Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Surface Grinders *LINK*
WoodburnBob
>A surface grinder would seem to have many applications in the precision restoration of hand tools. I'd have one already considering how many seem to go for near scrap metal prices. But they're all in Ohio and eastward, and I'm in Oregon.
Do any of you have and use a surface grinder?
Link to Ebay Auction
Re: Surface Grinders
Bob Hackett
>They excell at making things flat,obviously.That`s the good part.
They are a PITA to jig up for anything that isn`t near flat(magnetic chuck)or can be securely held in a grinding vice.If not held securely the part will be torn from it`s moorings and thrown across the shop to end up in pieces just like the wheel that was attempting to grind it.You won`t need anymore coffee for the rest of the day.
You can quickly go broke buying things like wheels,diamond dressers,vices,etc to feed them.
They make a real mess as the things we want to use them for(plane irons,etc)require coolant.If you choose not to use coolant,say on a plane body,they spew grit and metal dust everywhere.
If you look at the placement of these machines in any machine shop I think you`ll find they are placed well away from all the other already dirty,greasy machines and for good reason.
In summary,there`s a reason they go for so cheap.Nobody wants them in thier shop.
Most people farm out thier grinding work to specialized shops for good reason,I think you`ll find it money well spent to follow thier lead.I know of afew people who thought it would be a good machine to own,they all found the complete package took up too much space and time.They sold them,at a loss.
Mainely,Bob-Who used to work in a grinding shop when he was much younger.
Re: Surface Grinders
Jonathan Ronnow, Sweden
>No, but I have access to one through a friend at a metal shop. He has ground my stanley 60 1/2, efter that tuning it is capable of gossamer thin shavings. He ground one new bacho chisel that was way out of whack on the back. That I can do myself now on microfinishing films, but I suppose its done faster, after initial set-up time, on the grinder.
He also ground a 4" iron disc to 3.99mm dead flat and parallell, so I could set up my biscuit joiner.
Possible uses are (obviously)flattening things, beveling things if set up with proper holding devices, sharpening some types of knives although low angles and too little coolant will burn them...
Well thats all I could think of now. If you are restoring a lot of planes, you could save a lot of effort in flattening soles and blades.
Re: Surface Grinders
Chris Knight
>Bob,
I occasionally feel like that the I remind myself of the points made so eloquently by Bob Hackett. At that point if it's a plane I want flat I just dig out an engineer's scraper and some blue.
Mind you, if you want a mess, there's nothing quite like engineer's blue. The stuff gets everywhere - hands, clothes, eyes, workshop, the back of your head, the kitchen table, the clean towels in the bathroom etc.
Heck - maybe a surface grinder is actually a better idea!
Re: Surface Grinders
Chris Knight
>Sorry about the picture in the post above - it seems to be welded to my computer.
Well, what IS it?
Don Thompson - South of Miami
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Re: Surface Grinders
WoodburnBob
>Thanks for the advice, Bob. It's exactly what I needed to hear. I'm so tired of getting dumb ideas and going off on ridiculous tangents. I'm glad you gave me such a robust answer. Now, if I can just keep myself from wandering around on Ebay where I should be.
Interesting pic. What is it?
Victor Parisian - Houston
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Re: Surface Grinders
Larry Clinton - Frankfort, Indiana
>Yes, I recently obtained one and have it in my shop, a Boyar Schultz 6" X 12". It is equipped with a single phase motor, and has a dust collector built in. I ground a drill vise parallel for holding chisels etc. It has a magnetic vise for flat items. I am fortunate as I am an Engineer at my regular job and have obtained several items that were out of specification at work - by .0002 or .0003" (magnetic vises, V-blocks etc.). I also work with the tool room a lot and they are making me jigs for grinding plane blades, my planer and jointer blades and chisels. I have ground one cheap user plane sole, sides and iron, did final honing to the iron and the plane works beautiful. I agree they can be messy, but so is any other abrasive machining process, be it oil-stone, water-stone, bench grinder etc. I will keep it as long as I have the shop, as I believe I can do more with it than with a Tormak or other grinding system.
Re: Well, what IS it?
Chris Knight
>It's a picture I included in a response a few days ago to show a Boggs shave cutting end grain which I find it does rather well.
The url of the picture now seems embedded in my browser (Firefox) even though I have erased the cookies several times. If I forget to erase it, it autofills the optional image box in the response form.
The piece I am working on in the picture is the seat of a a rocking chair.
Re: Surface Grinders
WoodburnBob
>Larry, if you ever have the time to put together a little show and tell with pictures and text, I'm certain many of us would be excited to learn from your efforts.
That is definitely a maloof rocker seat.
Ed Snow
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Re: Surface Grinders
paul womack
>Just to top it off, most surface grinders don't have enough travel to do "interesting" size planes.
THe cost (and consequent lack) of big surface grinders was once the reason than LN didn't do a #8.
BugBear