Auction-SURFACE GRINDER, Peterborough, ON

Susquatch

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I would have been happier getting it at my morning price but I had a change of mind at lunch, and felt like rolling the dice and gambling a bit, and reset my max at $800.

Congrats Dan. It's a lucky machine that gets to go live with you.

I see you already knew to remove the table. I assume you also know to avoid having another machine to the left of it. It's that or hang a curtain.
 

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
Ya, they throw a lot of grit. I am afraid I'll have not much choice on placement when it get's home, so I'll have to sort something out. I'll have some more room in the spring when I can get some stuff out.

Calling an audible on the plan. Going to try and get up and get it this morning before the snow comes. A bit rushed, but should work out a lot better. Just waiting to hear back from them on whether that's possible or not.
 

Tom O

Ultra Member
Sold for $775 to some lucky guy that now has to go home, dig the trailer out of the snow in the backyard, and shuffle around a bunch of stuff in the shop to squeeze it in........

The Wife did tell me last night that the only thing she really wanted for valentines day was a surface grinder. That's what I heard anyway.
Does she cut hair?
“ A little of the top please “.
 

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
All packed up and ready to go for tomorrow morning now. Welded some angle hooks on some channel for ramps to slide it up on the trailer. It's under 1000lbs, even less with the table off, so I think I should be fine with some jack stands under the back of the trailer, and under the ramps at the tailgate, with a floor jack in the middle of the ramps with some cribbing to combat sag. Got a couple chains, a lever chain hoist, and cable come a long and enough strap to tie down an elephant. Still have not spoken with the owner, he hasn't called me back, but the auction house assured me I will be able to back up my trailer to the garage door. The move on my end, should be simple too. Would have been nicer without the fresh dumping of snow yesterday, but that'll come in handy for some skiing this weekend.
h19frxO.jpg

It has a mobile base under it, but in the pictures it doesn't look like there are any wheels on it, tough to really see, so I'll bring a couple pipe rollers, pinch bar, and my toe jack just in case. I'd rather be looking at it than looking for it. It's should be a pretty smooth and uneventful move, I'm not expecting any issues. By this time tomorrow I should be back home unloading it.

Now I have the rest of the day, to rearrange my shop a bit to get it in there.
 

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
watch out for a teeter-totter effect when the centre of gravity passes the jack stands....

Looks like you are prepared!
 
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Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
wathc out for a teter-totter effect when the centre of gravity passes the jack stands....

Looks like you are prepared!
Good point. I'll be flying solo, so maybe can enlist the help of the owner at points to run the come a long so I can stabilize it coming up the ramps. I think it'll all go smooth, but I want to try and visualize all the ways it can go pear shaped, and plan for it. I imagine it's a little top heavy, and I'm not really thrilled about the mobile base being on coming up the ramps. I 'm going to try and not use the wheels, and just drag the base from the bottom if I can. If I had my way I'd just pick it, and back the trailer under, but I'm not sure that's an option on the other end. It's not an option on mine. Garage too full now for that lol.

Actually I just remembered I have a big chain fall out in the barn, that would be perfect for being able to control the ascent from behind the grinder on the way up. One day I'd love to go through all the stuff I have that I probably forgot about lol.
 

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
Well, we're home, and unloaded. That was an interesting, but uneventful trip. Turns out the owner was an old boss of mine......That's a story for offline......Aside from the blizzard that came down on us, just as we got it over to his garage door to pull up the ramps it was pretty smooth. Kinda forced my hand and resulted in getting no pictures, it was simply go time, and I just really wanted to gtfo of there by that point......I'm glad I brought my rollers, as the mobile base was next to useless.

It was whiteout blizzard driving for about 20 minutes home, then cleared right up and was bright and sunny the rest of the way. I had the entire top of the machine wrapped in a heavy duty garbage bag, and then stretch wrapped over top, so I wasn't worried, but I wish I would have done the base too. It got a bit salty. Oh well, not a big deal I've already cleaned it off but If I ever decide to move a machine in the winter again, someone come kick me in the nuts. I'll pay your gas money to get here.

