# YET another tool and cutter grinder



## AGCB97 (Aug 27, 2020)

I've decided what my next larger project will be. This will take up some time this winter.

Last winter I spent MUCH time on this https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/another-buggy.56866/page-2  but it'll be earning its keep moving snow this year.  GO TO post # 50 for a near end picture!

I'm going to build a multipurpose tool and cutter grinder similar to the one in this video.  KO Lee





I've been collecting parts and pieces for some time and have most of what may be needed to make a good start. My plan is to start with the simpler tools like lathe tools and drill bits and proceed to end mills, reamers, OD grinding and what ever else.

I have a 4' lathe bed with cross carriage as a base and a Dumore tool post grinder as a grinding head. I'll put that on a height adjustable column mounted to the back of the bed.

Here are some of the collection of resources on hand.

















Thanks for looking
Aaron


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## AGCB97 (Aug 27, 2020)

The lathe came from the machine shop that I liquidated for a friend. It was left till right at the end and I was planning on letting it go for scrap but upon looking better at it decided it would be an excellent start to this project. There was no headstock or tailstock to be found. It is all cast iron and very heavy. I plan to right away put wheels on it so I can move it to and from its final spot in the shop. Having the cross slide is what convinced me of its worth.
Aaron


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## NCjeeper (Aug 27, 2020)

Wow what a cool project.


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## brino (Aug 27, 2020)

Definitely "watching" this one too.

Thanks for bringing us along Aaron!

-brino


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## Old Mud (Aug 28, 2020)

Wow, you got stuff !!! Looks like you have a good start.


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## C-Bag (Aug 28, 2020)

Nice collection of parts. With that amount of stuff it would be hard for me to pick a direction to go. I’ll be watching too.


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## AGCB97 (Aug 29, 2020)

C-Bag said:


> Nice collection of parts. With that amount of stuff it would be hard for me to pick a direction to go. I’ll be watching too.



What do you mean by "pick a direction to go"? I'm all ears.
Aaron


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## C-Bag (Aug 29, 2020)

I usually let the resources dictate the direction I go. But I don’t think I’ve ever had a collection of resources to pick from like you have there. I contemplated making my own TCG but all the different designs have their advantages and disadvantages. In my case it came down room and time so I went with the Deckel clone. I guess when I think of a KO Lee style grinder I‘d be looking for an solid table like small mill or surface grinder to base it off of. Are you thinking of mounting some heavy plate to the top of the cross slide on your lathe frame?

During the time I was searching for TCG there were 3-4 very old cylindrical grinders for super cheap but I have no experience with them so had no idea if they would have been able to work as a TCG so let them go. Also they were pretty large.


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## FOMOGO (Aug 29, 2020)

Should be fun following along. I have a nice valve grinding machine I plan on modifying for tool sharpening. Mike


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## C-Bag (Aug 29, 2020)

That sounds like fun too!


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## AGCB97 (Aug 29, 2020)

C-Bag said:


> ...I‘d be looking for a solid table like small mill or surface grinder to base it off of...



Tony
This lathe bed is solid and heavy so should be a good base.

I guess I was using wrong terminology. What I called a cross slide is ,I think, the saddle. There is no other parts of the carriage with it though. No feed parts or top. There is a rack under the front edge of the bed. I will probably build a quick traverse mechanism to engage that rack and also an electric powered feed screw for future OD grinding

I have a small rotary table with X and Y movements that will go on top of the saddle as one piece of the tooling system.

Thanks
Aaron


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## C-Bag (Aug 29, 2020)

I’m not good with terminology either Aaron. I agree the lathe frame could be a great base but I’m more thinking about something to cover the ways as there is nothing more destructive to them than abrasive dust. Most of the designs I’ve seen if they use ways have them completely covered by either the cast iron table or covers.

The Deckel bypasses that whole thing with the head being mounted to a shaft. I like the idea of an electronic lead screw. And the idea of the XY RT. I have one just like it. It will be interesting to see what you come up with as coming from the Deckel I’m always thinking small and compact as doing all the angles it takes to do these cutters and trying to remain flexible to get to everything is really a challenge.


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## AGCB97 (Aug 29, 2020)

Yes, I was planning on making fabric covers for all. Thanks Tony
Aaron


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## C-Bag (Aug 29, 2020)

I’ve run into some cheap rubber flat bellows that have been doing it for me as far as trying to keep out grit.

One of the best things about what you’re doing for me Aaron is trying to utilize all the cool pieces that might have gotten tossed or forgotten in a barn somewhere. I hate to see useful stuff tossed because somebody couldn’t see its possibilities. It was hard to understand when I saw you already have a surface grinder. Then I pictured myself with the Dumore and all the other stuff and that’s when the bulb went on. That’s what all those pieces would say to me too.


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## AGCB97 (Aug 29, 2020)

Glad you got inspired! That's the main reason I am on this forum, to be inspired and challenged by others with their ideas and ways of doing things.

I took a machine shop class in high school but all they had were about 1/2 dozen lathes then never touched a machine for the next 46 years. Everything I have has been acquired in the last 4 years and all my training has come from YouTube and this forum.

