Surface grinder?

great white

great white

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I refurb a fair bit of old equipment and do reasonably well with it.. It's mostly a budgetary thing more than a hobby thing. A lot of metal working machines are too expensive for me new, so I usually buy "unloved" stuff and rebuild it. Latest is a 5" B&S mill vice.

I find myself having a need for a small surface grinder more and more. I'll never need to grind anything much longer than 6-8" at the most.

Used isn't an option around here, they just don't exist. Heck, it's hard to even find a used lathe here, Chinese import or otherwise and if you do happen to find something, people want a stupid amount of money for clapped out machines. Or the other thing that may show up used is HUGE industrial sized machines, which are simply not an option for me, both in cost, mains power, moving it and available shop space.

New? Well...see above mentioned "budgetary" concerns. Just not an option and my price point (assuming I can even find one I can afford) would be so low the machine would likely be junk anyways.

So I'm thinking I might give making one a try. Looking at the image below, I just about have all of it. So financially it's not a big burden. Space isn't a big concern as I can make it as big or small as I want for the space I have available (which is to say not much space available).

Some googling turned up this image (among others):

img0.jpg

img1.jpg
Looks to be home built. I have a cast iron xy tslot table gathering dust and the upright on that one looks speciously
close to the Atlas Milling attachment hanging on my pegboard (have a mill , no longer need the attachment). Motors, pulleys, etc I've got hanging around.

I know it will never be as accurate or as rigid as a purpose built unit, but given the choice of a diy surface grinder or none at all, it worth giving it a try?

For the milling attachment, I'd be using it without modifying it. I'll just build a plinth that the atlas piece will attach to like it does on the Atlas cross slide.

Mag chuck isn't in the cards in the near future either. I've seen a couple DIY permanent magnet one (rare earth) and that might be an option down the road.


If you feel it's not worthwhile or are "agast" at the thought of it, please be kind with your responses and try to be constructive with your criticisms.
 
I wouldn’t think that type of design is unworthy; the column looks a little flexible but that would be okay with light cuts. I have found that even a mist coolant, while helpful and better than dry grinding, is not nearly as good as flood coolant. You mention an x-y table; a grinder needs a fast longitudinal traverse, which a screw drive won’t satisfy.
 
I would say that the machine pictured is setup as a tool and cutter grinder rather than a surface grinder. Not a lot of Z height there to fit a magnetic chuck/workpiece under the wheel. The table Y travel (out) clears the wheel by a lot (leaving room for a work head). Maybe not enough Y travel toward the wheel to cover the table or dress a mag chuck. The table yaw adjustment is typical of T&C grinders. Stiffness of a surface grinder is very important. I think the column in that picture looks way too wimpy along in the X plane.

I think a useable surface grinder can be homebuilt. I think you should find a more appropriate picture/design.

As the result of following a previous project, I have wondered if a common bench grinder could not be used as a motor/spindle for a homemade surface grinder. Maybe upgrade the bearings and balance everything to your best ability. The motor/spindle (MS) could be mounted on a hinge plate arrangement (like a sine plate) and short range (1"?), high resolution Z adjustment made by a screw pivoting the hinge. Simple blocks and plates could be stacked under the hinge plate to make major changes in wheel height. My thinking is that the bench grinder approach breaks the project into two phases. One being the MS I've described and the other phase is the construction of the base and table. A 'better' MS could be added later if desired. Food for thought.
 
jwmelvin said:
I wouldn’t think that type of design is unworthy; the column looks a little flexible but that would be okay with light cuts. I have found that even a mist coolant, while helpful and better than dry grinding, is not nearly as good as flood coolant. You mention an x-y table; a grinder needs a fast longitudinal traverse, which a screw drive won’t satisfy.
Click to expand...
Seems an easy fix it to just remove the screw drive and slide by hand?
 
If the price is right, that would make a good start towards a tool and cutter grinder. Hustle up a work head and a spindexer attachment and you'll be in business. You will have to clear another spot in your shop for a surface grinder, but you'll be ahead of the game when it comes to sharpening your tooling.
 
great white said:
was actually thinking rack and pinion after I hit "send".....
Click to expand...

I imagine a cable and pulley would work too. The advantage of that or a belt is less effect transverse to the drive direction. I feel like the rack can impart some notchiness; but it hasn’t really been an issue with my Toolmaker grinder.
 
"Aghast"?
I LOVE it when people repurpose, or upcycle, any kind of machine. It's where the true ingenuity resides.
Surface grinder.... let's see.....
Goes to and fro? Check
Stays true to flat/plumb/level? Check
Spins the wheel? Check
What's not to like?
Every grinder has feed limitations. I just had some grind work done (hired out) and he wouldn't take more than a full thou cut and a half-thou finish. That was his max on a 6" wide wheel that was over 2 feet in diameter! On an 8 foot bed grinder!
You'll do great.
 
I guarantee you’ll learn a lot. For ease of incorporation I’d go with a cog belt for the x over rack and pinion. It won’t have the inherent problem with play and will be smoother and easier to adjust. I got a complete cog belt setup with a HD treadmill I got for $30 off CL. This was from like a health club and was off the incline drive. Lots of other HD goodies I’m waiting to repurpose.
Another design idea is the little Barker PM. They are typically used as a horizontal mill but I’ve seen them set up as a surface grinder.

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