Purchased 24th December 2013
Im a part time engineer with a love for machinery and problems. This time I have come across a pre-war workshop surface grinder which needs some work.
Why did I buy it ? Well im still thinking that one over but i pretty sure I can use it for something 🙂
The unit came off eBay. I wanted a long term project that would keep me busy when I get idle (not that I get much free time). Although I committed to the idea of this project moving it could be a bit tricky. I live in the midlands and need to travel some 200 miles to collect it. I have estimates of aprox 900kg
I found another chap in Australia who has recently carried out a clean-up operation on one of these and has provided some info on...
Three phase motors
Overall dimensions of the machine are 1250 H x 1100D x 1350-1500W
Weight between 800 and 900Kg
I am hoping to get this in the back of my Vauxhall vivario van, Supplier has a forklift so hoping to get it in through the rear, Need to work on a plan to get it out though.
The Plan...
Drive & Collect
Turns out the height is to too much, so im going to try and strip it down a bit to give a little on the height. I have got myself some new allan keys, big set of spanners and plenty of rags.
Return (Slowly)
As the weight is nearly a ton this thing could move about if not careful, straps will be needed but they look a bit flimsy, no tight turns I think. I am hoping to power it up in the van (check 3phase motors with a single to 1phase inverter).
Remove from Van
this is where it gets a bit sketchy, i have my eye on a 1.5 ton engine lift. Im hoping to raise the grinder and drive the van out of the way, Lower to within an inch or two before pushing into my garage.
Hay presto, Got It.
The job went to plan other than an oil spillage from the head, Ill have to look into that. I had to remove the Slide guides, Table, Head and magnetic vice. Only just fitted and man was the drive Awkward with all the weight.
looking at it im going to wait until its out of the van before applying power,
These things are really heavy..
So if you get one don't make my mistake, I bought a 2 Ton engine lift "should be a breeze !" used some chain as rope would stretch too much and I wouldn't get the height required in the van. Used some bolts through the chain to link it together. began to jack it up.
All was going well, the grinder some 800+KG lifts up and all 4 corners just about leave the deck when ... BANK!
Grinder is back on the van floor, we are looking a bit sheepish thinking the chain has snapped .. NO
The chain is reasonably thick but I hadn't crossed the loops, the chain had jumped out of the lifting hook and the whole lot dropped (thank god we hadn't moved it) Ok sounds like a near miss and everyone can go home smiling. No hang on a minute what's that lump in my van roof.
Errrm where's my hammer.
So I have a nice new van (18month old) with a massive lump in the top.
We were lucky, im happy the machine is now in my garage but man I paid for it
I will be stripping and cleaning for some time now, but the thing looks in pretty good order and about 98% original so looking forward to a good clean up.
The older motors are three phase delta wired, 1phase to 3Phase can only Produce power for Delta so rewired the motors to delta and used some old inverters, this allowed me to power up the hydraulics. The oil still looked clean so that can stay.
Good news the bed runs back and forth smoothly so now its time to remove the beds for a clean and re-paint
I have now removed both beds, had to use the winch as they are really heavy, top cross slide is right back to bare casting, im using an industrial flap wheel to smooth out the cast surfaces before re-painting.
The old way of doing these things was to use filler "2pack P90" sand back and then spray with a hard paint "contained cyanide i think" any how that's all a bit over the top and a bit hazardous so a nice coat of zinc and hammarite will do i think.
The Machine is as striped as far i want to go, Im taking the older green pain off and patching up the paintwork with filler and primer. I have had the old colour sampled and is being mixed from smooth hammarite paints.
Plenty of Degreasing & Sanding
Most of the mucky work is finished. I have removed many of the bolt on components for blacking to give it a cleaner finish and protect against rust.
Whilst stripping down i thought the vertical handwheel shaft would look nice that way to, so out it came.
I guess the chaps at churchill didnt think the machine would last 60+ years and decided on a metal on metal bearing would do !
Wrong.
Shaft shows major damage (See pic) so its being built up with a rotary mig welding setup. i had a go using my own lathe but could not get the gearing wright (even using a motor controller).
Main body has a nice coat of paint and the top slide is almost finished.
