# Tool grind fixture



## frankly2 (Nov 30, 2019)

Found drawing for this fixture and built it. Not my design, but modified it to suit my needs and rigidity ideas. Thought it would be a good addition to my surface grinder. However I was offered good money for the grinder and sold it, so I’m now looking for another smaller grinder for my shop. If I cannot find a small grinder I may have to build one from scratch. I can forward drawings if anyone wants to build one for themself. The fixture that is !


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## Dabbler (Nov 30, 2019)

that's some really nice work there!


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## frankly2 (Nov 30, 2019)

Thanks, it’s all O1 Starrett ground stock. Wanted heat treatment and grind but wimped out besides selling my grinder. Maybe someday will finish the job when I get a new grinder. I hope to post some of my other work in the near future Along with pics of my little shop.


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## Canus (Nov 30, 2019)

Please PM me concerning drawings.  Great work there.


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## Old Alchemy (Nov 30, 2019)

Canus said:


> Please PM me concerning drawings.  Great work there.


Same here. I’d love to see the drawings.  A tool grinder has been on my project list for quite some time.


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## Janderso (Nov 30, 2019)

Heck with the personal message.
We all like your work and need those drawings


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## Downunder Bob (Nov 30, 2019)

That is a great looking tool grinder jig. can I get a copy of the drawings please. You can email me     bob@quantumefex.com.au   Thanks.


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## frankly2 (Nov 30, 2019)

Trying now to post with a bit map conversion, hope it works on the first part drawing.


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## frankly2 (Nov 30, 2019)

here is an Autocad drawing if you can read it------let me know which works , i'll send them.


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## Packard V8 (Nov 30, 2019)

FWIW, I just restored a Kao Ming tool and cutter grinder, made in Taiwan about thirty years ago.  I had it all apart and was very impressed with the quality and precision.

I did a search and didn't find any manuals for it, so have been slowly learning how to use it.



> so I’m now looking for another smaller grinder for my shop.



This one might be for sale for the right offer.

jack vines


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## Canus (Nov 30, 2019)

Frankly2, could not open either file.


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## Dabbler (Dec 1, 2019)

I could open the BMP file in all 3 of my tools, but - the .BMP file is a blank BMP file - there is no data in it.


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## Suzuki4evr (Dec 1, 2019)

frankly2 said:


> Found drawing for this fixture and built it. Not my design, but modified it to suit my needs and rigidity ideas. Thought it would be a good addition to my surface grinder. However I was offered good money for the grinder and sold it, so I’m now looking for another smaller grinder for my shop. If I cannot find a small grinder I may have to build one from scratch. I can forward drawings if anyone wants to build one for themself. The fixture that is !


I would also like the drawings if you don't mind,so I can add it to my "I am going to make that one day" list. Very nice work.


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## Downunder Bob (Dec 1, 2019)

Could not open either drawing, apparently they require some unusual program that i don't have. Can you post them as PDF please.


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## ddickey (Dec 1, 2019)

I was able to open the AutoCAD file.


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## Suzuki4evr (Dec 1, 2019)

I used a doc scanner app on my mobile phone,but you guys probably work on your computers,which I don't have.


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## royesses (Dec 1, 2019)

I am able to open the dwg file with the Qcad pro trial version.

Roy


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## frankly2 (Dec 2, 2019)

some are incomplete but you can still use them for reference. I will post all I have and you should be able to fill in the blanks. Does this help? Most was done to fit as I built the fixture without any drawings. Have fun ! !
Will post pics of shop soon.


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## frankly2 (Dec 2, 2019)

shop pics, as promised


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## fixit (Dec 2, 2019)

frankly2 said:


> shop pics, as promised


NICE SHOP, WELL USED. MY KIND OF PLACE


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## frankly2 (Dec 2, 2019)

here is an ACIS open viewer file, its an SAT file. ACIS open viewer can be found on the net at Spacial Technologies. Maybe it can be converted from there, but I have not tried it.
ooops wont attach


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## Tim9 (Dec 3, 2019)

frankly2 said:


> Thanks, it’s all O1 Starrett ground stock. Wanted heat treatment and grind but wimped out besides selling my grinder. Maybe someday will finish the job when I get a new grinder. I hope to post some of my other work in the near future Along with pics of my little shop.


I like your shop and equipment Frank. Very nice.


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## frankly2 (Dec 3, 2019)

Thanks, it’s my old boy toybox. Currently making pedal steel guitar parts for a man who restores older guitars. Keeps my mind busy !


