# Best Homemade Tools >  Homemade surface grinder

## turntable

Hi guys; here is my homemade surface grinder. made from Makita chop saw. works very well. in the pic was setting up to grind one of those so called precision machined angle plates from across the pond. it was off on all sides as much as .008. after grinding it is square within 1/10. not bad for a cheap grinder. now I will lap it to perfection.

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almarghi (Sep 25, 2018),

Arcadia (Apr 25, 2017),

benkeller3 (Sep 25, 2018),

bigtrev8xl (May 21, 2018),

bimmer1980 (Jan 13, 2018),

BrianW (Nov 29, 2018),

Canobi (May 20, 2018),

davidhoneybadger (May 20, 2018),

Dorn (May 21, 2018),

HUMARIA (Jul 10, 2020),

Jon (Nov 12, 2015),

JRock (May 20, 2018),

kbalch (Nov 13, 2015),

Kevic (Jan 14, 2018),

mudnducs (Feb 1, 2016),

mwmkravchenko (Jul 11, 2020),

NortonDommi (May 5, 2020),

olderdan (Jan 14, 2018),

Paul Jones (Nov 13, 2015),

PJs (Nov 13, 2015),

rgsparber (Jan 13, 2018),

stingraygs (Nov 13, 2015),

tonyfoale (Dec 19, 2016),

Toolmaker51 (Dec 25, 2016),

tooly (Oct 16, 2022)

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## DIYer

Thanks turntable! We've added your Surface Grinder to our Grinding category, as well as to your builder page: turntable's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:












Surface Grinder
 by turntable

tags: grinder, chop saw, surface

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turntable (Nov 13, 2015)

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## Dave Koehler

very slick idea. Where did you source the grinding wheel?

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## PJs

Really Nice build, Turntable!  :Clapping:  Like the dressing rig too! Where does the air come from on the cooling line?

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## Ed ke6bnl

nice, is it hard to to set up? now you need a mag chuck

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## turntable

Hi Dave; The wheel was purchased from Enco, it's a regular surface grinding wheel (46H 7x1/2x1.250). Made a spacer to mate wheel to arbor.

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## turntable

Thanks Ed; It takes about 5 minutes to set up, Just slide the top in a 7/8 collet, hook the side arm on and square it up. already have a mag chuck, small 6x12, so far has been big enough for what I do.

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## turntable

Thanks PJ; The dressing fixture was made out of the hand grip of an old compound bow I found at the local land fill. yes, I'm a big scrounge. There is air and coolint supply on left of machine. can flood part, mist it or just air.

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PJs (Nov 15, 2015)

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## Philip Davies

You have given me a good idea. I do not have a milling machine, but perhaps my bench drill would have the requisite rigidity and precision. Thank you.

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## Bolle

very interesting!
 :Thumbs Up:

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## mudnducs

That is a really slick setup! How do you keep the grinding dust out of the mill?

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## tonyfoale

Great idea. I was planning on turning a small mill (see my recent post) into a surface grinder but it would have been very small. I have a spare motor from a chop saw and I have appropriate grinding wheels so this could be a very simple conversion to put on my Bridgeport. It should also be easier to source a regular size mag. chuck than the small one that I would need for the small mill as per my original plan.
Many thanks, I am now off downstairs to my workshop to start work on it. 

PS. Maybe a better bet for me might be to mount my Tool Post grinder in similar fashion to yours. The TP grinder has a more rigid spindle/bearing arrangement than a stock chop saw.

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## bimmer1980

Nicely done!! 

I'm keeping this on in my potential future builds. I have thought about buying a surface grinder, but it is hard to justify the floor space. I have a Bridgeport, so this would be a nice fit and would store easier when it's not being used...

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## JRock

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

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tonyfoale (May 20, 2018)

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## willyb

Great idea. This would really work well on a cnc Mill or a Mill with a powered X axis which would make it easier moving the table back and forth.

Good job.

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## tonyfoale

> Great idea. This would really work well on a cnc Mill or a Mill with a powered X axis which would make it easier moving the table back and forth.



Inspired by the original post here I went ahead and enabled my mill to take a toolpost grinder that I had made. That is described here DIY surface grinder
My mill is CNC and as you suggest it works a treat. Last week I got a Walker electro magnetic chuck, which will help a lot.

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