Ok guys, hold onto your wallets and prepare to cry. I just bought the same Boyar-Schultz H-618 surface grinder, minus the electro chuck and box of grinding wheels, for $200. To make the score even better, the seller needed to get rid of a Prolec Presetter, a CNC tool for measuring and cataloging CNC tooling, which he threw in for an extra $50 (it was advertised separately for $200). Evidently, a used Prolec Presetter is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,000 bucks, according to one of the guys from the CNC shop, where I got the stuff. They just upgraded to the newest model.
The B-S H618 seems to be in good shape and just needs a thorough cleaning. I just happen to have a 3 phase converter box leftover from my old furniture company days in the early 80s. Glad I never got rid of it during my many attempts to reduce the quantity of stuff in my shop. I don't plan on getting rid of the Prolec Presetter but instead scrapped it for parts for a CNC lathe project. It also yielded 2 Heidenhain glass scales that just happen to fit my 9x20 lathe. Everything was mounted on a 4" thick 18 x 36 granite surface plate on top of a really great/heavy 1/8" thick steel plate cabinet. Throw in some really nifty optics with a video camera, along with a precision tool holder that fits into a, like, 40 lb rotating precision bearing base and you have more fun than a barrel of grease monkeys. The moving z-x structure has ways made from 25mm rods held in cast-iron frames (nicely made in America). I don't know what this thing cost new but it's definitely well above my pay grade. There was no computer with it, as they moved that over to the new model they bought but they did throw in an HP laser printer that works great.
Back to the H-618. I didn't need the missing mag chuck because I just purchased one off of eBay with the idea of building a DIY surface grinder, using linear bearings and such, my timing couldn't have been better.. The surface grinder appears to be in serviceable shape although after removing the top deck I saw that the ways rested on a pair of roller bearings shaped like ladders. I looked up a manual on vintagemachinery.org and didn't see anything that resembled these bearings in the blueprints. After thrashing around on google, I found a reference to an aftermarket retrofit bearing kit from Dunbarrollers.com. Almost half of the rollers were missing from the flat set, although the 90 deg set (for the V way) was in good shape. I contacted Dunbar and they said they would sell me a complete new ladder for $200, a real deal considering a new kit was over $600. Since I got such a deal on the H-618, $200 would be a cheap investment but I think I will check out the original ways and see what condition they are in before plunking down the additional bucks. There is an electric auto-oiler on the grinder so maybe the ways are still in good shape.
Before I do anything else I need to clean everything thoroughly, down to the metal. Still has a good coat of grime and grit on everything and some of the oiler lines might be plugged up. The motor looks good and the spindle bearings feel smooth. There was one, well used, grinding wheel on it so I bought 2 extra wheels from Grizzly along with 2 more L.H. spindle collets, from eBay ($35 each). So now I'm ready to do some grinding, as soon as I finish the cleanup.
Does anyone have any good suggestions for a good, petroleum-based cleaning solution? I was going to use kerosene but at almost $10/gal, that was a bit much. When did that stuff get so expensive? I used to run it in my shop heater and it was like $2.50/gal. I guess I might use paint thinner, which isn't cheap but not $10/gal. To really clean the two beds up I need to soak the parts in some solution and I have a really big poly pan for mixing mortar that should do the trick. It will probably take at least 2-3 gallons to do a good job. I thought of painting it the original B-S turquoise blue but since I have 3 or 4 gallons of industrial gray machine enamel, I think I'll go ahead and change the color.
One last mod on my list is the possibility of changing the manual bed into a hydraulic one. I saw one like mine on youtube with hydraulics and fell in love. I don't have the original B-S parts for the conversion but I have a bunch of different hydraulic cylinders and at least 2 pump/reservoir systems. One system I picked up from a porch wheel chair lift after the owner moved. I plan on building a pipe/tube bender with the one I don't use. It shouldn't be that hard to design a hydraulic switching system to activate and reverse the cylinder and control the speed of travel. Has anyone heard of that being done as a retrofit?
Here are some pictures of my lucky find.
1. My new Boyar-Schultz H-618
2. The Dunbar roller bearings
3. Parlec Presetter
4. Arriving at their new home.
