# First Step To Automate My Surface Grinder



## bvd1940 (Apr 24, 2016)

Well just finished assembly & coding for my Arduino  Nano control and drive and it works WAHOOOO!! 

I will try to attach some pictures along with a little bit of info about the project (which aint much) but someone might be helped by it.
It all started when I was grinding pucks for vintage Jag parts for adjusting valve lash on old Jag,s and after doing 2 days of grinding I could no longer use my left arm so I tried a Dayton gear motor and could not make that work without messing up the grind surface so back to the drawing board and found a decent Nema 23 stepper, M542T driver and used a Arduino Nano and hacked together a real simple sketch and hay wired it together and it works great.
The first 2 pics are of my first try, the stepper mtr in the rest of the pics are what I ended up with and I am happy as a clam.
The small black box has the Arduino Nano inside for protection, I have a lot of wiring to spiff up and mount the control panel to the side of the grinder base cabinet.


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## JimDawson (Apr 24, 2016)

Nice!


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## derf (Apr 24, 2016)

I basically done the same thing to my Reid 618 a few yrs a go. I used a 90 v dc motor and Baldor controller. I had to use a A&B 8 pole reversing switch and some adjustable stops to set the limits. That seemed a lot simpler than figuring out all electronics.


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## P T Schram (Apr 25, 2016)

BVD-you are my new best friend!

I am going to order an Arduino beginner kit this evening to control an engine run stand and eventually data acquisition.

Expect me to have many Arduino-related questions!


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## bvd1940 (Apr 25, 2016)

derf said:


> I basically done the same thing to my Reid 618 a few yrs a go. I used a 90 v dc motor and Baldor controller. I had to use a A&B 8 pole reversing switch and some adjustable stops to set the limits. That seemed a lot simpler than figuring out all electronics.
> View attachment 127727
> View attachment 127728


Derf yours looks like its more complex than mine as I have a table that is light that the Dayton motor kicked up at the one end of the stroke and I could not get it smooth enough for precision grinding with my cheapo Charley Rockwell grinder. 
Next is the cross feed which will be a lot easier to cobble together.
Bill


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## bvd1940 (Apr 25, 2016)

P T Schram said:


> BVD-you are my new best friend!
> 
> I am going to order an Arduino beginner kit this evening to control an engine run stand and eventually data acquisition.
> 
> Expect me to have many Arduino-related questions!



Well I am not a guru on the Arduino but if you are really interested go to the official Arduino site and peruse the learning area and buy a real Arduino Uno board so you will be on the same page as the tutorials, as far as the kits they sell any one with the most parts and variety works good.
But I purchased a bunch of China crap before I discovered it is all open source electronics but not quite the same boards.
But that is to get you started, after you get familiar with the system it will be easier. The thin I have had a problem with is the sketch IDE programming which is a form of C++ and a bit cryptic when you first start, but there are real tutorials on the Arduino site.
link, https://www.arduino.cc/


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## derf (Apr 26, 2016)

My Reid uses a timing belt instead of a rack and pinion to run the traverse. I would suspect that a rack and pinion would make more abrupt stops and changes in direction and cause the table to jump if it were on the light side. I had an old Brown& Sharp #2 that would do the same thing if the belt was too tight, but that old relic was shot when got it. Every modern grinder I have used that had power feeds were all hydraulic on the traverse. The cross feeds always used a sacrificial fiber gear that needed replaced from time to time.


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## compsurge (Apr 26, 2016)

P T Schram said:


> BVD-you are my new best friend!
> 
> I am going to order an Arduino beginner kit this evening to control an engine run stand and eventually data acquisition.
> 
> Expect me to have many Arduino-related questions!



What are you looking to do in terms of data acquisition? There are many microcontroller boards and the application will limit the choices that will work best.


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## bvd1940 (Apr 27, 2016)

derf said:


> My Reid uses a timing belt instead of a rack and pinion to run the traverse. I would suspect that a rack and pinion would make more abrupt stops and changes in direction and cause the table to jump if it were on the light side. I had an old Brown& Sharp #2 that would do the same thing if the belt was too tight, but that old relic was shot when got it. Every modern grinder I have used that had power feeds were all hydraulic on the traverse. The cross feeds always used a sacrificial fiber gear that needed replaced from time to time.



the first try was with a gear drive with vari speed controller with an adjustable arm like is used on a shaper to get back and forth movement but it sucked.
The stepper works slicker than snot with a bit of coding so there is NO!! herky jerky what so ever.


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## bvd1940 (Apr 27, 2016)

compsurge said:


> What are you looking to do in terms of data acquisition? There are many microcontroller boards and the application will limit the choices that will work best.



Well I vote in favor of the Arduino open source pc and open source software with a ton of tutorials available for free.
The electrical boards and shields are low $$$ to purchase and available all over the place, the last board cost me $3+ for Arduino nano that runs the surface grinder.
Here is the link for a starting point that is great for all levels knowledge.
https://www.arduino.cc/


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## bvd1940 (Apr 27, 2016)

JimDawson said:


> Nice!


Thanks Jim


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## compsurge (Apr 27, 2016)

bvd1940 said:


> Well I vote in favor of the Arduino open source pc and open source software with a ton of tutorials available for free.
> The electrical boards and shields are low $$$ to purchase and available all over the place, the last board cost me $3+ for Arduino nano that runs the surface grinder.
> Here is the link for a starting point that is great for all levels knowledge.
> https://www.arduino.cc/



I was trying to help by finding out what type of data acquistion they wanted. The ATMega 328 based boards will not have as good an ADC as the ARM boards. Depending on the number of channels and sample rate needed, different boards may or may not provide adequate performance.


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## bvd1940 (Apr 28, 2016)

compsurge said:


> I was trying to help by finding out what type of data acquistion they wanted. The ATMega 328 based boards will not have as good an ADC as the ARM boards. Depending on the number of channels and sample rate needed, different boards may or may not provide adequate performance.



Like I said I am no Guru on the boards, just an old fart trying to give the left arm a break. Eventually I will automate the cross feed and the down feed and not really worried to much about the down feed which i could use a ratchet and pawl on down feed, easy peasey


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## compsurge (Apr 28, 2016)

I think you'll do just fine! It's a great system for hobbyists of all experience levels.


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## bvd1940 (May 15, 2016)

Well I had a feller show up and wanted my lightweight Rockwell and traded me a Kent KGS-250AH 8X18 chuck with all axis auto run.
straight trade no cash given or taken


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## JimDawson (May 15, 2016)

bvd1940 said:


> Well I had a feller show up and wanted my lightweight Rockwell and traded me a Kent KGS-250AH 8X18 chuck with all axis auto run.
> straight trade no cash given or taken




Mmmmmm OK.  It don't get any better than that.


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## Flyinfool (Sep 2, 2019)

I would have loved to see more details on this.
I am in the middle of doing the same thing. But I am worse than terrible at coding.......
I am about to order an Arduino starter kit to try to start learning coding so that I can continue.

Here is the thread of my start at this.








						Convert a manual grinder to auto feed?
					

Anyone ever done this? I have an ancient B&S No.2 Surface grinder. These pics are are of it before I took it home and hauled it into the basement. I have since cleaned everything, and replaced every bearing. I would like to convert it from full manual to a auto feed in both the X and Z. The only...




					www.hobby-machinist.com


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