Aaron


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## C-Bag (Aug 29, 2020)

Amazing how similar our stories are. Took metal shop 50yrs ago and we didn’t have projects for the lathe so I just messed with it a little. Mostly learned how to arc and OA weld. About 8yrs ago I realized I needEd to learn to machine for my little home biz and got my stuff mostly off CL. YouTube and forums have taught me all I know. I’ve always been a junkyard dog and love to mod and repurpose and now with my on the cheap machine shop there ain’t nuthin I can’t mess up!


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## AGCB97 (Sep 9, 2020)

Today I got it back on the legs with the chip pan gone. It's now on some nice wheels so I can easily work on the back where the grinder will be mounted. Also put on the brackets that will support the grinder column. It is placed in front of where it will live. I already moved a cabinet that the bench grinder was on and put that grinder along with a HF belt sander and the HF portaband vertical saw all on a single pedestal. Tomorrow the drill press will be moved and the area cleaned out. Had an idea as to where to put the drill press that should work well (you know small shops take a lot of ingenuity!).
Thanks for looking
Aaron


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## AGCB97 (Dec 21, 2020)

Well, finally getting back to this project. We had such a nice warm fall with no snow that I kept working on outdoor projects till now. Things I would not have done this year and some possibly never.

I had a large homemade Bilco door that served as the outlet for the 3 airplanes I built in the basement. It was no longer needed and was getting harder and harder to keep the ants and mice out. The door/roof was raised and walls closed in. I dug out the inside dirt ramp and poured a cement floor. With drywall, carpet and good lighting, now have a nice 9 x 10' storage room.



My brother and I pulled a lot of firewood out of our swamp to where it can be cut up and split next spring.

Also built 4 or 5 one to four day projects for my brother, cousin or myself.

So today I attached the bearing tube for the grinder head to the base and now need to begin engineering the rest and look at those videos like the one in post 1

Thanks for looking
Aaron


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## AGCB97 (Jan 18, 2021)

Got started building the power head today. I looked through my box of assorted bearings to see if there were any big enough to support a shaft big enough for a ER-40 collet chuck. Found 2) new 385-A tapered roller bearings (2” ID )without cups. Quick look online and 2 cups will be here tomorrow. Also found a piece of  2” x 1” DOM tubing.  




So today I carefully indexed a 7” length of that tube in the 4 jaw chuck and then bumped the outboard end into concentric before supporting it with a center support. I spent about a hour to get that within 1-2 thou, first roughly and then indicated the taper off my other ER-40 chuck. Set up the compound to cut the 8 degree inside taper.

I used a 3/4” boring bar to cut the taper with the compound spinner handle rotated with a super slow cordless drill motor (actually 2 old drill motors in tandem sort of cobbled together but working great). It makes a far more even cut than turning by hand.






When the right major diameter was reached I took one more 5 thou cut on the slowest feed speed of the
drill device. I was expecting it would need to be ground to get a nice finish but was surprised at how good it looked. It wouldn't get much better if any with grinding. So then I put Dykem in 3 places around the taper and used a collet on a shaft to check the fit and contact area. To my delight it was near perfect.

DONE with that!!! 







Next job, make a collet nut.

Thanks for your interest.
Aaron


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## AGCB97 (Jan 22, 2021)

After doing the external thread on the shaft and turning down the other end for the pulley and for bearing adjustment I began to make a nut to fit. My 1st attempt became scrap for the pile, so on the 2nd day I started out with a better plan, better stock and a better attitude! That one turned out real good. Nice thread fit and the taper in the back of the nut to fit against the collet was right on.

Quickly ground 2 profiles on a HSS blank. One to cut the thread relief in the back of the nut.




And the other to turn the 45 degree angle for the back (front) end of the collet.




Here's the result so far.






Thanks for looking
Aaron


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## AGCB97 (Apr 13, 2021)

As I said back in December


AGCB97 said:


> Well, finally getting back to this project
> 
> My brother and I pulled a lot of firewood out of our swamp to where it can be cut up and split next spring.


Now in the last month with warm weather again that wood is almost all cut up and split.



So back to the grinder again. Today and yesterday I mounted the feed screw and 1/2 nuts. Now to figure out a way to open and close them.






The feed screw will be driven with a wheel chair motor w/ speed control from the right side. There is a nut and washer on each end of the rod for end play adjustment. The nuts have a locking set screw pushing on a lead pellet to protect the  rod. All the mounting hardware has oversize holes to allow for line up of the parts.



This was supposed to be a winter project but I'm now changing the timeframe to 2021. But that may not come about either.
Thanks for looking.
Aaron


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## C-Bag (Apr 13, 2021)

Interesting setup. I'm curious as to why to need to have half nuts and to be able to open them? for quick traverse by hand? I'm contemplating re purposing a unit that I picked up cheap in a yard sale. My thought is quick X traverse and only have lead screw on the Y and maybe the Z. I see a tool grinder somewhat like a valve grinder and my favorites were Sioux. The X was actuated by a long handle, not handwheels.


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## AGCB97 (Apr 13, 2021)

I have a long handle to quickly traverse longitudinal by hand. It is disengaged by pulling outward. It engages a rack on the under side of the bed. I want to be able to grind tapers, hence the carriage feed rod. I made a T-slot table that will be fine adjustable for angles. You can see it in the 1st grinder picture post #21. I'll make the feed quite slow for grinding those angles. The angling table will be replaced by the X/Y table that can be seen in the 3rd pic of post #17. I have high hopes for much usefulness of this thing in grinding many kinds of tools.
Thanks
Aaron


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