Shop Assembled Cutter Grinder

[jjr2001]

I had this XY table for the past 30 years and only used it on the drill press.
But then I purchased a small mill and no longer needed the table.
Well now that I have a mill I needed to sharpen some cutters.
Works well for Lathe tool bits as well.

The column is just a hunk of heavy steel tubing. Riding on that is the mount for the grinder.
That would be all aluminum except for the 1/2-10 Acme Lead Screw. Used for positioning the
height of the grinder which is then locked by the two rather large knurled aluminum lock bolts.

The XY table has variable positioning so it may be located for various setups. The column may be relocated
to several fixed positions. Right now the grinder seems a little under powered. I am going to replace the grinder with a larger model and see if I can get enough power for some surface grinding. That should make this a very useful tool in the shop.

So far it has been used for lathe tool bits and end mill sharpening.

Several accessories are shown which include a multi angle fixture that can hold just about any tool at almost
any angle. It's main use if for lathe tool bits.

The spin indexer along with the shop made index pointer is used for end mills. With the index pointer it can sharpen the flutes as well as the ends.

I will post the new motor and report on how well it can be used for a simple surface grinder.

Cheers, JR


I added a fine feed to improve its use as a surface grinder:

http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/u...2517#post72517

[Paul Jones]

jjr2001,
This is an interesting setup with many versatile applications in the shop. Thank you for all the photos and design considerations.
Regards,
Paul

[PJs]

Thanks for Sharing this JR. Nice home build and lots of uses around the shop I can see. Be interesting to see if you can use it as a surface grinder. That XY looks to be fairly substantial. How are the gibs/travel on it?

Thanks, ~PJ

[jjr2001]

Hi Pj, The table works pretty well. I bought it from Grizzly quite a while ago. I believe they still sell the same one.
The gibs seem to hold adjustment and are fairly uniform through out the entire length of travel. Every once in a while I will touch them up but it is overall worth what I paid for it.

Cheers, JR

[rossbotics]

Very interesting, allot of possibilities I see there, I see you have a diamond wheel on her. let me know how it sharpens carbide end mills.

Thanks for sharing

Doug

[jjr2001]

I have good results with end mills. The ends are easy. The flutes are another thing. Hard to get a smooth run
with the setup I am using with the spin indexer. Results are acceptable for home shop but an air bearing would be better.

Put the new motor on today and what a difference. Both were rated at 1/3 hp but the first one (gray) was less than 1/4 hp. I tried a bit of surface grinding on an old rail road track cut off that I use for an anvil. Worked pretty fair. Not as smooth as I would have liked but it is flat. I will mainly be using it for flats on shafts or putting a flat on a cylinder etc. Should be useful for grinding any hard steel tools or parts.

Still need to retry lathe tool bits with the new motor. Can't wait.
Have a couple of end mills that could use some sharpening too.

The new motor mount moves the motor back 1" and allows more tilt. Up to 20 degrees up or down.
One need is a fine feed on the carriage. The 1/2-10 lead screw is much too coarse. I will add a fine feed in addition to the lead screw since I want to keep the fast speed to raise and lower the motor during any major setup changes.

A few pics of the new motor and mount:

Cheers, JR

[DIYer]

Thanks jjr2001! We've added your Cutter Grinder to our Grinding category,
as well as to your builder page: jjr2001's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Cutter Grinder by jjr2001

tags: grinder, table

[jjr2001]

First I received my magnetic chuck and was ready to check it out with my power feed. The motor is just a car seat actuator and not intended for continuous use. Hot it was. Hotter than the one on my mill and I suppose that is due to the constant use while surface grinding. So, we made a bit of a heat sink from the scrap pile. Should do the job. The portable control box is shown in one of the pictures. The more I use it the more I wonder how I would do without it.

Cheers, JR

[pfredX1]

Surface grinders have a rack to traverse the X axis. So you can get in a fairly rapid pass.

[jjr2001]

Thanks pfredX1,

This one will most likely stay slow since the motor is only 1/3 hp.
Of course if I needed fast I could go the Tim Taylor the tool man route and up my power supply to 30 volts!
Just kidding.

Cheers, JR