Antique Grinders

[mcchaddy]

Hi All,

I have just acquired 5 bench/pedestal grinders, 2 of which are date pre WWII. They are massive machines and bith are 3 phase. Does anyone know anything about them and if they are worth keeping or selling.They are australian made by a company called Hebco or Kebco.

Also what is the Waldown brand of grinder like.

Cheers

Michael.

[China]

I think you will find it is Hebco i.e H E Berens and CO made in South Australia, excelent quality machinery, I have one of their buzzer's plus a combination machine, ibought the buzzer from a joinery 10 years ago and have used it pretty well every day, I think it will still be going long after I am gone, as for Waldown grinders they the simply the best you can buy, if you are going to sell any of them let me know, unfortunately freight may be a problem though

[mcchaddy]

Hi China,

Thanks for the reply. I plan on selling all but one. Not sure which one yet. I need to get them home and clean them up and see how they look. They are all in working order and were considered surplus when we moved to a new premises last month.chael

Cheers

Michael

[BobL]

They also make magnificent buffs because they won't stall so easily under pressure.

[Keith_W]

Hi mcchaddy.
You have got a great find there, the Grinders are well made and will be easy for you to sell on say Ebay.
Consider keeping the Waldown Bench Grinder as you will find it far superior to the newer units you get now, I had one of them and found it to be a great Grinder.

Regards,
Keith.

[malb]

The Hebco's were also available as long shaft polishing lathes and seem to last for ever, but an upgrade to more modern swithing modules is often usefull.
Have used 3 and 5HP polishers for a fair while and they are well revered in the game. All the units come from an era when things were designed to operate continuously for very long periods (many decades) without overheating etc, massive machines with incredible thermal reserves etc, fully sealed so they never have dust in the bearings or internals.
Modern units are much lighter construction, finned cases, fans, dust going through them etc, often have an industrial life span of a couple of years, then not worth repairing.

[Woodlee]

These are all heavy duty industrial machines ,Id keep the big disc sander and the Waldown if I had 3 phase power.

Kev

[mcchaddy]

Hi All,

Here are 2 more bench grinders I have picked up. They are both waldowns. Not sure how old they are but they still run well. I would love to keep them but I dont have 3 phase power. I might see how much it is to get it put on.

Cheers

Michael

[dpm]

Lovely old machines :)

Re. 3 phase, I recently got a rough estimate for having it installed in new-ish house - somewhere from $3000 - $4000 if I recall correctly :(

[mcchaddy]

Hi All,

I have finally got them home and gave the plates a quick clean to see what they were. Had a chat to the guys in the workshop. They were very sad to see them go. They reckon that they will still be going for a very long time. I have attached a couple of better photo's.

The disc sander was manufactured by H.E.Brehaut Pty Ltd at Mont Albert, E.10, Victoria. Specs as follows:
PHASE: 3 ~ 50
VOLTS: 400/15
RPM: 1440
RATING: INTER
HP: 2.9 AMPS: 4.5
MOTOR: 10415
FRAME: 3058
TYPE: STG
MACHINE: 5293 39B / 21
TYPE NO.: GI 65 / 30 / 9

The Grinder was manufactured by H.E.Brehaut Pty Ltd at Mont Albert, E.10, Victoria. Specs as follows:
PHASE: 3 ~ 50
VOLTS: 400 - 415
RPM: 1430
RATING: CONT
HP: 3 AMPS: 4.4
MOTOR: 25425
FRAME: -
TYPE: 29A / 4
MACHINE: 12751
TYPE NO.: YF8 / 28 / 68

Cheers

Michael.

[BobL]

Michael,

I don't know what wheels you plan to run but that grinder would be especially nice if if you could fit an 8" Blu-Max wheel. This is a cool running wheel to begin with but to have it running at 1430 rpm makes it even better. Also you know if you have to push on the wheel it's not going to slow down easily. Of course it will depend on the arbor size - too small can be easily packed out with a bush but too big is a PITA.