D
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Patrice..you are a far piece down that road....but thats why we love ya:D

Stan
 
Don, I know I am slow but now I just feel like the biggest slacker. ;)

Stan, I guess you are right cause it makes me so much happier to hear you say that than “No you are not crazy”. ;) Thanks for the good laugh my friend. :D
 
Don, since you just dissembled yours you might help me with this one.

I am putting it back together and there is something I am curious about. When I read about dismantling this, it said that you just lifted the table free. Well as you can see on mine, there are 2 washers that hold the geared strip (not in the picture) down so I had to unscrew it from the top first. Since those washers don't look like the really belong there I was wondering if they were stock or a later addition and if they were really needed?



As far as grease for all the geared parts, I thought about using some PTFE grease I have. But since it is a little harder for me to find, I'll keep it and use bearing grease instead.



PS: Don, sorry for asking yet another thing but do you have the same wheel adapter on the spindle as I do and if so, do you have a special tool to remove it?


Thanks
 
Wanted to add the tool actually is probably like a big flat head screw driver thats not tapered. Should be pretty easy to get out of there.
 
Patrice, you may be slow, but yours looks cleaner than mine. I had to get back to work!

Mine also has the two big washers that hold the table down. I just crank the table past them and left it off. No need to remove them.

My spindle and wheel adapter looks just like yours, but I haven't and am not going to take it apart. ;)
 
Quint, thanks for the manual link, much appreciated. The tool is pretty easy to make like you said, just was wondering if I could not get a picture/drawing of what the original one looks like.

Don, I understand about having to make knives. Another thing that makes me glad I am not a full time maker. I just could not spend the time I do on some stuff. And then my OCD would drive me nuts. Well “more nuts” anyway. ;)

I could not slide the table in there since there is not enough room on the sides so I just lay the strip down, secured the washers and bolt the table on top.
And I will do like you, for now anyway, and leave the spindle alone. I don't have to make knives to support myself but I do have to make them to support my hobby. If I don't want to sleep in the shed that is. ;)

Thanks again for your help guys.
 
Ok, some progress.
First off, I forgot to take a pic of the pulley placement in the back but I guess there are not that many ways to put them back on so that they align and fit inside the pulley cover. Speaking of which, anybody had a picture of what the bolts for the cover look like? Mine were missing and I'd like to do it right and put something proper back there.



And a couple of pics of the now cleaner grinder. Looks pretty good doesn't it?



Still need to put the auto feed mod back on, wire it all and try and make it work.



And finally a pic of the brass oiler for the spindle.



As you might see, I've not only cleaned it but also buffed it as shiny as I could. I think it looks great which brings me to a point I want to make to explain one of the reason I sometimes go a little overboard with making a machine not simply work but also look good doing it.

Any kind of work can benefit from creativity and in the case of my passion, knifemaking, it is essential. Now if I had the “Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo” type of creativity it would come easy but I sadly don't. As I've said before I have to work at it and stimulate it in every way I can. Using a tool or machine that not only works but also looks good does just that. Maybe in a small way but I believe even a little can help. I realize that this may not be everyone's cup of tea and also that, if you are supporting yourself with your work, you might simply not have that much time to “beautify” your machines. But if you do find a little time, try it, you might like it.

Thanks again for following.
 
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