The decision to weld over the bearing surface on the vertical handwheel shaft and cut it back would have given me a stable feel to the hand wheel but i found major wear in the fine adjustment wheel so decided to have the shaft re-made.
Machine shop reproduced the shaft and turned down the fine adjustment shaft to 15mm (just skimming the teeth) machine shop has done a nice job even matched the thread by screw cutting!
Found a local company to do the lot for £40.00 Bargain.
Metal on Metal = Problems
To get as much out of this machine im installing a needle bearing into the vertical handwheel housing. I bought a Chinese boring bar from ebay much too all the laughter from my pals, But it looks pretty good. Has the right taper, metric and has changeable tips
The Mill-lathe is a clark (not great) but needs must.
I bored the housing and got a nice push fit. Simples!
As the name plates have been removed i have cleaned and repainted them. They were held on with small steel rivets.
I found a supplier of Stainless screw nails. These are small studs with a sallow helical spiral thread designed to be hammered in and retaining clips etc.
Makes for a better job and they wont rust.
As always the weather in the UK can make us engineers drink more tea and stay indoors.
So final clean-up until the new year and hopefully warmer weather.
So its back to the spanners after a nice rest. Hopefully not to much rust has accumulated on the old girl !
More painting and sanding, and if all goes well im going to attempt to replace the cross slide soon.
Sometimes we think we are great engineers, and sometimes we can be a bit wrong!
Ok so I thought it would be great to add that roller bearing to the hand wheel shaft. But I noticed the housing was not lined up with the rear worm gear hole. Played around adjusting etc but no its definitely out. So when machining the bearing housing I raised the centre about 2mm. The outcome was great, shaft turns nicely and free.
But don’t you know theirs always a gotcha.
Re assembly of the hand wheel… Hmmm there is a large back plate that houses a planet gear. And doweled to the hand wheel casting. How did I miss that! So that’s what ive been up to, aligning the original hole on my fosters mill lathe and hoping the wobbly quill doesn't bend too much.
So after multiple eBay purchased of imperial taps and reamers I have finally finished, re-assembly this weekend and hopefully move it on a bit.
Managed to clear some room for the winch. Final clean up and dropped the saddle back onto the bed, some minor adjustments of pipework and sorted. Traversing seems fine.
There is too much back lash for me but the old girl is getting on a bit. Generally lathes use a pinch plate on the lead screw but no such look and disassembly looks a real bummer.
I will have to come back to that later.
I decided it would be a good idea to have a look inside the head, after all if it’s had it the machine will be scrap. Probably would have been a good idea to check when I got it but there you go. Any how I have split the head so I can work out what’s inside.
Balls, Rollers ?? No plain bearing just like the steam engines of its time. But with a twist. The front bearing is a bronze built in two halves. The fat tube on top of the casting is an oil reservoir which allows a hydraulic auto adjusting tension placed on the upper side. Neat! (see drawings) with a ball bearing to stop the oil reverse flowing.
Time to get the Head finished and painted. The casting is a bit rough but plenty of filler comes to the rescue.
Nice lick of paint and we should be off
Hit a small problem here.
The housing has a crack, and its been their for some time.
So on to YouTube and found some interesting ways of patching up cast iron. Now I don't have the correct wire but we can all weld can’t we?
Time to paint up the grinding head and begin to assemble the belts and motors. As the original belts are in poor shape its been hard to get the right size, (three goes actually) any how they have been ordered and the motors are fitted. Next job is oiling the slideways and fitting inverters
This one definitely shows im making progress !
Items left to do...
- Paint inside column (missed this as its been hidden while lowered)
- New Oil Cover Cap on head
- Grinding wheel housing
- Sort out Electricals
- Clean & attach mag chuck
- Take more photos :)
The list was easy enough to work through although the electrics will need to re-done from scratch.
New Control Panel
I have tried to use the old controls as i wanted to keep the look and feel of the machine. But lets be honest i don't really need 410v up my arm as im trying to grind something. To old, so after lots of delays and drawings, This is what i came up with, i used my CNC router to create a nice looking plate and stuck it onto a ip65 box. I also added an extra power relay for an external suds pump.
The first task was to clean up the mag surface, dress the wheel and give it a run.
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