Thanks for the input Keith. Nope. I do not have a surface grinder. That sure would be a nice shop addition. maybe one day! I have a bench grinder & lathe/toolpost grinder.
I've thought of different ways to reconfigure these existing machines into something that could profile special HSS cutters, sharpen drill bits, maybe even end mills (although that seems to be debatable as to how good or what kind of flutes etc.) It seems to me the magic is in the traversing assembly, not so much the grinding head. You need to be able to vary X, Y & Z and also facilitate a rotational component. I think that's the more expensive guts of the T&C grinders. I have seen some nice builds on this & other forums where people have ingeniously repurposed assemblies harvested from other applications like X,Y tables with fixtures. Or on the other extreme, scratch built / casting sets like a Quorn T&C. I suppose its like most things & boils down to personal decision - do you want to invest the time to make the machine and that provides satisfaction, or do you want to 'get' the machine & spend time making things from it. There is no right answer, just 'your' answer.
When I look at those Asian units (which I think are largely based on Deckel's) there are a lot of castings, components, electrical, machined parts & maybe specialty spindle/bearings that would likely be hard to replicate from bar stock scrap for the selling price. I guess I just need to ask myself how often I would use it & for what purpose. Curious you don't see many used ones for sale that aren't beat to death. maybe the message there is when people get them they tend to keep them?