Wednesday 16 December 2015

Hand Cranked Grinder

I received a X-Mas gift pretty early this year.

To be more exact it was a Saint Nicholas gift.

And a real surprise for me





Friendship


My very best friend and me know each other since our childhood. And we are both interested in technique.
First we have repaired our bicycles together, then our cars and motorbikes and went finally over to renovate our apartments and/or houses.
Every time we meet, we will find a technical topic we can discuss about. This year I've overdone it I guess.
I have reported about my woodworking journey and my sharpening experiences and that I'm searching for a hand cranked grinder. Without luck so far.
Last Sunday we met to have a nice come together to celebrate Saint Nicholas. And he had a nice wrapped box for me. Guess what was inside.
Yeah, one of these grinders I was searching for. 

Grinder

It is in, let's say, good condition and just needs a bit of cleaning and maintenance.
I made a first quick test and it has ground an old chisel pretty quick. Much quicker as I can do it on the sharpening stones. Although I've got a 150 grid diamond stone.

One issue is, that the grinding wheel is pretty used and needs to be trued up.
I had a look for a replacement wheel but unfortunately I couldn't find the right size. That said I decided to order a diamond wheel dresser. You can get this tool for about 10 bucks.

Diamond Wheel Dresser

I gave it a first try and observed that it is working well.


Dressing the wheel



I'm not completely done with it. But it is already better than before.


After the 1st treatment

 
The other topic is that the wheel isn't running straight. That's because the hole for the shaft is a bit bigger than the shaft. I have to adjust that somehow. Temporarily I have used some tape. Not the final solution but it helps.

As soon as I will find some free time I will rework this "beast". Rust removing, maybe a bit of paint for the crank, replacing rusty screws, lubricate the moving parts and then it should be ready to go.

When I'm done with rework I will build a small grinding station. With an adjustable tool rest.
I've got some ideas in mind. Watch this space, I will report about it.


What Else?


Now then, we had a few days off and we have been at the seaside. Relaxing and getting the head clear.
The exhausting X-Mas season is coming ;-)
That said, there wasn't much shop time this week.
I only could play around with the grinder, unbox some new tools and work at the filling boards for the workbench.

Santa was early....

Nevertheless I've done a lot "theoretical" stuff. Further investigations in Mid-Century furniture, starting a discussion with the CEO of KUNZ Tools in Germany about their cabinet scraper, thinking about a grinding station, making plans for the workbench top.

I will have a few days off from next week on and after X-Mas I will care about the bench and the workshop makeover. Hopefully I will find enough time to get something done.

That's all folks!

Stefan



9 comments:

  1. I've got one, too. Mine can only take a 5" wheel and has a 3/8" arbor. I was surprised, though, that Norton *DOES* make a wheel that fits this! They only make it in their brown aluminum oxide grade, but it should actually fit.

    There are some models of these grinders that can take a 6" wheel. Mine is not one of them, but I am on the lookout as it is possible to get a white wheel from them that will fit - with an adapter for the arbor, that is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,
      thanks for your comment.
      The actual wheel is unfortunately only 4". And these wheels are pretty rare or expensive. I have to check if a 5" maybe will fit.

      Delete
  2. Nice present from a true friend, those are always the best :-)
    Looking at the shape your wheel is in, I find it curious that it is worn slanted like mine was found, and I have seen others likewise. I wonder why that is?

    Try the small plastic bushing that comes with new grinding wheel. They often have 2 or three different bushing sizes to adapt to various shaft sizes. If that comes up empty, I suppose you could always try to make one in wood??

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bob,
      you are right. Most of the ones I've seen, had a similar wheel shape. Don't what the people have done with it.
      I did not get the idea to make a bushing out of wood. But that should be the easiest way. Maybe some dowel material will fit. I have to check it.

      Stefan

      Delete
  3. Mine also only take 5 in wheel. My plan is to recycled my current white Norton 3X on my power grinder (6in) once it is worn down to 5ish inches.

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Stefan,

    I had good luck recently with mine. I bought that brown Norton wheel, and it works well. Get the coursest one you can. To get the wheel to fit the unusual 3/8" arbor, I used drill bushings from McMaster-Carr: http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/121/2584/=109y2sp, I'm sure there is something like that in Europe. I had to get two to reduce from one inch to 3/8", but I'm happy, and it seems to work better than those plastic reducers. Plus, the plastic ones seem only to go down to 1/2" on the wheels I've bought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Brian,
      Thanks for the hint. That brought me into the right direction. Drill bushings are available online.
      And Norton indeed has got 4" wheels. Just have to figure out where I can buy one.
      Cheers,
      Stefan

      Delete
  5. Diskussion mit dem CEO von Kunz? Klingt interessant. Wollen die ein bischen innovativer werden? :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Es ging um die Diskussion im Blog von Paul Sellers:
      https://paulsellers.com/2015/12/kunzcabinet-scraper-80/
      Ich wollte das nicht so stehen lassen und habe einfach bei KUNZ angefragt.
      -------------------------------------------------
      The contact to the CEO of KUNZ was related to the discussion on Paul Sellers blog about the KUNZ cabinet scraper:
      https://paulsellers.com/2015/12/kunzcabinet-scraper-80/
      I've simply asked them and got an answer.

      Delete