Essential grinding tooling

[jwmelvin]

I’d like to learn some aspects of surface grinding and tool making, not professionally just for self betterment and enjoyment (hobby). To that end, I’m setting up a surface grinder and have a sort-of tool and cutter grinder. I’d really appreciate guidance on tooling that may boost my likelihood of success.

I currently have a Micromaster 618 and a Delta-Rockwell Toolmaker grinder. For grinder tooling: a few wheels and adapters, multiple dressers, an angle dresser. For fixturing: magnetic vises, parallels, adjustable-angle plates, and v-blocks, screwless vises, an angle plate, a unihead spindexer, and some 5C spindexers (mill items, I thought?). I also have a surface plate and indicators, etc.

I gather that I would benefit from a sine plate and v-block-holder grinding spindexer, and a wheel-balancing setup. If there are other things that might be of frequent use, I’d love to hear about them.

I know there’s a Suburban Tool Master Grind for sale on this forum but I think that’s a notch above what I’m looking to spend at the moment. Seems like Harig Grind All #1 would be about $500 and would almost certainly let me do what I want.

Seems like a single-angle plate with a permanent-mag chuck on it would be good. I also would like to get some more wheel adapters; I’ve bought a few new Sopko on eBay etc. but maybe used is generally fine?

I have read some old and recent threads on this. I imagine I should start with squaring blocks etc. but I’d like to know what to look for on eBay and the for-sale items here.

 

[johnoder]

If not so equipped yet get yourself a copy of the 110 year old text on the subject by Goodrich and Stanley - Accurate Tool Work

 

[Flail]

If not so equipped yet get yourself a copy of the 110 year old text on the subject by Goodrich and Stanley - Accurate Tool Work

Accurate Tool Work - Clarence Leon Goodrich, Frank Arthur Stanley - Google Books

 

[eKretz]

You can download a copy of that here:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...oQFnoECAoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2ATZd7R5lNVvPyoYFqc0cH

 

[texasgeartrain]

A dust collector, or a vacuum that exhausts outside the building when you are actually grinding, used with a sort of trap on the side of grinder that sparks fly. I run a home air purifier in my shop too that I can toss the filters away from time to time. But my shop is smaller, that might be tricky in a larger building.

 

[jwmelvin]

Thanks, have a copy of the book coming. I do have a dust collector and very strong ventilation for the shop when the weather is nice.

No recommendations on sine plate and spindexer? Should I mess around with the stuff I have before buying something else?

 

[Modelman]

No recommendations on sine plate and spindexer? Should I mess around with the stuff I have before buying something else?

Yes. You don't need a sine plate until you need to grind a taper; you don't need a magnetic sine plate until you need to grind that taper across the whole surface. I picked up a 6 x 6 magnetic double sine plate at an auction ages ago; in thirty years I think I used the full functionality just ONCE, and since the work was in a vise, I could have just used two nonmagnetic sine plates.

The Harig Grindall is nice, but overkill if all you need is to reduce diameters. Then again, if you need to grind details off center on a pin, it's indispensable.

Dennis

 

[texasgeartrain]

Thanks, have a copy of the book coming. I do have a dust collector and very strong ventilation for the shop when the weather is nice.

No recommendations on sine plate and spindexer? Should I mess around with the stuff I have before buying something else?

I tend to bargin shop for accessories I don't really need, but will fit my machines. I just watch for what might be good deals.

I shop and acquire a little more serious if I have a particular project(s) in mind. Assuming you don't have an endless budget, I'd suggest the same as it frees up doe for material, projects, and jobs that happen to pop up.

A particular job or project may answer that for you. For any indexing work head, I'd probably be looking for something that takes 5C collets as there is so many reasonable options for those collets.

 

[michiganbuck]

The unihead spindexer (that you already have) in good condition can do much round grinding, and even be an ok wheel radius dresser, adding a 4jaw chuck to that can be handy..
Having a surface plate and something to check parts for squareness, perhaps a surface gauge with a V or a ball nose. Often one needs a set of JoBlocks. C clamps and parallel clamps are handy.
A good SG skill practice is grinding your stuff to dead square (6 to 12 millionths).

*What you intend to grind might help determine what you need.
To become a SG jobber likely you will likely start with flatwork. often to size and squareness to a couple of tenths, be able to grind nice corner bevels, grind sides and ends square.

A simple a sine bar, used is likely good enough.

Round work can be tricky to inspect, getting close round work and a shadowgraph may de due.