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## frankly2 (Dec 5, 2019)

Hey, guys, I found the perfect small surface grinder to add to my shop ! It’s in the May/June 2006 “The Home Shop Machinist” magazine. I’m going to start saving and working on the material and parts to build this gem for this coming years project. What do ya think ? ? Worth while ?


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## Latinrascalrg1 (Dec 5, 2019)

frankly2 said:


> Hey, guys, I found the perfect small surface grinder to add to my shop ! It’s in the May/June 2006 “The Home Shop Machinist” magazine. I’m going to start saving and working on the material and parts to build this gem for this coming years project. What do ya think ? ? Worth while ?


For those of us who dont subscribe to that magazine might there be another way to see which grinder you speak of?  Going off the "Toyz" in your shop its obvious that you have a particular attraction to the GOOD STUFF!  You are also obviously  NOT A Newbie as your tag states, you're just new to the site so your experience and affinity for quality equipment has me intrigued which has me wanting to see this "perfect small surface grinder"  because I have been thinking about buying one IF I ever came across a "Home/Hobbyist" sized machine for the right price for the quality! Any additional info would be appreciated, Thanks.


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## frankly2 (Dec 5, 2019)

Try (www.homeshopmachinist.net/resources/article-index) I think you will find very many articles on machines and tooling ! It’s a very good magazine for machinists.
Try Volume 25 number 3 in the search tab.....


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## chips&more (Dec 5, 2019)

I totally get it. Taking pride in making your own. Believe me, I get it. But when it can be bought? Like a little Sanford surface grinder. I will spend the money on the Sanford instead of time and money to make my own. And in the end the Sanford just might hold its value better. That’s just the facts. Believe me, I have been around the block, made many a tool and such. I have learned the hard way. If it can be bought, then buy it. If it’s a widget only you need, then make it.


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## Downunder Bob (Dec 6, 2019)

It appears that I can not view the article unless I subscribe to the magazine. Pity.


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## frankly2 (Dec 6, 2019)

chips&more said:


> I totally get it. Taking pride in making your own. Believe me, I get it. But when it can be bought? Like a little Sanford surface grinder. I will spend the money on the Sanford instead of time and money to make my own. And in the end the Sanford just might hold its value better. That’s just the facts. Believe me, I have been around the block, made many a tool and such. I have learned the hard way. If it can be bought, then buy it. If it’s a widget only you need, then make it.


Sanford benchtops are extremely hard to find, very few machinists are willing to part with them ! That’s why I am willing to build my own. I also like the idea of customizing the build to suit my needs and engineering preferences.


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## frankly2 (Dec 6, 2019)

Here is a pic of the mag front cover.


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## frankly2 (Dec 7, 2019)

The drawings and construction of the magazines home made surface grinder is a very simple and home made project. My intention is to improve on the design by upgrading to ball screws and dovetail ways among other things. The basic design has merit as a shop made bench top grinder for the average home shop machinist. However the concept and execution along with other improvements will produce a very nice machine for passing down to my progeny. My focus is not on making a production machine but a personal project I can be proud to pass on to upcoming machinists just as we all do with shop made tooling and fixtures. In all my 60 plus years in the trade I hope to leave something behind to be remembered by besides my tools and fixtures, I am after all past the prime of life at 82 ! I do appreciate the input from all you gentlemen who have expressed your opinion and offered advice. 
I am a newbie in this chat room age and wish I had started earlier. Thanks again!


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## Tim9 (Dec 7, 2019)

Very cool. I like it. Are all the drawings in that issue or are there multiple issues needed. I’d like to get back issues of that project. It does look simple.


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## frankly2 (Dec 7, 2019)

Tim9 said:


> Very cool. I like it. Are all the drawings in that issue or are there multiple issues needed. I’d like to get back issues of that project. It does look simple.


All the drawings are spread out in I believe 3 mag’s, but you can probably build it by the dwg’s in the first one by reading between the lines. It’s a pretty simple build.


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## Tim9 (Dec 8, 2019)

frankly2 said:


> The drawings and construction of the magazines home made surface grinder is a very simple and home made project. My intention is to improve on the design by upgrading to ball screws and dovetail
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I say it’s never too late Frank. Keeps our minds and bodies young and healthy in my opinion.


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## frankly2 (Dec 8, 2019)

Tim9 said:


> I say it’s never too late Frank. Keeps our minds and bodies young and healthy in my opinion.


You are right on that account ! I hope to go another 10 or more if I can and be productive.


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## frankly2 (Apr 14, 2020)

This is what I am working on right now, altho I have to change the width of the “Y” axis rails, they (I think are too narrow) seem too short to prevent “X” axis from deflection vertically at the extreme travel. Any thoughts ?


