Thread: T&C grinders, floating ideas

Originally Posted by Ueee

Hi all,
After all the requests for the Brooks plans and interest in castings i thought i would start this thread to gather ideas on size, features etc.

For all the members who have and use T&C grinders, what do you like/dislike, and what features would you put on a machine?

For all of us looking to make one, GDD hit the nail on the head for me. He has a Quorn and his comment was "It is small and fiddly to use" I have looked at most of the plans available, Quorn, Stent, Bonnelle, Brooks, Raymac...and they all share one thing, the small size. The Raymac in particular looks like a zephyr would be enough to throw it out. Anyway, i'm thinking of a unit that is roughly based on the Brooks, but with the table swiveling around the wheel, and with dovetail ways instead of the rods. As for the motor itself for ease i'm thinking of simply using a 6" bench grinder, with new flanges to siut a cup wheel.
The main table on the Brooks is 9 1/2" x 2 1/2". I'm thinking of a table around 400-450 x 100 or so. Travels of 250-300 x 100-150? (depends on individual machining capacities) Heads for endmils, drill bits and saws. An aux table like the Raymac has for grinding between centers (could even be powered for small cyl. grinding?

My general needs are:
Endmills/slotdrills up to 2" dia/1 1/4" shank (that could be an issue)
Slab mills
Slitting saws
Face and edge cutters.

I'm itching to get into this, and i have another project in my head that will also need castings. Since Josh already has in roads with the foundry down there i was going to talk to him about it. Just want to get the Blohm sorted and then i'll make a start. But if we can get ideas out there and a rough plan sorted i can nut out some details as i go.

Cheers,
Ew

Hi Ew, What you are planning sounds fine to me, a bit on the large side for me at the moment, but never know I might grow into it.
To do the large end mills and slot drills, a table that can be lowered/raised or rocked can get around this problem I think.
Do you have access to a CAD program for drawing? If not I am prepared to assist in drawing up the unit.
Regards
Kryn

Originally Posted by Ueee

Hi all,
After all the requests for the Brooks plans and interest in castings i thought i would start this thread to gather ideas on size, features etc.

For all the members who have and use T&C grinders, what do you like/dislike, and what features would you put on a machine?

For all of us looking to make one, GDD hit the nail on the head for me. He has a Quorn and his comment was "It is small and fiddly to use" I have looked at most of the plans available, Quorn, Stent, Bonnelle, Brooks, Raymac...and they all share one thing, the small size. The Raymac in particular looks like a zephyr would be enough to throw it out. Anyway, i'm thinking of a unit that is roughly based on the Brooks, but with the table swiveling around the wheel, and with dovetail ways instead of the rods. As for the motor itself for ease i'm thinking of simply using a 6" bench grinder, with new flanges to siut a cup wheel.
The main table on the Brooks is 9 1/2" x 2 1/2". I'm thinking of a table around 400-450 x 100 or so. Travels of 250-300 x 100-150? (depends on individual machining capacities) Heads for endmils, drill bits and saws. An aux table like the Raymac has for grinding between centers (could even be powered for small cyl. grinding?

My general needs are:
Endmills/slotdrills up to 2" dia/1 1/4" shank (that could be an issue)
Slab mills
Slitting saws
Face and edge cutters.

I'm itching to get into this, and i have another project in my head that will also need castings. Since Josh already has in roads with the foundry down there i was going to talk to him about it. Just want to get the Blohm sorted and then i'll make a start. But if we can get ideas out there and a rough plan sorted i can nut out some details as i go.

Cheers,
Ew

cant help you there Ew...never used one so i dont know what would be best or what I would prefer.

But I am interested

My experience of T&C grinders is limited to making and using the Quorn, so I'm no expert.

However re " I'm thinking of a table around 400-450 x 100 or so. Travels of 250-300 x 100-150?", it seems to me that you only need enough travel to move the tool past the cutter. You may need a big table so that you can position different jobs so that the cutting edge is adjacent to the cutter wheel to start the traverse. For example if you are sharpening a big morse taper drill and holding it by the taper, the tool holder has to be positioned a long way back from the cutter.

For sharpening the spiral flutes of end mills, slab cutters etc, you need to be able to simultaneously advance and rotate the tool holder. This is where you need the travel. For this task, you also need a tool holder that moves smoothly but with ZERO slop. Good T&C grinders support the tool holder in an air bearing.

The other critical thing is the table feed. It must be smooth and precise with fine graduation and perfect repeatability. For example, if you are sharpening a drill using the 4 facet method. you sharpen one flute, back off and rotate the drill 180 degrees, then advance the tool to sharpen the other flute. If you can't advance the table to precisely the same point, the 4 flutes will never meet up the way they must.

Graham.

Ewan, this weekend I'm picking up a naked TC grinder: https://www.woodworkforums.com/f223/t...-orden-170849/ I will probably spend the rest of my life making/scrounging/adapting tooling for it, but that seems like a better deal than building the whole thing from scratch. Just another way to approach it. But it sounds like you want a project, so have at it - and please keep us posted. The way you work it'll be finished in a week or two.

I think I have a set of castings for a tool & cutter grinder. Been sitting under my bench for about 20yrs. They could be used as a pattern to copy.

Originally Posted by DSEL74

I think I have a set of castings for a tool & cutter grinder. Been sitting under my bench for about 20yrs. They could be used as a pattern to copy.

Hi DSEL74, any idea what brand they make and do you have the plans for it?????
Kryn

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

Hi DSEL74, any idea what brand they make and do you have the plans for it?????
Kryn

Not really. I cast them up when I was studying foundry work @ RMIT, I have a feeling someplace I had copies of plans from the Melb Engineering Society for a tool and cutter grinder they might have matched but those will probably be boxed up and in storage. So that will be of no help.


I can take some photos without to much hassle and some O/A Dims.

Originally Posted by eskimo

cant help you there Ew...never used one so i dont know what would be best or what I would prefer.

But I am interested

+1 for me

Dean

Originally Posted by DSEL74

Not really. I cast them up when I was studying foundry work @ RMIT, I have a feeling someplace I had copies of plans from the Melb Engineering Society for a tool and cutter grinder they might have matched but those will probably be boxed up and in storage. So that will be of no help.


I can take some photos without to much hassle and some O/A Dims.

Thanks, If you could put up some pics, someone might be able to say that they belong to a thingamajig doohickey brand T&C grinder??
Kryn