T&C Grinder - Protection of Slides

lathe

Keith,

Most small t&c grinders have a relatively small table travel, and table extensions so that the slide way is not exposed. The problem is that if you lubricate the slide, the grinding dust sticks and forms a nice paste, and even if you don't lubricate, the carborundum or aloxite particles can embed themselves in cast iron to form a quite efficient lap !

You won't eliminate the problem, but you can reduce it by making suitable covers and having powerful dust extraction at the point of grinding.

AWEM

Andrew, thanks I hadn't thought about extraction which should aleviate the problem somewhat. I'll go for some basic slide covers, very little oil and the old shop vac running flat out. Good point about forming a "nice paste" so I will leave off the oiled felt wipers as well. I was trying to get the "service life" to exceed the build time but at current build progress it will have to run for several years without a problem. I'm starting to think I should have put my hand in my pocket instead. Has anyone built one of the simpler (MEW) published designs, If so, does it work?

Best regards Keith

keith hi, i have done this t&c grinder project with an old lathe, pic's at

Hi, thanks for that. Yet again you have come up with a simple and very sound idea that should do the trick. I don't know why I have to over complicate everything particularly as it then becomes impossible to build. Bit like my photography, put a good picture in front of me and I can recognise it as such, put a superb view in front of my viewfinder and I just can't see it.

Regards Keith