Tool and cutter grinder build

[NEL957]

Ha Mark
So good to hear you are feeling good enough to get back into the shop. Sometimes the best medicine is doing the things we get so much enjoyment out of. I received my casting several weeks ago and was it a pleasure to open the box and see how a professional packs their shipments. There is no way damage could or would take place even if the whole crew at the shipping office went outside and played football with it. Very nicely done.
On the bore, what I was planning to do is bore it for the C5 and polish and lap the cylinder flats to receive the shaft you choose. I watched a video of how Myfordboy polished a cylinder for an engine, it was nice and looked fairly straightforward. This is the video, the polishing process starts about the 8:00 minute position. Like the way he did it:

Nelson Collar

 

[Mark_f]

Ha Mark
So good to hear you are feeling good enough to get back into the shop. Sometimes the best medicine is doing the things we get so much enjoyment out of. I received my casting several weeks ago and was it a pleasure to open the box and see how a professional packs their shipments. There is no way damage could or would take place even if the whole crew at the shipping office went outside and played football with it. Very nicely done.
On the bore, what I was planning to do is bore it for the C5 and polish and lap the cylinder flats to receive the shaft you choose. I watched a video of how Myfordboy polished a cylinder for an engine, it was nice and looked fairly straightforward. This is the video, the polishing process starts about the 8:00 minute position. Like the way he did it:

Nelson Collar

Yes, the packaging was amazing. The card board box was lined on all sides with 3/8" plywood , then Styrofoam and finally the part was wrapped in bubble wrap.

The video is very interesting. I was thinking about lapping a brass bearing sleeve to fit the shaft and then making the sleeve a snug hand press fit into the housing. That way I can get another sleeve and start again if I screw it up. I don't want to waste the cast iron housing if I mess up the bore. The brass bearings are inexpensive.

Oh ... some people are not happy about me heading into the shop, but I said " If you don't like it , you come and baby sit me". We'll see what happens

 

[Mark_f]

Well ......I have good news and bad news. The good news is I won't have to build an air bearing for my grinder as I scored a used one on ebay tonight. I will have to adapt it to fit my grinder ,but that should be cake. The bad news is the sucker cost me $135 which is actually a real bargain for an air bearing but it really hurt my budget. I will post pics as soon as it arrives and show the restoration and adapting.

 

[NEL957]

Mark
Good to hear and congrad on the score. Now you can get to business sooner. I'm looking forward to see what you come up with.
Be well my friend.
Nelson

 

[Mark_f]

I got my air bearing today in the mail.

I works soooo smooth. The next time you see it , it will be all fixed up , black wrinkle finish to match the grinder and the base will be adapted to fit on the grinder. I am glad I built the grinder oversized as this unit is fairly large, but it kind of has to be to hold the 5C collets. It has an index pin and 12 notches on the ring to accommodate the various numbers of flutes. The T slot on the front is to mount the finger, which I will make. I found a photo on the net of this same fixture. It is off a Cutter Master grinder. The photo shows all the accessories so it will be easy to make the needed parts. This was the main needed and expensive part. The rest will be easy.

More to come , so keep watching.

 

[autonoz]

Unfortunate for your budget, but will save some time. I don't get it though. My air guitar was free

 

[Mark_f]

Unfortunate for your budget, but will save some time. I don't get it though. My air guitar was free

Unlike your air guitar , the precision required on the shaft and bearing is extremely high to get the shaft to slide and spin super free and have ZERO play. The air makes it " float" effortlessly. These things are close to $ 1000 new.
I had planned to try to make one but the hours and hours of lapping kind of scared me, plus I would have $100 in materials so this was a good deal.

 

[NEL957]

Mark
What a score, I looked at the Cutter Master and the cheapest was well over a grand. The air cylinder is the it worked so well. I'm glad for you. How are you feeling? You are in my prayers, looking for a progress report.
Nelson Collar

 

[Mark_f]

Mark
What a score, I looked at the Cutter Master and the cheapest was well over a grand. The air cylinder is the it worked so well. I'm glad for you. How are you feeling? You are in my prayers, looking for a progress report.
Nelson Collar

Nelson,

I am feeling ok at the moment. I have good days and bad days. I go out to the shop for a short time on the good days. I was out there for a couple hours yesterday. I plan to spend the winter , if I can, making tooling for the grinder. There is a shop nearby that wants me to sharpen tooling for them when I am ready.
This air bearing was the most needed piece. I have a plan how to mount it . Now to see if it will work. I want it to be simple to change from the work head to the air bearing and back again. The draw tube that holds the collet was chewed up on the knob from someone using pliers to tighten it. I chucked it up in the lathe and knurled the knob. Boy, it looks brand new now. Now to get started on the body of the bearing.

More to come...... Sorry it is going slow...... I'm not used to working so slow.

 

[Mark_f]

Today I cleaned up the air bearing and painted it. I also knurled the end of the drawbar.


You can see the knurled drawbar end in this photo. Someone had been using channel locs to tighten it (which is totally unnecessary ) . This thing looks brand new now and matches my grinder . The next thing is to make the new mounting base and then the finger and support. I looked on line and this air bearing is still sold by cuttermaster and costs $1595. I feel lucky to have found one for $120. The mounting will be made from an aluminum block which I have ordered.