Looking for Sanford MG-612 Surface Grinder owners

kevin

kevin

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I'm looking for Sanford MG-612 surface grinder owners who are willing to share tips and information on tooling, sources for parts, grinding wheel adapters, etc., and other useful information. Please note I am looking for information for the MG model specifically.

Very recently, I purchased a Sanford MG-612 - it's in pretty good shape, but still needs a bit of work (plus I still need to move it into my basement workshop!). I've already started a web page on my acquisition, and I'm making a record of relevant information I have found searching the Internet. Here's a link to the web page, still very much a work in progress:

https://sites.google.com/site/lagadoacademy/machining---lathes-mills-etc/my-surface-grinder

I would very much appreciate help from anyone willing to share information on things like this:
  • grinding wheel adapters - did you build or buy (where?)
  • associated tooling - wrenches, wheel removal tools, etc.
  • useful modifications or improvements you have made
  • tips, suggestions, advice, etc.
  • useful web links specific to the MG-612
Also, for those willing to share information about your specific grinder:
  • serial number
  • when purchased?
  • where purchased (city, state)
  • purchase price
  • condition when purchased, accessories included
  • photos welcome!
Finally, one more piece of information I am looking for specific to my purchase: There are no table stops on my grinder. I will be making stops, and I would like to make them similar to the original if possible. If anyone can provide pictures of table stops, I would appreciate it.
 
I see that Sopko adaptors and other tools are mentioned, if you do not know that already, they are still in business, selling the same stuff as you sell, including the "Glare Gearnut"that you show.
 
John - Thanks for the comment. As a matter of fact, I just bought a "gear-nut wrench" from Sopko (via MSC), along with one of their wheel-pullers. I've also been in touch with Sopko via email about wheel adapters. It appears that my spindle has a non-standard taper (or at least, not a taper of 3" per foot, which is common). The email conversation is still ongoing, but once I have some useful information I will post it here.
 
The William Sopko Company is very accommodating, and deals direct with end users besides being sold through dealers; they offer other items besides those that have been noted, including high speed endless (flat) belts, special screws for mounting internal grinding wheels, and other grinding accessories that I can't recall just now. I have not used the gear nut mounting personally but do have a number of their wheel hubs, including one with a balance feature, the combination wrench and wheel puller that I use both with my B&S Micromaster surface grinder and my #1 Norton cutter grinder.
 
I've been corresponding with Sopko via email, and the conversation has been very helpful. I'm looking to buy additional adapters for my machine, and with Sopko's help I was able to determine that the spindle taper on my machine is TPF=2.787" (or there-abouts). Unfortunately for me, this is a non-standard spindle taper and Sopko has confirmed that they do not have anything in their catalog to match it. They have offered to inspect my current adapter and offer me a quote for a custom adapter, and I am thinking this over.

Meanwhile, I am hoping to find other Sanford MG owners to see what they have done about this. I haven't confirmed it yet, but I think it may be that some Sanford MG machines have the standard TPF = 3", and others are like mine. If there are other Sanford MG owners with my spindle taper, I'd like to know what they did to get wheel adapters.
 
Attached are a few pictures of my Sanford MG surface grinder. It has the serial number 1544039M. I believe the date of manufacture was 1954 in that it has the original magnetic chuck with the Sanford logo and machine dealers tags attached. The build date of the chuck is
1954. I purchased it about 7 years ago from a shop in Oshkosh Wisconsin. The owner had been doing contract repair work for Mercury Marine.. He wanted to retire and knew the only would be able to is to no longer have the machinery to continue. I do use it on a fairly regular basis. Most recently I used it to make a set of spacers for my horizontal mill arbor.

This is the way it looked when I purchased it. I have not done anything to the machine other than replace the motor bearings, change the belt, and replace a few damaged oilers and missing screws. I believe the cabinet and all parts of the machine except the spindle cover are the original color. The spindle cover may be original, but has been painted machinery grey rather than green. The green is the same color used in the Sanford advertising brochures. I believe originally the opening on the cabinet faced the rear. However since I use the cabinet to store stock and tooling I found it much more convenient to have the opening face the front.

One thing to be sure to check is the gear ratio on the spindle down feed. When I first got it I was having an awful time trying to grind to specs. It took a while to figure out the down feed gear ratio had been changed from 3 to 1 to 4 to 1. Essentially I was only feeding down .00041" per increment on the dial rather than the .0005" as the dial indicated.

I do not have any quick change hubs for the wheels. Each wheel goes directly on the spindle. I do have a number of different dressing tools including a radius dresser. As you can see I fabricated one from a 2" LB style electrical conduit body. The optional dust collector was a $2575.00 option the original owner did not purchase.

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DSCF8085.JPGDSCF8086.JPG

A couple side notes. The bare machine originally listed for $9097.00. The cabinet was another $810.00, the work light $140.00 option, and the Walker magnetic chuck was another $1010.00. The optional table stops would have cost another $430.00, and the rear belt guard $410.00. In addition an angle dresser listed for $675.00 and a straight dresser was $194.00. I have no idea what a similar size Boyer Shultz, Norton, or Brown & Sharpe machine would have cost. To put things in perspective the Sanford was considered a "middle of the road" machine.
 
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projectnut - thanks for joining the discussion. That's a fine looking machine, it looks like it has been well taken care of; seems to have most of the original parts. Do you mind my asking what you paid for it 7 years ago?

My machine was mounted on the cabinet with the opening in front. I wasn't sure at first if it was an original cabinet, but looking at pictures of other Sanford MGs it looks the same.

That's very odd about the gear ratio on your down feed; I'll be checking mine to see if it's correct. I can't believe that Sanford would have sold your machine with a 4:1 gear ratio, so I assume someone switched it out at some point. I wonder if the change was intentional, or someone just used the only gear they could find that fit.

Does your machine have table stops? Mine does not, and I am thinking of adding some.

I'm not sure what you mean by "each wheel goes directly on the spindle." Could you take a close-up picture of a mounted wheel (with the wheel cover removed of course) to show how it is mounted? In fact, I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a few more close-up pictures of the machine generally; the pictures you already provided are great, but it's hard to make out some of the fine details.

I ask a lot of questions, don't I? I guess no good deed goes unpunished ;-)
 
What kind of table stops are worth $430? Those I have to see, are they solid gold?
 
This is a promised update on custom wheel adapters from Sopko: In an email exchange with Sopko, they said that if I would send them the wheel adapter from my machine, they could look at it and quote me a price for a custom adapter (and they said they would put my adapter in return mail the next day). They did give me a ballpark figure for a custom item as around $450, but keep in mind this is given without looking at my adapter. I'm planning to follow up on this in a few months, and get an actual quote, unless I can find someone who already supplies an adapter for my machine (which does not seem likely at this point).

I'm also thinking that if I can find some other Sanford MG owners with a similar need, we can perhaps pool our purchases into a single order and get a better price for a small production run. This is just speculation on my part - I have not asked Sopko about this.

I want to add that the Sopko people were very prompt and helpful in responding to my emails; seems like a nice company to do business with.
 
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