Don Bailey - Owner of Suburban Tool - shows how to excel at Surface Grinding

[Flynth]

I watched the video . I can find many things that aren't correct in what he's doing . Really , flat within .0003 - .0005 on a sine plate ? That's why those in a real tool and die shop have to regrind anything from Suburban . Looked like his diamond was dead on center of the wheel , it should always be to the left side . Once you dress the wheel , you do not turn it off . Spray mist on a commercial grinder ? Uh , no . Flood coolant is needed to keep wheel from building up and breaking down at the very time you don't want it to . No coolant guard on the left of the machine , bet his walls look great . When starting the wheel , you give the wheel a start with your hand . Just the torque in the motor is enough to throw the wheel out of balance . If running flood coolant , let the wheel run for a few minutes if turning the motor off . Otherwise the coolant will throw the wheel off balance . Our grinders ran 8 hrs a day and were never shut off , especially our universal grinders . If one says take .010 per pass on shaft work , I'll call BS . You'll pull the shaft into the wheel and have a castastrophy on your hands , ask me how I know . I would rank this video a -5 on a 1-10 scale .

Isn't it a bit harsh?

At least they are putting the content out there and they are telling us the wheel used, the machine etc. So one can adjust those things to their own environment. When I bought my surface grinder few years ago there were just Subutban Tool and Shadon HKW. No one else would talk in detail how big of a cut to take etc.

To be honest I never took a 7 thou cut on my surface grinder (even at just 50 thou step). I tried half that once and it didn't sound happy at all so I backed off, but I'm using mostly 60K wheels while in the video 46H is mentioned. My machine too is 3k lbs (roughly), but it uses plain spindle bearings. It is good to start my machine half an hour early, then never switch spindle off. I'm curious what kind of bearings does this Reid grinder have for it to be able to be shut on and off like this

Then regarding the rest of the critique mentioned. Coolant - wise. Sure high pressure flood is the best, but in the video he said they just have it to "keep the part cool". The finish on that part seemed pretty good so it seems it worked for him.

Then the diamond. What difference does it make if you start in the middle of the wheel if you traverse entire width twice anyway? (a genuine question - I learned how to single point diamond dress a wheel from Suburban Tool vids and that's how I 've been doing it for last few years).

Finally coolant guard, yes, it's a bit puzzling. I' m guessing they're not using that manual machine much these days.

I didn't notice him starting a wheel with his hand... There was one take when he has his thumb very close to the wheel, but I'm not sure that's what he's doing.

 

[mmcmdl]

Then the diamond. What difference does it make if you start in the middle of the wheel if you traverse entire width twice anyway? (a genuine question - I learned how to single point diamond dress a wheel from Suburban Tool vids and that's how I 've been doing it for last few years).

Please read what I wrote . The diamond is on the center line of the wheel . If the diamond would kick up and jam , the wheel would shatter . And no , you don't start dressing a wheel in the center . I'm not being harsh here , just stating that the diamond should be placed on the left side of the wheel . That is just common sense . We try to encourage safety on the site , this video does not stress safety at all .

 

[Dabbler]

What difference does it make if you start in the middle of the wheel if you traverse entire width twice anyway?

If the diamond would kick up and jam , the wheel would shatter .

When I was taught, I was told that the diamond must always be 1" to the left of the centre of the wheel to avoid crashing the wheel if the diamond moves.

 

[mmcmdl]

When I was taught, I was told that the diamond must always be 1" to the left of the centre of the wheel to avoid crashing the wheel if the diamond moves.

And that is exactly correct ! Grinders don't have table locks so they can move freely and that diamond holder is easily moved also . I think he mis-interepted what I was saying .

 

[Flynth]

Please read what I wrote . The diamond is on the center line of the wheel . If the diamond would kick up and jam , the wheel would shatter . And no , you don't start dressing a wheel in the center . I'm not being harsh here , just stating that the diamond should be placed on the left side of the wheel . That is just common sense . We try to encourage safety on the site , this video does not stress safety at all .

When I was taught, I was told that the diamond must always be 1" to the left of the centre of the wheel to avoid crashing the wheel if the diamond moves.

And that is exactly correct ! Grinders don't have table locks so they can move freely and that diamond holder is easily moved also . I think he mis-interepted what I was saying .

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought we were talking about the diamond in relation to the thickness of the wheel. Of course the diamond has to be left of the centerline of the wheel looking from the front (as if to read the wheel label). It didn't even cross my mind one can do it differently... When I searched for the information before I tried to dress the wheel for the first time every resource contained this info. Some said one inch to the left, others 5 deg of wheel rotation. Regardless of exact amount it is common sense one needs to approach the wheel in a way that allows stuff to be thrown away not pulled into. Same applies to work when touching off.

I rewatched the video to see how it was done and I noticed it was filmed from the right. So even if the diamond was located to the left of the centerline as it should (certainly not an entire inch - that would be visible regardless) it may have appeared like it was on center. I remembered a Suburban tool video titled "how to balance and dress a wheel"

At 6.16 to 6:40 there is talk about finding a centerline of the wheel and dressing, but it isn't mentioned the diamond should be on the left of centerline. I haven't rewatched the entire video so I hope it is mentioned elsewhere. If not, that's not great.

Edit: BTW I wanted to add this. It is really cool to be able to see how those old (non-cnc) machines were used in the industry. There are many hobbyists making videos showing how they use them. One could say babying the machines taking 1 thou (2/100s of a mm) cuts, or equivalent small cuts on mills and lathes. While in the industry here is Don Bailey taking a 7 thou (almost 0.2mm!) cut on a surface grinder. Of course one has to be aware not every machine, operation, and operator should take cuts like this. As mmcmdl said, this is probably not a good idea for cylindrical grinding at all. Also weight of a machine is not the only determinant. My machine weights 3700lbs and the heaviest cut I dared to take (with 60K wheel) was about 4 thou. I usually "baby" my machine with 1 thou cuts or less.