Thread: New to Me Herless Surface Grinder

Great work Ray. Who needs scraping when you can machine to those tolerances?
But consider getting a tripod so we don't get seasick!

Originally Posted by RayG

I tried to blue it against the surface plate, but I'm having trouble with getting the blue on the surface plate consistent. I'm using Dykem Hi-Spot... and a cheap brayer. I think I need to practice bluing and spotting a bit.

Regards
Ray

Not sure if bluing it will work too well.... It will be too smooth to blue properly...The surface needs to be roughish...All you will get are smears,,

Sure looks pretty Ray. within 0.0002", nice!

Like RC says I've read spotting ground surfaces doesnt work.

Stuart

Ray,
send a PM to Machtools.
I've seen his grinder in operation and the coolant looked an smelled like cutting fluid to me.
Joe

Originally Posted by .RC.

Not sure if bluing it will work too well.... It will be too smooth to blue properly...The surface needs to be roughish...All you will get are smears,,

I asked Phil that very question last weekend and he said he'd get back with an answer when he had a chance. I'd also heard that ground surfaces were tricky to scrape but have never tried to scrape them.

Ray what did you use as a setup to get the channel square?

Pete

Hi Joe,

For coolant I ended up with this stuff,



You use it at 1.25% concentration, and at that rate the 20L will last me for years..

The transparent bit is a big plus, you can see clearly what's going on while you are grinding.

I've done a bit on coolant filtration, but I'll start a new thread for that, it's of more general interest than just grinding.

Pete, Josh did the grinding, and he milled it first to get close to square, then ground one side... then spent ages getting everything clean clean clean.... before setting up for the other edge, and shimmed it square and finally added extra mag transfer blocks.

The most important bit is the cleaning... one tiny speck of grinding dust or abrasive under the work and it will be off.

Regards
Ray

Learning grinding my own please help - Practical Machinist - Largest Manufacturing Technology Forum on the Web

G'day Ray and all,
I know that you have been playing with your new toy for a while now Ray, and for all I know, you may have had years of experience in using these machine tools, but if you are just feeling your way, I found this on P.M. today and thought that it might be useful. Even if it's all old hat to you, there will be many of the rest of us who will learn plenty from the collective wisdom of the P.M. membership. Cheers,
Rob.

Thanks for that link Rob.

I have read some of Marcus Carius's posts previously and for those that haven't already done so, it is worth the excursion to his Implant Mechanix website. A tool and die maker turned dentist and back again.

One thing about metalwork is the realisation that I could only ever hope to be a jack of some trades. The depth of knowledge and skill to become a master would require a lifetime of practise.

It is a pleasure to read an article such as that where people have taken the time to clearly explain a process or technique so that others may learn.

Bob.

Interesting thread. A couple of things, some posts talk about using normal paper to pick up the wheel. We used cigarette paper, cant remember the brand sorry but it was exactly(or near enough to it) 0.001". You stuck it on the surface of the work with some spit. If you were really getting excited you would put mark out blue under it. Wind the wheel down until the paper moved then slow 0.0001"ths until you hit the blue.
I didn't see mentioned if you are going to chase 10ths the table and work need to be clean. Really clean.

Stuart

Hi Rob, Thanks for posting the link to that forum. I'm on the learning curve with respect to grinding, and there are a lot of good points in that thread.

The manual that came with the machine is pretty good and we got a lot of good hints from discussions with the previous owner.

Stuart has a lot of expertise (although he'll no doubt deny it) and has more than once headed us in the right direction.

We have not yet ground anything to a targetted size. I think I can get to 0.01 with the height gauge I've got, but getting any closer than that would involve taking the part off the chuck measuring it, and then replacing it, and trying to grind the last few 10ths...

As Stuart says cleaning is the key. I like the blue idea.

I think accurate setup tools are important, getting good square angle plates and straight edges, that's where I'm hoping that learning how to scrape will comes in handy...

Regards
Ray