General Surface Grinder Questions

[wrmiller]

I used a surface grinder mostly for thinning 1911 hammers, creating accurate surfaces and angles on sears and hammers, 1911 slides and frames, mating a compensator to a slide, (I do a lot of tweaking on 1911s...), getting perfectly parallel sides on a piece made of hard to machine metal, and in general anywhere I want a really flat/accurate surface or dimensions. Quite a handy tool to have in the shop, and as Jim says, use 'em wet or you get nasty stuff everywhere. Don't have one at the moment, but will have one in my retirement shop.

 

[PatMiles]

I used a surface grinder mostly for thinning 1911 hammers, creating accurate surfaces and angles on sears and hammers, 1911 slides and frames, mating a compensator to a slide, (I do a lot of tweaking on 1911s...), getting perfectly parallel sides on a piece made of hard to machine metal, and in general anywhere I want a really flat/accurate surface or dimensions. Quite a handy tool to have in the shop, and as Jim says, use 'em wet or you get nasty stuff everywhere. Don't have one at the moment, but will have one in my retirement shop.

I use mine for 1911/2011 work also. Taking .001" off of hammer hooks evenly in a quick fashion is really nice. I also use it to "time" muzzle brakes on rifles.
Once you have one you will find many uses for it.

 

[wrmiller]

Yea, I 'time' the compensators for a 1911 (I call then all that, even the new ones) and use it to put the angle cut on the back of the comp so I get a almost invisible line where the slide and comp meet. I've done this by hand with files and stones but that's WAY too much work, and pretty much hit-or-miss. Surface grinders are a god-send for this stuff.

 

[coolidge]

Yea, I 'time' the compensators for a 1911 (I call then all that, even the new ones) and use it to put the angle cut on the back of the comp so I get a almost invisible line where the slide and comp meet. I've done this by hand with files and stones but that's WAY too much work, and pretty much hit-or-miss. Surface grinders are a god-send for this stuff.

Pics would make it easier to visualize.

 

[wrmiller]

I'll look and see if I have any tonight. But basically a 1911 barrel in battery sits at a slight muzzle down angle relative to the outside lines of the slide. So when you cut the top profile of the comp, you want it threaded onto the barrel and have the barrel in full battery/lock-up. If you don't do this, the comp will point slightly down at full battery compared to the top line of the slide. This angle also means the interface area on the sides/flats of the slide and comp don't meet at a perfect 90 degree angle. For a half-profile/round comp it doesn't look too bad from a distance, but a full profile comp (same profile as the front of the slide) looks kinda clunky.

 

[buffdan]

Also you can utilize a cut off wheel to slice thru hardened materials.

 

[BGHansen]

I recently bought a Grizzly G0709 14 x 40 lathe. Really like the machine but the supplied piston style QCTP ended up with the handle at about 1 o'clock when tightening up a facing/turning tool. Handle set right over top the work. Other option was to turn it 180 deg. The unlock position was at about 8 o'clock or just over the back corner of the tool holder. In that position I had to unscrew the tool post handle to get the tool holder off the post.

SG to the rescure (mine is a Delta toolmaker circa 1945). I pulled the plates on the QCTP that push against the tool holder and thinned them by about 0.020" (both plates are hardened). Unlocked position is now 6 o'clock, locked at 5 o'clock. I also use mine to sharpen end mills. Have used it to thin up extractors for an RG&G gatling gun, T-nuts for a mill, etc. Don't use it every day but sure comes in handy when needed.

Bruce