Looking for Sanford MG-612 Surface Grinder owners

[DKMC]

What are you owners opinions about the base? Mine is what I would call 'flimsy' for the job it has supporting the substantial weight of
the machine. Mine is mounted with the opening in the front, and I could easily tip it over backwards if I didn't add a couple of 85 lb 12"
x 12" x 2" thick steel plates on the shelf below. I'd say Sanford dropped (pun intended) the ball with the base.

 

[projectnut]

Your base must be different than mine. Mine is heavy (12 ga or16ga) sheet metal wIth gussets in the corners.

The machine is balanced well on the cabinet and there’s little or no chance of the machine tipping over. The open side of the cabinet originally faced the rear and could house a coolant pump and reservoir

Having said this I oriented the open side of the cabinet forward so I could use it for tool and stock storage.

According to some of the old brochures I believe the cabinet weighed 120 lbs.

 

[MyLilMule]

Any tips on how to disassemble the spindle? I want to clean and inspect the bearings on mine and can't find any kind of a diagram. They may be just fine, but there was 1/4" of grinding dust caked everywhere on it, and I suspect that oiling the bearings was probably not a top priority.

 

[DKMC]

Any tips on how to disassemble the spindle? I want to clean and inspect the bearings on mine and can't find any kind of a diagram. They may be just fine, but there was 1/4" of grinding dust caked everywhere on it, and I suspect that oiling the bearings was probably not a top priority.

Seems like I read in the manual that the OEM bearings were "sealed and lubricated for life with no maintenance needed".

 

[MyLilMule]

Seems like I read in the manual that the OEM bearings were "sealed and lubricated for life with no maintenance needed".

There’s a Gits cup on the top of the spindle carriage. Not sure what that would be for.

 

[DKMC]

There’s a Gits cup on the top of the spindle carriage. Not sure what that would be for.

Mine has a drip oiler as well but people have said the bearings were sealed from the factory.
Any oiling bits were probably added by owners.
Edit: I just looked over my brochures and some of the machines in the pics show one larger gits cup in the middle of the spindle and others show none. Maybe I remember someone in comments someplace saying at one point they used oil lubed bearings, and then changed to sealed grease type. Manual also says to run the V belt 'rather loose'.

 

[stobl]

Good timing to see this thread active again. I just disassembled my MG to give it a deep clean, inspection, and rebuild. I too have the oil cup on the spindle, and one of the things i wanted to do was disassemble it. I can take photos of mine as everything is completely disassembled at this point (Minus the spindle). On another note- the stand mine came on was a bit flimsy too. Part of this rebuild it to make a new stand out of some steel angle to also give me ample storage underneath + a small coolant tank and pump.

Blake

 

[snydes]

Hello,
I'm in the process of an overhaul on a 1953 Sanford MG-612, this thread has been quite helpful so thank you to all those who have contributed to the knowledge here. Question for those who have had to replace spindle bearings... how did you go about setting the preload? I went with a set of Fafnir angular contact (2MM205WI DUL) bearings. I do understand this is a difficult task to get right but I'm going to give it my best. Having some confusion on how to determine the right preload, I do have an idea how I want to load the spindle nut but would love to hear how others have done it.

Thank you
Steve

 

[MyLilMule]

I'm interested to know how difficult it was, and what you had to do, to remove the spindle bearings in the first place. I haven't decided if I will do that with mine just yet.

 

[snydes]

I didn't feel it was too difficult, or at least not as bad as I had expected. Once that little aluminum cover on the backside is removed (which can be stubborn as it is a fairly tight fit) there is nut which holds the whole works in. Problem is the nut is recessed and a standard boxed end wrench doesn't have the offset to reach it. Fortunately I had access to a boxed end wrench that had the offset to do it but you could build your own wrench by sacrificing/modifing a socket for the task if needed. Once that nut was off the spindle can be carefully worked out the front and then each bearing can be driven out of the housing.

Hope that makes sense!