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Harig Lectric Centers Manual?
- Thread starter JohnAU
- Start date
- Replies 6
- Views 359
Been trying to find one for mine as well, but no luck. Vintagemachinery doesn't have one in their archive. Mine is pretty complete in the factory box, so if there's something you need a photo of, or a measurement taken, send me a PM with an email, and I'll help if I can.
implmex
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2002
- Location
- Vancouver BC Canada
Hi JohnAU:
Not to be a dick about it but why do you need a manual for one?...they're pretty simple to operate.
There are any number of guys on here who can walk you through the basics if you're new to cylindrical grinding on the surface grinder with a spin fixture.
Every brand operates the same way, so it's way more about wheel selection and grind strategy than about working the On-Off switch on this specific gadget.
So ask away on here...everyone is super helpful and the knowledge on here is immense.
MichiganBuck, eKretz and many others are well worth listening carefully to.
Cheers
Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com
Not to be a dick about it but why do you need a manual for one?...they're pretty simple to operate.
There are any number of guys on here who can walk you through the basics if you're new to cylindrical grinding on the surface grinder with a spin fixture.
Every brand operates the same way, so it's way more about wheel selection and grind strategy than about working the On-Off switch on this specific gadget.
So ask away on here...everyone is super helpful and the knowledge on here is immense.
MichiganBuck, eKretz and many others are well worth listening carefully to.
Cheers
Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com
Thanks, I’m fairly new to surface grinding and have not done any cylindrical grinding before. I’m waiting for my Lectric Centers to be delivered so I have not seen one in the flesh As yet.
I understand you can adjust the fixed center to remove taper. However my initial question is, is there a procedure to adjust/calibrate the fixture? If I have an existing item I want to inspect set up in the fixture on the surface plate before grinding. How do I confirm if I am measuring an actual taper in a part or if the adjustment of the fixed center is out? Or is this not a correct usage of the fixture?
I understand you can adjust the fixed center to remove taper. However my initial question is, is there a procedure to adjust/calibrate the fixture? If I have an existing item I want to inspect set up in the fixture on the surface plate before grinding. How do I confirm if I am measuring an actual taper in a part or if the adjustment of the fixed center is out? Or is this not a correct usage of the fixture?
implmex
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2002
- Location
- Vancouver BC Canada
Hi again JohnAU:
I've never driven a Lectric center but I've driven many other brands and they all work pretty similarly.
Your unit features a dead center on the headstock end and it is the headstock end that is spring loaded to keep the pressure of those centers within reason as the part expands from the heat of grinding.
So the center does not rotate but the workpiece rotates around it, driven by a dog that is rotated by the faceplate you see in the promo literature.
So there are some basic things you must know:
1) your workpiece must have a center at each end, and they must be accurate, coaxial centers that are very conical, because these function as the pivots on which the workpiece rotates so the rounder the centers, the rounder the workpiece.
2) these units have one simple cheap bearing in the driving faceplate to allow the plate to spin around the dead center.
So you cannot mount a 4 jaw chuck for example which means all your workpieces must have those centers at each end (see #1) and you cannot grind parts without those features.
This greatly limits what you can do with this particular unit.
3) You need to control the temperature of what you grind, especially if it is very thin.
The spring pressure that keeps the centers engaged with the cones in the workpiece can overpower a long thin workpiece and cause it to bend.
There are other things to know but this is a start.
To answer your question...to make the machine grind a true cylinder, you set up a workpiece and take a kiss cut,
Mike both ends and adjust the tailstock center's height.
You do it here:
See the horizontal slot and the adjusting screw...they allow you to move the point of the tailstock center up and down.
Since the grinding wheel comes in from above, jacking the point up makes the tailstock end of the part skinnier.
So you grind, measure and tweak until it's as perfect as you need.
As long as your grinder magnet remains flat, subsequent setups will need far less tweaking.
BTW, the adjustment increment is very small...you double the diameter reduction for every increment of offset.
Some like to mount a tenths (or micron) DTI on the workpiece at the tailstock end to monitor how much they tweak the part...others just mark the part with a Sharpie and kiss off the heavy end a few tenths at a time until they are where they want to be.
So these things are pretty simple as I said...you have to know how to grind and you have to know how to dress and you have to know how to preserve the wheel and etc etc.
Guys like Buck who've been grinding forever for a living can tell you all the details of how to succeed with that part of it.
Cheers
Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com
I've never driven a Lectric center but I've driven many other brands and they all work pretty similarly.
Your unit features a dead center on the headstock end and it is the headstock end that is spring loaded to keep the pressure of those centers within reason as the part expands from the heat of grinding.
So the center does not rotate but the workpiece rotates around it, driven by a dog that is rotated by the faceplate you see in the promo literature.
So there are some basic things you must know:
1) your workpiece must have a center at each end, and they must be accurate, coaxial centers that are very conical, because these function as the pivots on which the workpiece rotates so the rounder the centers, the rounder the workpiece.
2) these units have one simple cheap bearing in the driving faceplate to allow the plate to spin around the dead center.
So you cannot mount a 4 jaw chuck for example which means all your workpieces must have those centers at each end (see #1) and you cannot grind parts without those features.
This greatly limits what you can do with this particular unit.
3) You need to control the temperature of what you grind, especially if it is very thin.
The spring pressure that keeps the centers engaged with the cones in the workpiece can overpower a long thin workpiece and cause it to bend.
There are other things to know but this is a start.
To answer your question...to make the machine grind a true cylinder, you set up a workpiece and take a kiss cut,
Mike both ends and adjust the tailstock center's height.
You do it here:
See the horizontal slot and the adjusting screw...they allow you to move the point of the tailstock center up and down.
Since the grinding wheel comes in from above, jacking the point up makes the tailstock end of the part skinnier.
So you grind, measure and tweak until it's as perfect as you need.
As long as your grinder magnet remains flat, subsequent setups will need far less tweaking.
BTW, the adjustment increment is very small...you double the diameter reduction for every increment of offset.
Some like to mount a tenths (or micron) DTI on the workpiece at the tailstock end to monitor how much they tweak the part...others just mark the part with a Sharpie and kiss off the heavy end a few tenths at a time until they are where they want to be.
So these things are pretty simple as I said...you have to know how to grind and you have to know how to dress and you have to know how to preserve the wheel and etc etc.
Guys like Buck who've been grinding forever for a living can tell you all the details of how to succeed with that part of it.
Cheers
Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com
implmex
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2002
- Location
- Vancouver BC Canada
Hi majohnson:
I can't visualize what you're proposing when you say "grind forward of center".
Are you suggesting to put the grinder spindle axis to the left of the fixture spindle axis?
I can't see how that would help.
Cheers
Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com
I can't visualize what you're proposing when you say "grind forward of center".
Are you suggesting to put the grinder spindle axis to the left of the fixture spindle axis?
I can't see how that would help.
Cheers
Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com
