Tool grinder

I’m of the idea it is worthless without fixtures too. There’s a reason tool and cutter grinders are usually 3-4x’s that with fixtures. Many times the fixtures are sold off first and the machine last. Even for $250 I’d pass, but that’s just me. At minimum you’d need a universal vise($300+) and a air bearing head ($500+)if you want to grind end mills, mill flutes and reamers.
 
As is sometimes pointed out, it’s best to state the goal/purpose for a machine. For around the $3-400 or so you can sometimes find a Baldor type carbide grinder that is a beefy cousin to the bench grinder that is wonderful for grinding lathe bits and other precision grinding. I managed to find a knockoff for $130 that is one of the most used tool grinders in my shop.
 
KrakenKorn said:
Machine was sold. Thank you all for your input. I'll wait a while on a grinder.
Click to expand...
You can really do everything needed with a bench grinder, if you want to get fancy, one of those 1x42 belt grinders make a great tool for HSS lathe bits. As has been pointed out, new end mills or sending old ones out for regrinding is probably a more cost effective method for having sharp tools.

Tool cutter grinders are/were really useful in a production shop where management is trying to get the most life from every tool. Also, back in the olden days before indexable carbide inserts were common and labor was cheap....

John
 
projectnut said:
There are several KO Lee fixtures currently listed on eBay. The lowest asking price is $40.00, but most are listed for $300.00 to $500.00 each. I wonder what the grinder you're looking at was used for without any fixtures? I'm guessing they bought it at an auction and once they realized how much it was going to cost to outfit it, they decided it wasn't worth the investment.

You can sharpen a lot of end mills for the cost of a grinder and the necessary fixtures. Here's a price list from a shop in the Midwest.

SharpCutter Grinding Co. HSS End Mill Resharpening SharpCutter Grinding Co.

SharpCutter Grinding Co.
www.sharpcutter.com www.sharpcutter.com
Click to expand...
I think the real value of a tool grinder (and for me that's a single-lip ("D-bit") cutter grinder) is not really in resharpening, but in being able to make your own custom cutters. Clearly once you have the machine it often makes sense to sharpen what you can as well, but that's not it's "real" purpose.

GsT
 
GeneT45 said:
I think the real value of a tool grinder (and for me that's a single-lip ("D-bit") cutter grinder) is not really in resharpening, but in being able to make your own custom cutters. Clearly once you have the machine it often makes sense to sharpen what you can as well, but that's not it's "real" purpose.

GsT
Click to expand...
For me my d-bit Checkel is used almost solely for resharpening end mills. That’s what I bought it for. It’s made to use R8 collets and for me has saved me time and $$ resharpening the boatload of dull endmills I got with my mill plus the tons of end mills I’ve picked up for nothing that needed to be resharpened. It lacked a true air bearing for doing flutes but I picked one up for a great price on CL so I’m pretty much good to go for the foreseeable future. It’s also really nice to do custom grinds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top