- Joined
- Oct 14, 2013
- Messages
- 986
I'd like to tap the collective wisdom...
I'd sorta like a surface grinder for my shop, but I don't have a lot of space to dedicate to it, or really all that much need for one. But, of course, tool lust ;-)
I was noodling around on fleabay and ran across an end grinder; its kind of a somewhat more specialized Blanchard grinder. That led to Strippit punch grinders, which are also similar, but even smaller. Some of the swing grinders had two grinding positions; a vertical magnetic chuck and a horizontal one. I could imagine grafting a magnetic chuck off on the right side of the Strippit; near the hole on the flat area.
The idea with all three of these is that you have a rotating grinding wheel in a cup shape. IE, only abrasive in a narrow strip on the outside. You can dress it by swinging across a diamond. Many of these have the ability to rotate the work too. Thinking through this, getting a flat surface requires one key thing: the swing axis needs to be parallel to the rotating axis. If the grinding wheel axis is tipped you will get a conical dress and leave your part with a complex curve swept along an arc on its top surface. Rotating the part would make that suck less, but be super slow. The original purpose of these grinders was to generate punches, so a combination of rotating and swinging could give you a pilot pip in the middle pretty easily, and an edge that was a true circle and perpendicular to the axis of the part rotation, even if the wheel and the swing were pretty wonky.
Would it be a totally quixotic idea to get one of these, measure the heck out of its motion, and tease it into the critical "swing and spin are parallel" state? Or does this fit right into the ethic of machine improvement to the point of gleeful insanity?
Does anyone have a manual for one of these, or any idea how much vertical travel they have?
I'd sorta like a surface grinder for my shop, but I don't have a lot of space to dedicate to it, or really all that much need for one. But, of course, tool lust ;-)
I was noodling around on fleabay and ran across an end grinder; its kind of a somewhat more specialized Blanchard grinder. That led to Strippit punch grinders, which are also similar, but even smaller. Some of the swing grinders had two grinding positions; a vertical magnetic chuck and a horizontal one. I could imagine grafting a magnetic chuck off on the right side of the Strippit; near the hole on the flat area.
The idea with all three of these is that you have a rotating grinding wheel in a cup shape. IE, only abrasive in a narrow strip on the outside. You can dress it by swinging across a diamond. Many of these have the ability to rotate the work too. Thinking through this, getting a flat surface requires one key thing: the swing axis needs to be parallel to the rotating axis. If the grinding wheel axis is tipped you will get a conical dress and leave your part with a complex curve swept along an arc on its top surface. Rotating the part would make that suck less, but be super slow. The original purpose of these grinders was to generate punches, so a combination of rotating and swinging could give you a pilot pip in the middle pretty easily, and an edge that was a true circle and perpendicular to the axis of the part rotation, even if the wheel and the swing were pretty wonky.
Would it be a totally quixotic idea to get one of these, measure the heck out of its motion, and tease it into the critical "swing and spin are parallel" state? Or does this fit right into the ethic of machine improvement to the point of gleeful insanity?
Does anyone have a manual for one of these, or any idea how much vertical travel they have?
