Brown & Sharpe 2l Surface Grinder -- Getting Close

Bob Korves

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Rest In Peace
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Jul 2, 2014
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7,594
Continued from http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/brown-and-sharpe-2l-surface-grinder-during.49658/

Here is the carriage, cleaned up and reinstalled.
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Top of the table, "before." Decided to repaint it.
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Bottom of the table, "before."
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After.
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Cross feed lead screw, after a tedious cleanup, in beautiful condition.
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Citrustrip paint stripper. Smells good, less toxic, took multiple layers of old paint off with one application. Amazingly good product!
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Knobs all cleaned up, repainted, back on. Grinder waiting for table.
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Table and "vise catcher" ready for primer and paint. The chuck portion of the table will be self ground by the grinder after getting it running and settled in. That will be the first important work the grinder does, then I will install and grind the mag chuck top and bottom surfaces as well.
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New Sopko belt that came with the grinder, and the maintenance manual picture of how it is mounted. The bar at the bottom is a counterweight that keeps the belt tight and moves upward to allow the spindle to be raised. All of the pulleys were like new after some cleanup, and the bearings were fine, did not even disassemble and clean up. Some fresh grease and oil (both types there) and they are ready to start another 70 years.
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The spindle reinstalled after a major cleaning, testing and "clean room" assembly.
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Labels. The small bottom one on the spindle was rusted, pitted, beat on, bent, and completely unreadable. It turned out nice after a bit of effort. The upper label was just cleaned and lightly polished by hand with compound.
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New belt and counterweight in spindle lowered position. Also some tools, a couple came with the machine, I bought the forked wrench and the wheel puller. The two vintage combination wrenches came from my tool box, period correct. The cover for the opening at the top of the photo is missing. I will have to make one. Inside is the "bilge" where whatever oil gets put on the upper parts eventually drains down to. It is nasty looking, but there is no rust and no loose grit, and the lower reservoir portion by the cover is still not half full after 70 years so I will leave it like it is, but will cover the view.
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Counterweight in the upper position, spindle at top of vertical travel. The spindle has 10-5/8" of vertical travel.
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Spindle in place with constant level oiler for the special Mobil Velocite #3 ISO 2 (!) oil. About the same consistency as kerosene. Vertical feed handle has been cleaned up and repainted along with all the other handles and controls.
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.050" per revolution vertical feed, .0005" increments are 1/4" apart. It will be easy to set tenths on this grinder.
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Table painted and ready for installation. It weighs about 100 pounds.
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Table installed on grinder.
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Grinder is complete. Well, not quite. The spindle has slow oil leaks at the front and rear cover joints. I used the minimum amount of Loctite anaerobic liquid gasket I thought I could get away with so there would not be any excess to migrate inside the spindle. That tube of gasket material is also pretty old. The spindle will need to come back out and I will have to try again, paying more attention this time. The spindle R&R and reseal job is not difficult or tedious, but I will need to resurrect my poor man's "clean room" to do the work.
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The electrical still also needs to be done. I bought a Chinese VFD, a box to put it in, and a fan and filter, and have another H-M friend, mxr662 (Andy Little) coming over to help me hook the wiring up correctly. I might get some (more) help from Ulma Doctor as well. Like I said, getting close!
Continued at http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/brown-sharpe-2l-surface-grinder-sparks.50582/
 
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Nice job on the rehab John. I've had very good luck with TA-31 sealer from Ford that they use on there Diesels. Much more forgiving than The Right Stuff. Mike
 
Nice job on the rehab John. I've had very good luck with TA-31 sealer from Ford that they use on there Diesels. Much more forgiving than The Right Stuff. Mike
Thanks for the recommendation, Mike, but I am not going to use a silicone sealant on this job. Even specks of dust are not allowed in the spindle because it can lock it up. I will be using anaerobic sealant because any excess sealant on the inside of the case will not set up if it is not confined, and will dissolve in the oil. Of course I will try to keep all the sealant out completely anyway. One speck of hardened silicone in there could eventually lock up the spindle. Well, that's my plan, anyway. The spindle to bearing clearance is set at .00011" (110 millionths.)
 
I see your point Bob. Cheers, Mike
 
Dhansen,
Bob isn’t participating in the forum lately.
Boy, finding parts for these old grinders is going to be tough.
You’ll need to find one that is being parted out.
Good luck
 
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