Building a small surface grinder
Well, I'm excited!
This forum is unbelievable!
One of the members of this forum found a small horizontal Whitney No6 mill beyond repair as a mill (and not really convenien or flexible enough).
Since he only had a project in mind for the spindle and head, he let me have the rest: delivered from Sydney to my shed near Bendigo - as a present! :U Where do you find strangers like that - except on this forum?
Anyway, this mill in my eyes is a perfect basis for a small surface grinder! Nice and rigid, 300mm x-axis table travel, 110mm y-axis travel and 450mm vertical range. The table supprt (knee) travels 350mm for work positioning and the slide for the head another about 100mm.
The table is rack driven - with just under 2 turns for full travel.
My plan is to make a new head slide with a 3/4 or 1 HP 1440rpm 3-pahse motor bolted directly to the slide. I'll change the motor spindle bearings for precision bearings (maybe angular contact or 4-point bearing at the wheel end and good quality and tolerance single row deep-groove at the far end). The motor will have to be a modern slim frame and the grinding wheels will have to be larger in diameter that the motor. I'll drive it with a small VFD to set the speed to suit the wheel.
When I get to starting this project, I'll post photos of the progress.
For now I'll be searching and collecting bits and pieces: motor, grinding wheel(s), VFD, materials for the slide and the arbours, magnetic chuck (4"x8" or so) etc.
Does anyone have a lump of cast iron to machine the dovetail slide from for me? I need 8"x8"x1 3/4" - 2" approx. :)
This is what it looks like today:
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...1072011323.jpg
Cheers,
Joe