Rockwell Surface Grinder

wawoodman

wawoodman

himself, himself
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I'm looking at a Rockwell surface grinder. I need one like a pig needs a spare tire, but I think they're neat, and it's affordable, sort of...

It's being sold without a magnetic chuck. Is one really necessary? And when you have one, does it attract the ground off metal? Or does that all get thrown to the back shield? Is dust collection a luxury, or a necessity?

As you can see, I'm pretty clueless about the whole thing. Any advice is welcome!
 
A mag chuck is a must have. Coolant would be really nice to have. Yes, anything magnetic will be attracted to the mag chuck. If it has coolant, then a dust collection is not necessary.

Edit: I just realized you mention a Rockwell grinder. Kind of a different animal. Dust collection would be in order. Coolant kinda hard to incorporate. And tight tolerances and good finishes are not its best attribute.
 
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If you don't have one then obviously you need one.

The mag chuck is not totally necessary for operation, but really nice to have. You could use a vice bolted to the t-slot(s) I have a spare 6x12 (I think) mag chuck if you get that far.

Yes, the mag chuck will pick up some of the grindings but not all.

Dust collection is not required, but recommended. I have never used a surface grinder that had dust collection. Flood cooling will help mitigate the dust, and is highly recommended.
 
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almost a must have and for my low level delta milwaukee the mag chuck would cost me more then the price I paid for chuck and grinder.
 
If it's the Delta Toolmaker, I have one. It's not really a surface grinder, the real ones work in .0001 increments , the Toolmaker works in .0005 increments . The name suggests what it meant for. BTW a new Grizzly 6x12works in.001. There is Yahoo group for them. It's surprising handy. Certainly worth picking up. I used mine to turn a Chinese boat anchor into a usable vice for a little shaper.
 
Downwindtracker2 said:
If it's the Delta Toolmaker,..........., the Toolmaker works in .0005 increments . The name suggests what it meant for. ....snip......
Click to expand...

="Poor man's" surface grinder.

Dad had one, I scraped it because I didn't want it or move it when I moved my shop. Wish I kept it!
Of course now I have a B & S 612 SG, so much nicer!
 
I have a harig 612, it moves z in .0005 increments but is very accurate. Mag chuck is a must, and who cares if the ground off chips stick to the chuck, when your done grinding turn off the chuck and use a rag to wipe the area clean where your going to slide the part off, once the part is off wipe the rest of the chuck down with the rag, then wipe it with your hand and slide the new part on, literally slide. Your also going to need a diamond nib dresser, and build a fixture to hold it, or buy one, and a nice Arkansas stone to stone the chuck before use.

My harig is 60s vintage with the hand scraped finish still visable, I have dust collection but don't use it, don't use coolant either, cept when I spray wd on aluminum to be ground
 
That's the one I picked up, with mag chuck for $150, does have some slop in the Y axis
 
Ed ke6bnl said:
That's the one I picked up, with mag chuck for $150, does have some slop in the Y axis
Click to expand...

Nice. For $150 I could work around a little slop......Great Find!
-brino
 
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