Wish me luck...

Joined
Oct 20, 2008
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I'm going to go buy and pick up an insane surface grinder after work tomorrow... I say after work since I'm in New Jersey on a welding job for a month. This grinder is an 8 x 24 hydraulic Abrasive machinery co. With a 6x18 mag chuck on it. Everything looks Ok but please do send some smoke that it won't be a headache to put in service at my shop!

I'm pretty excited, needless to say. It's a big chunk of cast iron.
 
Grats Salem! Best to you on the migration. It couldn't head west with a more deserving smith. Now before you leave Jersey be sure to go rub on Aldo's shiny noggin for rehab luck. He has serious surface grinder juju running through his veins ya know.:D

Stone to belt conversion or ??
 
Nice find, and good luck, hope it works well for you... I'm guessing a big trailer with at least two axles... no?

Cheers

-Eric
 
Pictures, or it doesn't exist...

J/K - Good luck Salem! Hope it turns out well!
 
Well, I'm picking it up Saturday now instead... In the morning. It's a beast for sure, weighs 3000 lbs! It's going on a freight liner box truck, and coming home in October to my shop. The wait will be hard. I hope I can hook it up to 3 phase and play with it a little tomorrow when it's back at the fab shop...
 
I went and got it this morning. Everything went smoothly. I'll probably go and play with it tomorrow, and post more about it then.
 
Ok, I have had a couple sessions with it now. The mag chuck, spindle, and automatic table all work apparently fine! It'll grind stuff flat no problem. I have figured out that the table reciprocates at either hi or lo speed, and that the cross feed is very adjustable in either direction. That is, I can have the table in or out feed anywhere from a few thousandths to like 1/8" every pass, and variably left/right or right/left.
Initially the mechanical (not hydraulic) table feeds wouldn't engage, but I saw that Michael pikula had the same grinder and problem until he figured out that the spindle motor was running backwards, and switched the power leads. The table worked right away.
Then I figured out about the grinding head height lock screw, which stops the grinding head from falling into the work when climb cutting.
The thing has a bigass rock spinning on it... I tell you I stood back a lot at first when powering up.
The machine need some electrical repair, as the original run/stop controls need put back in service and the the retrofit mag chuck needs it's drum switch fixed/rewired.
But hey, it works well! I'm pretty elated. It's going to be a major job hauling it up my driveway and into my shop back in Washington, and I'll have to wait a couple months until then, as well.
I have got a vid taken on my friends phone of it grinding and reciprocating, which I'll post in this thread soon. When I get the machine in service and all gone through, I plan on making an instructional vid about it for view on YouTube to add to the meager knowledge out there about this model.
$550 for a smooth running 8x24" automatic surface grinder with mag chuck and coolant system, a classic piece of American cast iron... Woohoo!
 
That's a fantastic deal, Salem! Congrats! And I'm glad it's running well too.

... I'm only "slightly" jealous, BTW.
 
[video=youtube;hYT2zMFHrvk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYT2zMFHrvk&list=UU-UC41-H44fM2daaK_ffkxg[/video]
Here's a short clip of the grinder running in fast mode... Then I noticed I'd not set the grinding head down feed lock. That 3 hp spindle hogged in pretty good!
 
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