[waltpermenter]

Yes it seems to be my mistake, but maybe you should contemplate why he would consider it necessary to edit your post.

Phil

perhaps you should contemplate why he completely removed your and rays posts or hadn't you noticed that either.
walt

[shred]

I was in one of Tormachs other betas. They intentionally had a wide range of experiences and user-types in it to get the best possible coverage.

After all if say the manual doesn't say which way the wheel is supposed to turn, who is more likely to catch it, the guy that's never used a SG and doesn't know or the dude with thousands of hours on one that will fire it up and say "looks to be working ok". On the other hand if it doesn't do something critical for say injection mold ejector pins, then the old-hand is the right tester...

[JRouche]

Hey folks. Do a service to the guys that are reading this thread and stop the personal insults and improper postings. Keep it pointed at the topic and not each other. No reason to have this topic get locked due to a couple folks inability to be civil. Thanks, JR

[ger21]

These same 4-5 members have shown repeatedly that they can't be civil. Back to instant ban mode.

[waltpermenter]

I was in one of Tormachs other betas. They intentionally had a wide range of experiences and user-types in it to get the best possible coverage.

After all if say the manual doesn't say which way the wheel is supposed to turn, who is more likely to catch it, the guy that's never used a SG and doesn't know or the dude with thousands of hours on one that will fire it up and say "looks to be working ok". On the other hand if it doesn't do something critical for say injection mold ejector pins, then the old-hand is the right tester...

That's good to hear, are you the former or the latter as per SG experience, any critiques to offer on it?
walt

[shred]

That's good to hear, are you the former or the latter as per SG experience, any critiques to offer on it?
walt

Sorry, I'm not on the SG beta (although when cranking away on the old manual Harig, sometimes I wish I was). The one I did was before that.

[brian257]

I have the KBC manual version of that machine. The biggest problem I have had with it was when I tried to resurface the magnetic chuck that is a lot of area to grind and takes forever. Where it really became a problem was in the fact that you need to go almost to the ends of the travel on the X axis and if you go a bit too far and hit the stop it shifts something a bit and you need to start over again. I don't really understand how hitting the stop shifts anything, but you can tell it did when you go from a light grinding to a much deeper grind with lots more sparks. Also seems sometimes when feeding the Y axis one direction, then reversing and taking a cut the other direction that there is a shift in depth of cut.

Can anyone offer any advice on this?

[keebler303]

well if that is the purpose then why would they give one to a guy who admits he has no experience with a surface grinder, how would he know what works and what doesn't to give them feedback? and why give one to a guy that makes so many videos and posts them on youtube right out of the box and says will post more? if what you say is true then steve would be the better candidate, no?
walt

I agree fully they should do that. I'd be a better candidate too. My point was that you don't hear much feedback probably because tormach doesn't want you to hear it.

Matt

[BAMCNC.COM]

Develop a non-ferrous surface grinder and I'm buying one!

[Steve Seebold]

Develop a non-ferrous surface grinder and I'm buying one!

You can grind non-ferrous material on the Tormach Surface Grinder. All you need to do is put a generous coat of oil on the surface to be ground and use a 46 grit wheel. I like the A.P. Desano H hard wheels.

If you don't use oil, the wheel will just load up and generate a tremendous amount if heat. I have ground aluminum, magnesium and brass by just using some oil. Cutting oil works just fine, but you need to reapply it after each pass.

I've only been doing this for about 55 years, so I think I have a pretty good idea what I'm talking about.

[BAMCNC.COM]

lol, I meant a nonferrous magnet chuck

[Steve Seebold]

lol, I meant a nonferrous magnet chuck

That ain't gonna happen. When I had to grind aluminum, I would either use double back tape is make a tool out of steel using something like Mitee Bites to hold the part.

[Methylethylketo]

I think my one major gripe about the grinder is that it doesn't have coolant, or the ability to add coolant as an option. Grinding tends to put a lot of heat into the workpiece, half the spindle HP or more gets turned into heat in the piece. When you're taking a fairly heavy cut with the grinder, that heating can cause the part to grow enough to re-engage the wheel. This in turn causes more heat, and before you know it you're 2-3 thou undersize. Coolant provides a really huge thermal mass for the heat to move to, which means the part, machine, and shop are all more or less the same temp throughout the grinding operation. When you're trying to hold tolerance to tenths, that's important. Going from 68 degrees (the average room temp for 95% of shops) to 100 degrees will grow a 2" part almost 1 thou, enough to be really noticeable on the grinder when you're trying to spark out the part.

If you're taking super light passes, or just want parts flat, this thing will work out pretty nice, but if you grinding stuff where tenths count, the lack of coolant may make it a bit of a pain.

[brian257]

That brings up a question I have been wondering about. I have this same surface grinder (from KBC) in the non-CNC version and big parts can get hot. I the shop I worked in years ago we had coolant and used it on bigger parts. Would a cold air gun be as effective as coolant?

[Methylethylketo]

That brings up a question I have been wondering about. I have this same surface grinder (from KBC) in the non-CNC version and big parts can get hot. I the shop I worked in years ago we had coolant and used it on bigger parts. Would a cold air gun be as effective as coolant?

Kinda? The problem you run into pretty quick is a regular fan that blows air on it would need to be really big and blow a lot of air to cool it, and compressed air as it expands gets colder, which can actually cause the part to shrink as it cools below 68 f. Coolant has really good thermal characteristics for thermal capacity and heat transfer via conduction, and certain coolants can improve surface finish on parts dramatically. There is a reason the bigger fancy grinders use it so much.

I suppose with some sheet metal, silicon sealant, and a small aquarium pump you could convert one of the units to have coolant capability, but that would end up making the machine look kinda dumb.

Or just keep a bucket of coolant near the grinder, cut the thing one thou oversize, and after sparkout, dump it in the bucket for 10 minutes then toss it back on the grinder. That will insure you don't ever accidentally grind it too much undersize.