Surface Grinder Restoration & Belt Conversion WIP

Eric, could you point me in the direction of the thread about your KMG gas spring setup? Might as well give that a try too while I am at it.
Thanks
 
Ok, last update on the SG. I ordered and installed Gas springs as suggested. Works great, thanks Eric. :thumbup:



A few adjustments here and there and it is now running smoothly. Maybe a little vibration but that might be remedied with some more small adjustments here and there. Still I tried it and now get within half a thou which is more than enough for me. Also tried it on wood scales and it sure does a better (and easier) job than trying to do the same on the flat platen.

And of course the mandatory “automated face shield”. :D



Thanks once again for all your help guys. :thumbup:
 
Patrice, that's awesome! Could you take a few more close ups? I have the same machine and would like to tackle this conversion. Especially the tracking mechanism. Did you do anything to rework/strengthen the arm?
 
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Sure. Can't get into the shop for a few days but I should have some pics for you by the end of the day Saturday or Sunday.
I did not have to strengthen the arm, the springs took care of that. But if I had to do it over I would still use tighter fitting tubing. Can't have too much rigidity for a better finish.
 
That looks great, man! Bravo to you for getting so fully acquainted with your machine. Nice conversion, too. I'll post my own new surface grinder some more when it's in my shop and hooked up.

By the way, sometimes I think that we are having a small "international arms race" between us, you are winning in some areas and I'm just glad I have an SG too, now! :D
 
Very nice!

Showing my ignorance here, but what is the benefit of going with a belt? Obviously it would be less expensive to replace a belt rather than a stone, but do stones wear out fast enough to offset the cost of the conversion?
 
The big benefit is less heat build up in deeper cuts. With a stone, anything more than .0005" required flood coolant to keep from getting the blade steel too hot and warping. With a belt, I am quite comfortable taking a .005" cut with a 50 grit belt. Another benefit is the ability to change grits quickly to get finer finishes. With vitrified stone wheels, every time you replace a stone you must dress it for concentricity. That can be time consuming. Belts just swap and go.

BTW-Everybody will develop their own system for working the belts but I'll just mention that I pretty much only use a 50 grit Blaze to rough and a Trizact A65 to finish.

Bob
 
When operating the SG with a belt do you move from side to side across the work piece like with a stone wheel? Or do you plunge the full belt over the piece all at once? I hope this makes sense?
 
Thanks Salem. But in all fairness I think you are winning the race my friend. You could probably surface grind my actual surface grinder with that beast of yours. ;-) Looking forward to some pics.

Daniel, if your travel is longer than the chuck in theory you could grind more but I sure would not want to grind past the edge of the chuck myself. The deflection would most likely mess up your precision. Plus with the wheels, it builds up heat in a hurry so that big mass underneath helps to draw away so of it. But of course I am no expert so maybe a real machinist will chime in with better info about that.

B&G, Here are the pics. They are the best I could get since it is pretty tight around the grinder.

Arm attachment collet.





Only thing I would do differently is to go a little beefier for the tabs. As I said earlier, you can never have too much rigidity for precision and finish.

And the tracking mechanism.





The upgrade I am planning there is a nylon bushing for the screw or some other way to keep the vibration from making it move. Not that it did when I tried it but just to be sure. Anyone has an easy way to do this, don't hesitate to share. :thumbup:
 
RangerBobTX said:
The big benefit is less heat build up in deeper cuts. With a stone, anything more than .0005" required flood coolant to keep from getting the blade steel too hot and warping. With a belt, I am quite comfortable taking a .005" cut with a 50 grit belt. Another benefit is the ability to change grits quickly to get finer finishes. With vitrified stone wheels, every time you replace a stone you must dress it for concentricity. That can be time consuming. Belts just swap and go.

BTW-Everybody will develop their own system for working the belts but I'll just mention that I pretty much only use a 50 grit Blaze to rough and a Trizact A65 to finish.

Bob
Click to expand...
???

I take .005" down feed all the time with my SG w/stone wheel and can do .010"- .015" with no problem, no coolant, very little heat or warp... It's all in the type of wheel and how much cross feed used.
 
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