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11:57 PM
July 23, 2010
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Hey, all. I just ordered the 6" harbor freight tool grinder ( http://www.harborfreight.com/1…..46727.html ) for myself. I figured that people here would be interested to know that they have it on sale for $130, and you can use the "20SAVE" coupon code for another 20% off, bringing the price down to $103, plus the $7 flat-rate shipping. I hear that the wheels on it are not the best, but you can get AlOx, SC, & diamond wheels that fit it from Enco, and after watching this guy's videos on Youtube about truing it up (check out the nickel balanced on it while it starts up in the 5th installment), I figured that it was a steal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..Si3lucyRQo
At any rate, I don't know how long the sale will last, but I'm glad that I got my order in :)
5:32 PM
October 10, 2010
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ironring1,
This may be a funny question, but what is a tool grinder used for? We have one at the community college where I've taken machining classes, but I've never seen it in use. The instructor has us use regular bench grinders to make all of our high speed steel lathe tools. I've personally made a general purpose lathe tool, a outside threading tool, and a 45 degree chamfering tool. At some point I still need to make an internal threading tool and some boring bars.
Titaniumboy
7:54 PM
August 13, 2011
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Well crud! I ordered the same thing and it was almost $150 with freight:) FWIW there's a good "upgrade"video on Utube.
10:13 PM
July 23, 2010
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Yup, the upgrade video was what I linked to in my original post. Titaniumboy, a tool grinder has a couple of advantages over a more common bench grinder. The first is that you normally run tool along the faces of the wheels, not their rims. This means that you are grinding on a flat surface instead of a curved one. The other is that a tool grinder normally has more rigid and adjustable tool rests ("side tables"), allowing more complex setups. One of the first things that I plan to do is set up a jig to allow me to do 4-face drill sharpening, as well as sharpen my milling cutters (2-flute).
-Chris
12:20 PM
July 23, 2010
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Well, my new TC grinder arrived last week (I drove down to Bellingham, WA to pick it up). It ran nice and smoothly out of the package, but I am expecting it to be silky smooth once I get done with the modifications to it. I've fully disassembled the unit, and I'm very happy with the build quality. I'll take some pics as I work on it and post them soon.
As others have noted, the concrete grinding wheels that ship with it seem pretty crappy. When I read "concrete" in posts on other sites, I thought that they were using that word just to emphasize how poor they were, but really, I think that they actually are made of concrete (dyed green to look like a "real" wheel). At any rate, I've sourced Al-Oxide, green wheels, and diamond wheels for this unit, and I'll be ordering a pair soon (a green wheel and a white wheel, to be specific). I don't have the links with me right now, but I'll post them, too. For the record, you want a 6" x 1" x 1-1/4" plate-mounted wheel for this machine.
-Chris
11:12 AM
August 13, 2011
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My saga continues:) I rec'd my grinder about 2 wks ago. One of the trunions was broken but customer service propmtly send a replacement. I followed the video instructions previously mentioned and everything was going well. THEN I put the motor back together, it came on, didn't completly cycle up and tripped a breaker. It did this one more time, smelled hot, then just "pulsed" in one direction and completely dead in the other. Customer service did their job once again and they replacement arrived yesterday. I'm in retail so probably won't get shop time till after Christmas then we'll see how it goes the 2nd time around.
6:56 PM
August 13, 2011
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Update………HF sent a call tag for defective grinder and shipped replacement. I've done the mods and upgraded the wheels and am pretty satisfied. There is still slight run out on the outside edge of new wheels but will order wheel dressing tool and hope that corrects this situation.
9:29 PM
January 13, 2011
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Hey Chris, any updates and or photos of the truing process? Looking forward to them.
Sammy
10:00 PM
July 23, 2010
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Hey, Sammy. I'm mired in the "too many projects at once" swamp. However, I have taken the grinder apart, cleaned it up, and have it mounted the spindle between centres on my lathe. My lathe's swing is a just a little small to be able to run the saddle underneath the mounting plates. I've worked out a setup that will let me machine it, but I might just take it in and machine it on the bigger lathe at work. I also had to return the lathe dog that I picked up, as it's crank didn't match up with any slots on my surface plate :( I've have buffed the paint off of the sides of the machine where the trunions slide, too.
Most of my time on this project, however, has been spent shopping for new wheels. I am planning to get a 46K white aluminium oxide wheel for one side of the machine, and a diamond wheel for the other side. These two would let me grind both HSS and carbide (the diamond wheels are the recommended abrasive for grinding carbide scrapers, too). I've been looking at CBN (cubic boron nitride) wheels for HSS instead of but they are a little pricey for me right now.
Lastly, I have been taking photos. I'll try to find some time to put them up.
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