 

[AD Design]

Difficult to advise without knowing what you'll be grinding and/or the tolerances you expect to hold. Plenty of good suggestions in posts above, we'll presume you have the surface plate, indicators, and gauge blocks needed. A spin type fixture is good for round work but not needed unless that type of geometry is required.

A good diamond dresser is required and can be a simple block type or something that can dress radii/angles. I've always preferred the Kuhn/Clearview type but that's for the type of work I used to do.

Dresser, Radi-Angle, Clearview, Item #G9403 – Lost Creek Machine, Inc.

Not suggesting the above example or the business, just the first link that came up. Plenty of other ways to suggest how to spend your money but let's get an idea of what YOU had in mind first.

 

[jwmelvin]

I do have a surface plate and indicators. I have plenty of diamonds and holders, and an angle dressing jig.

I’ll probably start with some basic squaring and parallelism operations. As for the spindexer, I’d like to make some arbors, for example.

When I get the machine all cleaned up and back together, maybe I’ll post a picture of my existing tooling. Sounds like I won’t need anything else for a while.

I appreciate the advise so far.

 

[rogertoolmaker]

Don't forget a couple parallel clamps to clamp your work to the angle plate. C-clamps can cause the work to twist whereas parallel clamps squeeze without twisting.

Roger

 

[cyanidekid]

I do have a surface plate and indicators. I have plenty of diamonds and holders, and an angle dressing jig.

I’ll probably start with some basic squaring and parallelism operations. As for the spindexer, I’d like to make some arbors, for example.

When I get the machine all cleaned up and back together, maybe I’ll post a picture of my existing tooling. Sounds like I won’t need anything else for a while.

I appreciate the advise so far.

an angle/radius dressing tool is pretty basic, and can be found around for not big bucks. ill add check out Suburban Tool vids, Don is a solid grinder hand, and between his goofball jokes, has a wealth of knowledge. happy grinding!
.

 

[jwmelvin]

check out Suburban Tool vids, Don is a solid grinder hand, and between his goofball jokes, has a wealth of knowledge.

Those videos, along with a few others, are a significant part of why I decided to get a surface grinder. And having a couple of projects where it would have come in handy.

I’m still getting the machine set up, cleaning up the chuck now.

 

[Conrad Hoffman]

Not a grinding tool per se, but a really good micrometer is a necessity.

 

[michiganbuck]

For grinding out a warp a stack of various shims can be handy. A shim set taken apart is good for this purpose. feeler gauge set.
Stainless Steel Feeler Gauge Dual Marked Metric and Imperial 0.04 - 0.88 mm | eBay

32 Blade Feeler Gauge Dual Reading Combination Feeler Gauge Metric & SAE US | eBay

Grinding a tapered flat part be sure to shim/ support it along/under the taper because the mag pull-down may bend it in the middle.

 

[ballen]

When I got my surface grinder I had to upgrade my dial gauges and test indicators. You need tools that repeat at the micron level. I ended up with a small collection of Tesa, Compac and Mahr purchased from Ebay as well as Heidenhain and Mahr electronic gauges.

My favorites are a 2 micron/division Tesa test indicator with a ruby tip and a small Compac dial indicator with a 3mm range and 100 microns per rotation and 1 micron/division. The Mahr Millimess (0.5 microns/division) also gets used fairly often.

 

[winger]

At home I have: a spin indexer(not an expensive one) that I use, sometimes just to relieve an endmill or tap shank.
Magnetic v-blocs, both transfer type and permanent type.
A few magnetic parallels. Some time I have had to grind a part with a protrusion.
Grinding vise. Probably used the most.
An assortment of angle blocks and 123 blocks.
Sine bar that I made.
Basically everything I used at work, except for the sine plate.

A magnetic sine plate would have been nice, but too much cash for nice to have without a current need.

My grinder came with a digital readout. If it has inc and absolute modes, works great for setting one zero to the diamond height and the other to the work.

I agree, an assortment of shim stock and thin parallels for blocking is needed.

I use card stock under a milled face for first grind.


Dave

 

[Grandslam]

Dave, can you please explain the need for “card stock under the milled face...”
Thanks Richard

 

[jwmelvin]

Dave, can you please explain the need for “card stock under the milled face...”

I believe the idea is a small amount of compliance to encourage a stable position (through averaging) for the first grinding operation, which then provides a nice flat surface to put down on the chuck or setup block for further grinding operations.