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## frankly2 (Apr 17, 2020)

Tim9 said:


> Very cool. I like it. Are all the drawings in that issue or are there multiple issues needed. I’d like to get back issues of that project. It does look simple.


I posted a drawing of the, in process drawing, of my generation of a bench top that I’m working on. All of the rails are taken from the collection of junk accumulated over the last 30 years. Some may need to be modified but that will be relatively easy to do !  The side plates will be 3/8” cold roll plate water jetted to size. I’m now working on the layout of vertical slide and screw feed. Should be done with the drawing modifications soon and can start physical modifications on the slides and frame parts. I plan to use all steel in the construction, and will try to make sure the frame is ridged as possible using crossmembers and corner bracing. What are your thoughts ?


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## homebrewed (Apr 17, 2020)

frankly2 said:


> Here is a pic of the mag front cover.


I'll be darned.  I thought that magazine cover looked familiar so I went through my box of old HSM magazines and there it was!

HSM also ran a 2-part series about building a 4-facet drill sharpening tool.  You can read about it here -- about halfway down the (long) page.  Unfortunately, only one of the magazines in that series is still available as a back issue.  I got that one and discovered it also has an installment of a very good series on scraping.  The photos and description on the web site probably are good enough for a creative machinist to make their own.


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## ddickey (Apr 17, 2020)

You can read about that here here.


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## frankly2 (Apr 17, 2020)

ddickey said:


> You can read about that here here.


That’s a very informative site, I have seen it in the past but never bookmarked it, which I have done now ! What is your take on the “X” axis rod width. Do they need to be wider to prevent deflection? Also wondering if you have found the ”Home Shop Machinist” articles I referred to ? They were May/June, July/August, and September/October all 2006. Oops, you already answered the question on the Home Shop Mag’s sorry !


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## Tim9 (Apr 17, 2020)

Frankly, I watching with great anticipation. I don’t need a full size surface grinder. Sure, if I had a 1500 sf shop, I’d probably get a decent used one but I’m dealing with around a total of about 300 square feet between the two rooms of my shop. It’s really 200sf of 1/2 of a carport plus another room which is 7 x 20. The 7 x 20ft room really isn’t that much use for a shop machine. 
   Anyway, I’ve crammed in my major tools....lathes and mil plus a shaper which I really didn’t have room for but I saw it on Craigslist and the guy really wasn’t greedy at all. Paid 400.00 for it.
   So...the only reason for my long above rant is that I’ve been working on adapting a shop made toolpost type grinder to the shaper. I figured that the shaper has the mass for the job....and other than the task of protecting grinding dust from shaper moving parts....if I can pull this off, it might be a valid project. Unfortunately....my first attempt just had too much vibration of the grinder so I’m working on adding a better designed support of the grinder shaft. 
    So...as I said in the first line....Watching with anticipation Frank. So far, I like your plan. The beauty of your project is I could fit this in the 7x20 room. FWIW....I was able to view your drawings using a downloaded DWG viewer app. It’s free on iPhone App Store


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## frankly2 (Apr 17, 2020)

I know what you mean regarding room or floor space, my shop is a 9 X 15 shed. This is why I need a bench top grinder that has a small footprint ! It is needed for tool grinding along with making accurate tooling. Wish my shop was your size !


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## ddickey (Apr 17, 2020)

Maybe you should try and make a T&C grinder like this.


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## frankly2 (Apr 18, 2020)

ddickey said:


> Maybe you should try and make a T&C grinder like this.


My needs are for more for a surface grinder than a tool grinder. Still, I will be able to grind lathe tooling with the fixtures I have in stock. However that tool grinder is a simple concept and has much merit in any shop ! Beautifully executed machine work !


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## Philren (May 11, 2020)

Hi Frankly can you maybe PM me the drawings for the tool grind fixture? Great design looks like a user friendly device.


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## frankly2 (May 11, 2020)

Philren said:


> Hi Frankly can you maybe PM me the drawings for the tool grind fixture? Great design looks like a user friendly device.


The drawings are in AutoCad .dwg format, if you have a way to read them I’ll be glad to send the assembly drawing and you can extract necessary dim’s from that.


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## frankly2 (May 14, 2020)

This is what I have done thus far, now looking for a motor and wheel so I can start on the mount for Z axis. Most of the materials are already in my shop, which were collected over the last 20 years. I have yet to get the side plates water jetted and will start in the X-members after I finish a job I have in house for a friend. Shouldn’t take more than a month to complete after I collect some way protectors and the motor along with a ball screw. Need only one ball screw for Y axis, already have Z axis ball screw. Will make lever action for X axis, about a 4x1 ratio motion. Observations by any of you folks will be appreciated !


