Brown & Sharpe 618 Surface Grinder

[benmychree]

On my number one pic, the cluster has the rapid/dress/grind selector, a rotating knob that controls step size and dress speed, and the cross feed directional selector, which on yours is up higher near the top of the apron; I'm curious as to what the un pictured mystery rotating handle might be!

 

[ErichKeane]

Alright, I got the grinder off the pickup and into my shop on Wednesday, and wired up last night. I found a local forklift repair/rental shop that I was able to convince to come by and do the unload for me. I didn't want to learn how to drive a forklift while carrying a 4000lb machine

I picked up a 5hp Chinesium VFD on Ebay. I hooked it up and sorta went through settings and changed what seemed like a good idea. It actually seems to have no problem letting me use the standard magnetic switch to turn it on, as long as I don't have the coolant unit on as well. I can turn the coolant stuff on later, but not together with the hydro pump and the spindle.

I noticed that the coolant unit actually has _2_ motors on it! There is a small water pump, PLUS a massive blower thing. I've got no idea about that one's purpose.

Alright, to the machine itself

First, the wheel on it is a Norton 7 1/4x1/4 (with a 1 1/4 spindle cutout I think) in what looks like unused shape. Presumably I'll want to pick up a wider one? Or is a 1/4" one normal? It looks like I could get a 9" wheel in the cover without a problem.

Next, the electrical panel:

Top is 'on', red is 'off', these are both magnetic switches I think. There is a pull-on switch marked 110 (lower right), which turns on a 110v plug on the front of the electrical box. This seems handy for a small work light! There is a 220 pull-on switch (lower left) that turns on the power to a 220v plug on the back, which is for the coolant unit.

Finally, the hydro-knobs:

The leftmost knob on the top of the apron seems to be the hydroaulics 'on/off' switch. The other one up there is indeed the left/right for the X-axis, though it seems to move on its own when working.

The 'mystery knob' is actually visible on the left of the electrical panel picture above. It appears to be the Y-Axis direction. That is useful in 2 of the other modes.

Speaking of modes, the final hydro panel:


The bottom knob has 3 different 'modes' that it selects between. In sharpie, they are marked (left to right) "Dress", "Grind", and "Rapid". The 'top' is marked "Step Size", which only seems to affect the 'grind' speed. There are factory logos on them, but I will have to look closer to make out what they say. Perhaps I'll see if I can find my good camera and take a better picture

"Dress": I couldn't figure out what this one does. It didn't move the X-axis at all, and otherwise didn't seem to do anything.

"Rapid": This mode doesn't move the X-axis, it simply allows the Y-Axis knob to rapidly move the Y-Axis. I can do an entire direction of travel in about 10 seconds with it, which seems handy.

"Grind": This seem seems to be the useful one. it moves the X-axis left/right based on the stops on the front. Every time it does 1 cycle of this, it moves the Y-axis forward/backward, based on the direction of the Y-axis knob (how much it moves is based on the 'step size' knob it looks). The height is not controlled it seems (as far as I can tell), so I likely will have to still turn that myself. Additionally, the human seems to have to change the Y-axis direction at front/back, since there is no switched-stop like with the X-axis.

I'm away most of the weekend, but if you've got suggestions/questions, I'll have an hour or two in the shop tonight.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Bob Korves]

"Dress" would be a Z traverse (toward and away from the column.) It is a power feed for dressing the wheel.

Soap box <ON>
(yes, again... )
On your surface grinder, table back and forth is X, spindle up and down the column is Y, table toward and away from the column is Z. Those letters are based on the spindle orientation, and a surface grinder has the spindle pointing a different direction than a vertical mill.

The long held convention is: Z = in and out along the spindle axis, X = the major axis at a 90 degree angle to the Z spindle axis, and Y is the secondary 90 degree axis to the Z spindle axis, and 90 degrees from X. A horizontal mill has the same configuration as a surface grinder, therefore the same nomenclature, different than a Bridgeport. On a lathe, Z is the carriage travel, toward and away from the spindle, X is the cross slide, Y would be something like a milling attachment. Not everything is a Bridgeport...

These old rules apparently seem to go away on many CNC machines, some of it I understand... Call machine axes anything you want in your shop, but don't try to confuse the forum, we get confused easily. It is often more easily understood and less confusing if we just say things like in/out, up/down, and left/right.
Soap box <OFF>
Not trying to be a nit picker, the only goal is mutually understandable communication.

 

[ErichKeane]

Ah, I was unaware that the axes were based on the head, I'd always thought they were in relation to gravity. I'd also never thought about calling Lathe directions X/Y/Z, though I guess that makes sense...

I'll have to figure out how to get those square in my mind It could perhaps have been doing a slow fwd/backward feed, but I didn't notice, I'll have to see if I can get that happening. It makes a ton of sense that 'dressing' would be wheel dressing. I was expecting it to be a 'very mild cut', like a cleanup pass, but wheel dressing makes more sense. Thanks!

 

[Bob Korves]

I was expecting it to be a 'very mild cut', like a cleanup pass, but wheel dressing makes more sense. Thanks!

A typical wheel dressing on a grinder that size would be somewhere around 2-3 seconds. I suspect there is control of the traverse rate there somewhere, probably a dial. John York (benmychree) probably knows how the dress function works, but his Micromaster does seem to be laid out a bit differently than yours.

 

[benmychree]

Yes, "dress" is for wheel dressing, and when the lever is set to "dress", the speed is not adjustable on my machine. On my machine it is labeled "True", and when the lever is set, it is started by the table travel lever and the direction set by the cross travel lever.
I think, all this "X,Y,Z" stuff is a bunch of cr-p when I was working at the trade and in my shop, this terminology was unknown; in lathe work, it was long or carriage fed, cross feed, etc, in mulling it was table, saddle feed, and vertical or up and down, and more or less the same on grinders, one never had to stop and think, "which one is that alphabet letter"?
On my grinder, it came with a 3/4 wide wheel of 8" diameter (maximum). A narrow wheel would have been only used for slot grinding. I posted a picture of the wheel guard on mine that shows a port at the upper left corner (with a cap on it) that could be connected to a centrifugal blower by a flexible hose to that blower on your coolant unit, thus having a vacuum evacuation system for dust control, but it seems that my machine never used that feature, and the operator's book does not show that type unit, only a coolant pump with sump; I have the pump, but not the sump, I have been grinding dry, although getting a working coolant system is a goal, as it has its advantages. For specific questions, you can e mail me at: york@napanet.net

 

[Dabbler]

ErichKeane, Tom Lipton got a Micromaster for his shop early this year. He introduces it in "Monday Night Meatloaf 115, and mentions his rebuild of it. His also has a 'dress' function, and his is from the 1960's.

If you guys need some really specific, you can contact him through email or instagram. He is usually very helpful about helping guys.