My SG.

FLguy

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
294
I've wanted a surface grinder for a long time. Had one years ago and I missed it.It's 6x12 used by one guy, a tool and die maker so the machine was taken care of. Spindle is so smooth, if you take off the belt and spin the wheel it'll spin for the longest time. I might buy a fine pole chuck. The chuck on it is standard pole and I'm concerned about it's ability to hold thin small stuff well. Got dirt cheap too. Oh, I'm a very happy guy.
 
My surface grinder, a Brown & Sharpe Micromaster 6 X 18 with hydraulic table and crossfeed, has a fine pitch chuck that came with it (it was a gift from a friend); I'd have to say that I do like the fine pitch chuck, having used the coarse pitch chucks on other grinders that I have run and owned in the past; the frosting on the cake, so far as the chuck is concerned is the Neutrofier electronic chuck control that allows variable holding power and also neutralizes the residual magnetism in the parts, so that they can be picked off the chuck with the fingers, not having to be wrestled off as with permanent magnetic chucks, usually resulting in the work being scratched. In my shop that I sold when I retired from business, I had a 12 X 36 Thompson surface grinder from the 1950s that had a mag chuck with a vacuum tube rectifier, that was not ideal, and I replaced it with a modern Chinese version of the Neutrofier, which was small enough to fit in your hand; it was not real cheap, but it has preformed very well with no problems for over 10 years now.
If one decides to buy/use a permanent magnet chuck, plan on also buying a demagnetizer, but one can also make one; at the shop where I apprenticed, they had a 16 X 72 Mattison surface grinder; it had a electromagnetic chuck and used a simple reversing knife switch to partially demagnetize the work, but further demag of at least smaller parts was done by passing the work through a ciol of magnet wire wrapped with cotton cloth and insulated with varnish; you just plugged it into 110 V AC and passed the work through it repeatedly back and forth, and it did work fairly well; I think it was a field coil from a DC motor generator welding machine, the opening was about 4" X 5 or 6".
Also, depending on your chuck's pole spacing, Brown & Sharpe made a segmented parallel, sort of a sub chuck that was placed on the top of the machine's chuck that in effect made it's top surface into a fine pole chuck for holding small work. With my grinder, I really do not have any use for this device; If you may have interest, LMK, and we can get further into it.
 
Back
Top