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## Philren (May 23, 2020)

frankly2 said:


> The drawings are in AutoCad .dwg format, if you have a way to read them I’ll be glad to send the assembly drawing and you can extract necessary dim’s from that.


Feel free to send have access to numerous CAD applications. One of them ought to work lol.


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## Tim9 (May 23, 2020)

frankly2 said:


> I know what you mean regarding room or floor space, my shop is a 9 X 15 shed. This is why I need a bench top grinder that has a small footprint ! It is needed for tool grinding along with making accurate tooling. Wish my shop was your size !


Don’t we all Frank. No matter our size of shop....it’s never big enough. When I was 21, I opened my auto repair shop in an old service station. 5000 sf brick building and yet... every evening when we’d lock up I’d spend a half hour cramming the cars inside to lock up. I spent 15 years dreaming of some way to make the shop bigger. Bought the lot next door. No matter what we have....human nature drives us to want more. It’s just the flaw of our nature. But it’s okay. It is what it is. It’s what keeps us waking up every morning. And moving forward.


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## frankly2 (May 23, 2020)

Tim9 said:


> Don’t we all Frank. No matter our size of shop....it’s never big enough. When I was 21, I opened my auto repair shop in an old service station. 5000 sf brick building and yet... every evening when we’d lock up I’d spend a half hour cramming the cars inside to lock up. I spent 15 years dreaming of some way to make the shop bigger. Bought the lot next door. No matter what we have....human nature drives us to want more. It’s just the flaw of our nature. But it’s okay. It is what it is. It’s what keeps us waking up every morning. And moving forward.


Tell me about the conversion you did on the southbend, “C”To “B”, that may be the answer to looking for “change gears“.


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## Tim9 (May 23, 2020)

Here you go Frank. This was one of my older projects. I had an Atlas 618, and then my cousin gave me this lathe. It’s a 1939 South Bend 9” model C. The bed looks banged up as hell but the headstock and spindle are cast iron on cast iron bearings and I have to tell you, after 80 years... that spindle is immaculate. Just a mirror finish. And the lathe holds its accuracy pretty damned good in my opinion.
But, the apron was shot to ****. And since I needed a new apron, I figured why not upgrade it to a A. That turned out a bit too complicated so I just went with a C to a B.
Anyway, it’s kind of sitting at m house and not used much only because I don’t have the space. But being the pack rat I am....I can’t get rid of it. Maybe one day it’ll be set up as a dedicated metric threading lathe...or even a grinding plus metric threader.
But...enough fluff. Here’s the link of my upgrade. It was a lot of work, but lathes don’t show up often down here. Plus, I was impatient and don’t mind working. I like to work.








						Trying to add a Model A apron to a SB 9" model C
					

I have a 9" South Bend Model C I am working on. I have not set it up yet and don't even have the motor mounted on it yet. That said, I really want to have the power cross feed of the models A and B, so I already purchased a model A/B  Apron. I planning on cutting a keyway in the feed screw which...




					www.hobby-machinist.com


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## Tim9 (May 23, 2020)

By the way Frank. I remember when I was attempting this project, the best video I could find on the subject of a South Bend B to A conversion was a three part video by Haligan. His videos are pretty good. I’m not crazy about the music at the beginning of them, but hey... being different is what makes the world go round. He’s a good machinist and gives good instructions in my opinion.

But, it’s a lot of work and I just figured I’d use my model B and when I get fed up....if ever....I could make the next step. FWIW....my fortunes also changed. I wanted a longer bed lathe and drove to Houston to buy a Model A 4-1/2’ 444z SB lathe. It was for sale cheap because it tipped over while moving it. I then rebuilt it....going through the QCGB...brazing cracked levers for QCGB.....and a number of other repairs.
  Low and behold....less than a month later an estate sale showed up. A well tooled identical 444Z SB on a very nice steel bench. Belonged to a 100 y/o retired machinist. Pretty well kept. Price was fair so I purchased it.  I need to sell one of these 4-1/2’ SB’s.....but all in due time. I want to make sure the headstock and other parts are good before I sell one of them. Anyway....here’s Halligan’s YouTube video


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## frankly2 (May 27, 2020)

I found this conversion to be all too complex and iffy, also time consuming, so I’m thinking I’ll just stick with gear changes manually and live with the extra effort. It’s not often I have to cut threads on the lathe. I have a 5/16 “geometric Head” for my turret lathe and a large variety of dies. Most all the thread sizes and leads I need for my small shop use up to now.
I’m working on to many other projects to start another. Thanks for your input it has been helpful putting things in to proper perspective !


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