Free Tool Grinder?

Kinda hard to find info on it, but a tool grinder is a very handy machine to have if you do a lot of machining. To be able to sharpen and configure end mills, boring bars, drill bits and even lathe bits has been a boon to me. Made my own counter bore out of spare bits. Revive old end mills. Even ground some dog point screws for my lathe cross slide. It has not become something I do everyday but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the middle of a project and had a dull bit and was able to sharpen it and move on.

unfortunately, the CL specimen you posted is missing a lot of key parts and is not made anymore and not common or popular. The most concerning is the drive gear for the table. Without that it’s truly a boat anchor. Who knows if that’s a common gear or some proprietary odd ball. The other things missing are the grinding fixture heads. Those can be proprietary and expensive. So while it’s free, it could cost a lot to get going and who knows what else is wrong with it. Interesting machine though and being the junkyard dog I am I’d be tempted to look at it just to get a good look.
 
Ah. Thanks for the detailed response. If it were closer, I'd indulge my inner junkyard dog too, but it's a couple of hours or more away.

Guess I'll pass.
 
Yup, I use distance as a factor in the complicated formula of whether to let the junkyard dog out or not. It will be interesting to see if another tool grinder shows up to tempt you as that often happens to me. Once I’ve become aware these things seem to keep popping up.
 
In these days of carbide insert tooling, T&C grinders are not so much a part of the industrial scene as they once were, thus, not worth so much, especially as noted above, without any tooling; without tooling there is very little that can be done with such a machine.
 
while I agree, as a hobbyist I can take the time a production shop can’t/won’t to sharpen even carbide tooling. i have found new carbide tooling under a microscope doesn’t always come as sharp as it should right from the supplier. i have a batch of used American made brazed carbide tools that after sharpening them they work good as new. Production shops have always tossed tooling because they are ”consumables”. I literally have not had to buy any tooling that I already have. I had to qualify that because I did buy 3/4” key cutter the other day, but I didn’t have that size.

I probably have not gotten my ROI on my Chinese knockoff Deckel grinder. But I had a drawer full of dull and messed up HSS end mills I got with my old RF 30 and was able to resurrect the whole bunch (was how I learned to use the grinder) and found most of what was wrong with my first cheap set of import endmills was crappy grinds. Not the material. I should have grabbed the bucket of dead endmills my brother had before he moved but I now have spares for everything so who needs even MORE clutter? YMMV
 
Perhaps I should have qualified my earlier post with the admission that I too, own a T&C grinder, a #1 Norton with most of it's acessories plus a good many more for specialized work such as single lip countersink sharpening, tap sharpening and precision drill sharpening and air bearing end mill sharpening and radius grinding. Do I use all that very much? not so much!
 
I'm a hobbyist and use my T&C grinder because I enjoy doing it, not because I really "need" to do it. For example, I have more end mills than I could ever use in the rest of my life time, but enjoy sharpening some dull ones. I use little carbide lathe tooling, but actually sharpen most of that by hand. For those doing this for a living, it probably doesn't make much sense doing it.

Ted
 
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