# Foley Belsaw Model 380 Tool Grinder



## jjtgrinder (Jan 11, 2016)

Posted a picture on the "Antique, Vintage, Other " forum of this machine.
Does anyone have experience with the Model 380 or 374 machines?
I plan to use it to sharpen slitting saws , drills, reamers, ect.
I need to know how to take the table off so I can clean it up and so forth.

JJTG


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## FOMOGO (Jan 11, 2016)

I picked one up when I visited my son on our way out of town at Thanksgiving. Will pick it up when we head back home in the spring. My plan is the same as yours, so I will follow along with great interest. Mike


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## Bob Korves (Jan 11, 2016)

Don't know about your Foley grinder, but on a lot of surface grinders, that have tables visually similar to yours, the table just lifts right off.


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## FOMOGO (Jan 11, 2016)

Found a pic of the one I got on line. It's the one to the front. The one you have looks like it would be more readily adaptable for our intended use. I found mine on the Denver Craigs list for $100, figured I couldn't pass it up for that. Of course this is why I have buildings full of stuff I may never get to.  Mike


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## jjtgrinder (Jan 12, 2016)

Fomogo,
Here is a photo of the one I bought.  I did get the table off by taking the grinder off the stand and flipping it "upside down".  I had to then take the four hex cap-screws off and
slide the table to the front of the machine so the front roller bearing would clear the track it runs on.  The main track is a 1" precision ground rod that "runs" on a pair of linear
ball bearings on the "back side" (under the table).  The opposite underside of the table has a slot that a roller bearing runs in to support the table and let it move back and forth very smoothly.
The grinder has a 1/2Hp 3450 rpm motor (belt is removed in photo). There is a "work head" mounted on the table that uses a 4c collet to grip a round tool to be sharpened.  The work-head has an indexing feature and can be set at an angle in both the horizontal and vertical planes.  I plan on making a fixture to sharpen large drill bits in the 1/2" to 1 1/2" range.  I will use this fixture to grind a "four-facet" tip on the drills.  Another fixture will sharpen slitting saws. I will be able to mount a rotary table and tail-stock for grinding things like reamers and  such.
Foley made two machines model 374 and 380.  The 374 had a smaller 1/2 Hp motor and the 380 (which I have) has a "full size" 1/2 Hp totally enclosed motor. Both are listed as a "Router Bit and Tool Sharpener".  The user manual shows setups to sharpen router bits, circular saws, milling bits, reamers and other tooling.


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## jjtgrinder (Jan 12, 2016)

UPDATE:  I called Foley Belsaw and talked to a guy there.  I told him what I had , His first comment was "this is an old machine that is obsolete, I cannot help you with it."  I was directed to him by a lady that said he was familiar with the older machines.  
It may be "obsolete" but I cannot imagine the time it would take to make a tool like this from scratch to use for all the sharpening tasks we need to do!  I was not looking forward to a big project like a "Quorn grinder" or such!  This puts me "way ahead" in the sharpening effort.


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## chips&more (Jan 12, 2016)

I never knew that this machine existed? Nice looking grinder for the HM. Thank you for sharing…Dave.


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## jjtgrinder (Jan 14, 2016)

Uploaded a user manual under Downloads,Army Manuals.


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## One-match fire (Jan 23, 2016)

Foley-Belsaw has not been very helpful, particularly with the documentation on THIS machine.  I looked at the wheels I have for it today and there are a lot more than I had first thought.   JJTGrinder wanted to know about the wheels I have so I'll try to make a list of them.  As I said before, I have been working on cleaning it up and getting all the years of grease and gunk off of it.  It is now in relatively "respectable" shape "looks wise."  I found the Army TM on it and will go through it in slow, methodical detail to hopefully be able to work with it.  It is supposed to work on drills, end mills, and the book even says saw blades but I have plenty of other machines for them.

I'll keep you posted on my progress with this machine.
Cheers,
Trim sends


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## One-match fire (Jan 23, 2016)

FOMOGO said:


> Found a pic of the one I got on line. It's the one to the front. The one you have looks like it would be more readily adaptable for our intended use. I found mine on the Denver Craigs list for $100, figured I couldn't pass it up for that. Of course this is why I have buildings full of stuff I may never get to.  Mike


FOMOGO,
I have been studying the picture here and can identify several of the machines, but none that I see is the 374 or the 380.  The machine in front is a sharpening machine but I can't tell you which one although I think it is one of the "later models".  The one to the right of it looks like the 387 automatic filer.  The one immediately behind it looks like the 357 and the one behind that on a stand, I don't know about.

Have you been able to work with your machine yet?  How is it going?
Cheers,
Trim sends


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## jjtgrinder (Feb 3, 2016)

OK, the grinder is working.  My first use was to grind some 120 degree "flats" on the larger drill shanks.  For drills 1/2" and over the flats are nice to have.  I had a bit of a learning curve, you cannot grind too much at one time!  I set the work-head with an indicator to move at a perfect 90 degree angle with respect to the face of the cup wheel.
I also marked the three index positions with a permanent marker pen.  Put the drill in the proper collet and  set the grind to very light.  Here is 9/16" drill that I put flats on.  I could not do this without a lot of fuss on the mill.


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## DaveInMi (Feb 25, 2016)

This post is a little old but I have my Foley set up to sharpen both horizontal and vertical milling cutters.  I can't post pictures yet but I have one handy of the horizontal cutter sharpener.  I used parts of a spin index and a Gingery cross slide for the vertical cutter sharpener.


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## DaveInMi (Feb 25, 2016)




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## One-match fire (Feb 27, 2016)

The photos posted appear to be a "sharp all" not the 380, but it appears to have a good set up. I don't have that machine.
I have the 380 and since the weather has been kind of cold for a while, I decided to wait till it warmed up to start working with it.  I am still not very clear as to how to employ the dial indicator so that I can set up the machine accurately.  I don't have any machinists training. I am simply learning this by trial and error and looking at the books I can find.  
Trim sends


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## DaveInMi (Feb 28, 2016)

I see my confusion. The picture posted by FOMOGO was a machine like mine and jumped to the conclusion that it was a 380.  I'm no expert but for my purposes, I can set it up so each cutting surface is the same without using a dial indicator.  I don't know how a 380 works.  My machine was made to sharpen saw blades for wood.  It is not a precision machine.  The cutters cut after being sharpened.  The SharpAll didn't cost me anything so it is worth more than I paid for it.


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## FOMOGO (Feb 28, 2016)

Won't be back home until the end of April, so no progress yet. Will post as soon as I get a chance to take a good look at it. Things are good here, but getting tired of doing concrete and plastering work. It has convinced me though, that I will definitely be subbing out the 110 sheets of 4x12 5/8" rock and finishing for the new shop. I've had a hard time saying I'm too old to do somethings, but I'm slowly coming to that inevitable conclusion. Cheers, Mike



One-match fire said:


> FOMOGO,
> I have been studying the picture here and can identify several of the machines, but none that I see is the 374 or the 380.  The machine in front is a sharpening machine but I can't tell you which one although I think it is one of the "later models".  The one to the right of it looks like the 387 automatic filer.  The one immediately behind it looks like the 357 and the one behind that on a stand, I don't know about.
> 
> Have you been able to work with your machine yet?  How is it going?
> ...


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