Dad's surface grinder

[PixMan]

Here's a story about the surface grinder I secured for my dad's shop (which we share) at his house 7-1/2 miles from me.

I had visited a shop in southwestern CT a couple times in my job. I gotr friendly with the owner, his wife and two sons. One of the sons left the company around the time that his dad had bought a small competitor job shop. He was the one son who knew how to program, setup and run their Citizen F20 CNC screw machine.

One day I visited and Joe and he had just unloaded machines from that shop he'd bought. Among the cast offs was a surface grinder that wasn't as nice as the Okamoto and Mitsui Seiki he already owned. I asked if he'd sell it, and he instead suggested we work a barter. Because Joe knew I've got a lot of experience with CNC screw machines, he suggested he'd GIVE ME the little manual grinder in exchange for a day of training for him & his other son on their Citizen machine. I'm IN!

Here's what I got for about 4-1/2 hours of easy work on a Saturday morning, as it sat in Joe's shipping bay:


This is what it looked like in my dad's shop, after a $271 truck rental to get it there, and $600 for a OE coolant unit/dust collector.


Now I've added about 13 more wheel adapters and 12 wheels, so far. My dad made up a pin spanner for changing wheels.




Shortly after the coolant unit was installed, I got my next door neighbor to make a sheet metal guard for it, based upon lousy illustrations of wht the OE one looked like in the parts book. The deal for that was me letting him use my power washer to get the north side of his house, he would accept no money.


And finally, my dad trying it all out:


All totalled, it's a fair investment of about $1150 to $1250 for the machine, transportation, accessories and attachements. That more than a LOT of home shop guys might be will to spend, but so worth it to ME.

[EdK]

Nice story, and even nicer tool.

Ed

[TomG]

Nice grinder Ken. I am seriously in need one and have been scouring Craig's List lately. One of these days...

Out of curiosity, why is the wheel on the right so low? Or is it just the pic. I'm sure it's the table wheel crank, but it seems to be optimized for midgets.

Tom

[Mayhem]

I'm glad you posted this Ken, as I think you got an incredible deal on that (similar story with your lathe if my memory serves me correctly). Such a deal in fact that I feel this little guy is warranted:

[stevec]

Where do I find the bigger
the green with envy one.

[PixMan]

Thanks for all the compliments, folks! Much appreciated.

The handle on the right is the up-down (Y axis.) The largest handle on the left, the one my dad has his hand on, is the X-axis traversing. The one in the middle is the Z-axis in & out, stepover for width of pass.

And yes, that machine is the second biggest "You Suck" award I've gotten in terms of dollar value. The lathe beats it. I should add that story to the "show us your lathe" thread (if I haven't already.)

One last cool little tidbit of info:

The shop owner that I got the grinder from is Joe Valentine of Joe Valentine Machine of Stratford CT. He's the older brother of Bobby Valentine, the recently canned manager of the Boston Red Sox. They're practically twins in the looks department!

[PixMan]

(01-04-2013, 06:25 PM)TomG Wrote: Nice grinder Ken. I am seriously in need one and have been scouring Craig's List lately. One of these days...

Out of curiosity, why is the wheel on the right so low? Or is it just the pic. I'm sure it's the table wheel crank, but it seems to be optimized for midgets.

Tom

Tom,

It is a little lower than the others, the wide angle lens on the camera I used makes it look worse than it really is. Both my dad & I are more accustomed to having the elevation wheel on the top right hand side of the column. That's where the elevation wheel/handle is on a great many surface grinders, such as Boyar, Reid, the small manual Brown & Sharpe, and more. The handle on that one doesn't have a fine-feed wheel on it, but does have a Vernier scale to help with creeping down a "tenth" at a time.

Here's a straight-on photo that has a little bit better perspective:


I'll get over there this weekend and get an even better photo.

BTW, if you look at the upper left section of the control panel, you'll notice there's an empty spot there with a graphic for "electromagnet". I plan on getting a Kanetsu 6x14 electric magnetic chuck one of these days, and I'll put the control knob and switch right there. I may also add a DRO to it, depending upon for which I find a great deal first. The permanent mag chuck still has very good grip so it's not critical.

[sasquatch]

Nice deal,, always great to run into deals like that.