Getting it off at home was a breeze. Due to the slope of the driveway I could just pinch bar it down the ramps, as they were almost flat and friction helped keep everything Very slow, stable and controlled. This was the first time I stopped to take a picture.
PNJY2yR.jpg

And here it is in it's home. For now.
fv7rl4l.jpg

I need to shuffle some things around a bit. Few inches here and there, but that's about where it'll be. Not an ideal spot for it, being close to the other machines, but there's only so much you can do with a 15'x25' space. On the drive home I came up with a malaria tent like idea to surround it, and contain the grit, so I might give that a try if I can find some suitable material. Maybe call it the cone of silence :D

As for the machine itself. The spindle sounds great, and feels really tight. The machine itself feels really tight and in good condition, despite looking like it's never been cleaned in it's entire life..... I did stick an indicator on it when I got home, and there was zero backlash in the column, and only 0.007" in the cross feed. It's a flat/vee way machine, no bearings on the table :(, so it's not as free and easy like I would hope and am used to. But the ways look like they're in great shape, and even though the chuck face was in poor shape, there was really no detectable wear in either direction. Some lighter way lube might free that up a bit, I have no idea what he was running. Something I'll look into. It was pretty cold too.

Despite not exactly being the type of machine I was hoping for, it'll do what I want. There are a few things I don't really like about it, but I'll just have to adjust my expectations. Once I get it all cleaned up, a big job it looks like, I'll give it a full assessment. But for now, I'm just happy to have it in and on the floor with no surprises, and hopefully get back to some other projects. It might take a while to get into this, I'm really in no hurry, but I might chip away at it here and there. It needs a full, and thorough cleaning before i use it.....I'm not really a clean snob about tools, but this is too much lol.
 

Ian Moss

Well-Known Member
Speaking of lubricating the ways on a surface grinder, I have a Harig 612 that came with a jug of dark oil labeled Harig, and the manual says use only their oil or else. Does anyone know of a suitable substitute for the Harig oil? It seems to be hard to source and expensive.
 

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
I don't know what magic Harig puts in their oil. I've heard this complaint before. Several guys over at HM have Harig machines, and you might ask there.
 

Susquatch

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I don't know what magic Harig puts in their oil. I've heard this complaint before. Several guys over at HM have Harig machines, and you might ask there.

@Ian Moss . I'd Bet BIG BUCKS its just a transparent attempt to gouge on aftermarket sales.

Either that or excessive warranty costs on users who used something other than way oil.
 

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member

Ski'd all morning and afternoon. Kids wore me out, but had a quick chance to sneak out in the shop before making dinner, and wire up the grinder. Got the rotation right first time, I would have rather won the lotto max, but I'll take what I can get....:D

Spindle sounds good (in person), video really picks up some harmonics, I think from the vfd, but it's not nearly that bad standing in front of it. Surface finish is terrible though.......
9ogyFgo.jpg

To be honest, I have no idea what kind of wheel is on there, I didn't check, I didn't even dress it, just a quick spark out pass across a scrap of soft o1 I grabbed from the drawer. I don't want to run this at all until I can get a chance to clean it really good, and make sure the oiler and everything is working. But I couldn't resist grinding something when It was running though.

I really don't think it's ever been cleaned in it's life. I'm amazed that it's not all clapped out really. I'm sure the move shook a bunch of grit loose, and it's now in places that it shouldn't be. I should have left the bag off it, and just squirted some soap on it for the drive home through the blizzard..... lol.
 

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Susquatch

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Dressing might help, but after zooming in on your photo, I'm guessing your next job on the lathe is a balance arbour. I enjoyed making mine very much. In fact, my compound is still set for the balancer taper cuz I might make a better one.
 

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
Dressing would no doubt help for sure. Cardinal rule is to dress everytime you turn it on, and then as needed of course. I wasn't planning on even using it, just wanted to get it running and not throw grit everywhere yet. I might give it a another look this afternoon if I get finished my little stock rack project and get the shop cleaned up again.

I will look back at your post about a balance arbor. I would like to pickup a couple more arbors for it. At work we grind the same stuff all the time, so rarely ever switch wheels. At home, on my projects will be different. I will come clean though, I've never balanced a wheel, we've always just put them on 3/4 tight, bumped the spindle a couple times, and then snugged them down and dressed. Then dress everytime you start it back up. Can't say I've ever seen a problematic out of balance wheel that caused surface finish issues. When you use the same wheels, and grind the same materials it just becomes routine. We have a balance stand, but can't say I've ever seen it used. I'm not saying there isn't a need, or merit behind it just that in a busy shop, shortcuts are taken.....I use the grinders so very little any more that I haven't had to put a new wheel on in years.
 

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
Wheel dress and balance will help, but you always get a better finish on hard materials. check end shake, and up/down rigidity. That sort of finish looks a little like wheel hop...
 
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