Delta Toolmakers Surface Grinder

I'll be picking up a Delta toolmakers surface grinder tomorrow. Will carry it in the back of an Explorer. I'll have a couple of strong boys to help load it, but plan to do some disassembly first.

I presume that the cast iron legs will come off pretty easily.

How about the grinding head and/or the column? And the table? Any tips, or pitfalls to worry about?

Thanks,

John Martin

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John Martin
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Mine came apart easily and I needed help lifting only the square base. Support the head assembly before loosening the pivot cones. Ask if it had the accessory swivel table for grinding between centers.

It isn't the finest precision surface grinder I've ever used but it is very useful for sharpening tools and finishing milled parts to better accuracy than my old Clausing milling machine can attain.

Would you mind sending me photos of the spindle disassembly plate on the head and whatever the plate is near the bottom of one leg?

snipped-for-privacy@segway.com

Reply to
jim.wilkins

Reply to
Waynemak

Disassembly was a breeze, although seller did almost all the work.

Removed a couple of guards to lighten, then the large nut at the top of the column. Head slid off, column slid out of base, drawbolt removed.

Removed screws holding crossfeed nut under saddle (one screw only - the other was broken off and I'll have to remove) and the saddle and table were off.

Four more screws and the legs came off.

Tip for anyone disassembling one of these for the first time: bring your large wrenches.

Got it into the basement with my wife's help. Amazing what you can do with heavy pieces when you think about them a bit.

Came with a magnetic chuck but no swivel table. Found a swivel table at a reasonable price at a shop on the way home that someone had written Harig on, but the owner swears it's for the Delta. In any case, it should fit. No centers, though.

The plates are all painted over, and I don't know how much luck I'll have stripping them. I'll try to get some photos if I'm successful.

John Martin

Reply to
John Martin

The swivel table itself is the valuable part. Mine came with adequate but unimpressive centers and I had to make a base for it. The centers could be turned from drill rod and the brackets made from cheap machined angle plates like these:

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If you can find one good ground angle plate you can use it to square up the cheap ones.

Good luck Jim Wilkins

Reply to
jim.wilkins

Checked the swivel table last night and it has SCG 150 cast in, which matches the scheme of the Delta parts, so I guess the dealer was right and it is truly a Delta table. Came with the swivel.

I'm guessing that to set these up you don't rely on the angles on the swivel, but put a test bar between centers and clock it in with a dial test indicator on the head or column or base.

I may end up making the centers, and the angle plates are a good idea. I'll also be keeping my eyes open for some matched dividing head tailstocks. The flat tops on many of those seem to allow pretty good access and clearance.

My intent is to use it more for sharpening than for surface grinding. Although I'm not really sure why. When I mentioned horizontal milling cutter sharpening, the dealer I got the table from (Brothers Machinery in North Andover, Mass. - really decent folks) pulled open a couple of big drawers of resharpened perfect cutters and said "Five bucks each - why would you want to resharpen yours?". Somewhat the same with end mills, although I may pick up one of those 5C fixtures to resharpen the ends only. Or hold them in my spin indexer, on an angle plate. Other sharpening would include reamers, shaper (wood) cutters, jointer & planer knives and the like.

What do you do with yours? What tooling and fixturing have you found helpful? Also, any good books?

Many thanks,

John Martin Cumberland, Maine

Reply to
John Martin

Reply to
Waynemak

I've had pretty good luck with the 5C fixture for regrinding the ends of end mills, less success with various attempts on the side flutes using a spin index or the PYH fixture. For roughing endmills I bevel the outer tips using the 30 degree setting to get greater depth of cut with the easily reground part.

If you hold a ruler across the end of an end mill you can see that the edges are slightly angled toward the center. The 5C fixture is tilted sideways to accomplish this but sometimes I have to twist the fixture base for a steeper angle to make the wheel clear adjacent teeth on multiflute end and shell mills.

Jointer knives are really tricky because they burn so easily. I sharpened them in the cutter head between the centers of a very old Brown & Sharp cutter grinding attachment, using the end of a broken hacksaw blade for the supporting finger.

The only cutter sharpening books I've found assume you have a Real Tool & Cutter Grinder. The Delta is a funny mix of a large Quorn-type head and a standard surface grinder table.

$5 each for sharp cutters isn't bad, but they aren't open nights and weekends when we hobbyists are dulling our only 7/16" end mill on unknown scrap steel. I'll have to get down there some time soon. Have you been to Brentwood Machinery on 125 a few miles south of 101?

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Jim Wilkins

Reply to
jim.wilkins

I don't have the Delta TM grinder but did come across some original literature that I've scanned in including a 13-page manual on the T&C grinding attachment, which appeared to consist of the Unihead and a table with set of centers, fingers, etc. Is there amy interest in that?

Mike

Reply to
Mike Henry

Reply to
Waynemak

Yes, sir.

John Martin

Reply to
John Martin

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not familiar with the PYH fixture. What is it?

OK, "down there" to Brothers'? Looks like you're in southern NH if the segway.com is any giveaway. I know Brentwood, and used to go there more often when we lived in Peterborough. I get there once a year or so now. I've got to say I liked them better when they had the trailers full of interesting stuff. Still worth a trip, though. Brothers' I think you'd like. They have a greater inventory than Brentwood, metalworking only, no junk, lots of separate tooling, and the boss there really knows his stuff. Open weekdays and Saturday mornings (although I'd call first), but I know what you mean about needing a sharp cutter now, not in the morning.

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Ever try the guy in Plaistow, Rison's I think it is? I've been by, but never when they were open.

Also supposed to be a dealer in Tilton. I'll check it out sometime when we're over at my wife's family's camp on Winnipesaukee.

John Martin Cumberland, Maine

Reply to
John Martin

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