All I Want for Christmas is a Surface Grinder - New Machine Day!

[@outsidescrewball]

Congrats!! Tips…have the cloth wet, prevents fire and HOLDS grinding dust….get flood coolant NOW…this controls the grinding dust and of course heat, you will need splash guards for the coolant.

[@charleskeller4288]

+1 on flood over mist! i am not current on best additive for the water, but that ingredient is important too,

[@pauldevey8628]

Merry Christmas! Man your videos do not accurately represent how small and packed your shop is. You are an organized man with magic videography skills.

[@VagiPeti]

Totally agree on that!

[@neildarlow]

He actually works in a Tardis! 😆

[@edo8697]

Congratulations! Grinding is my favorite operation, you will love it. Grinding dust is my least favorite- it will get on every machine way and surface in your shop and house, more importantly your lungs, and the lungs of your loved ones. I hope you invest in a good dust collector with heppa filter soon, it will be the best add on to your grinder you will ever get. I strongly recommend a good filter mask for the operator even with the collector working. A spray mist or flood coolant will not prevent this problem.

[@fakerfake1]

Congrats on the new grinder! As a former tool and die maker, make sure to grind your mag chuck in after the machine has settled (typically 3-6 months).

[@tonyray91]

Good advice and by that time James will have gained the feel needed to do it correctly.

[@Joebobasshole]

Yep she’s fake friend real drug dealer

[@russnixon6020]

James, the googly eyes make the ambience of the machine pop. Congrats on the new tool.

[@RichardBetel]

I've got a story from the early days of RIM (aka BlackBerry), that seems relevant. When we bought our first large UPS, the batteries were 2 boxes, each about the size of a small hatchback. The shippers kept calling and asking if we had a loading dock, and we kept saying no. They showed up with the batteries loaded on a truck with a 1-ton liftgate, but the batteries were 2 tons each. The truck driver asked where our loading dock was... In the end, they brought a second truck, also with a 1-ton liftgate, and put the trucks back-to-back, and tried to lower them together. One of them gave out, then the other, then the battery rolled off the gates because they didnt remove the lift trucks, the battery fell over on its side and was trashed, one of the delivery drivers went to the hospital because something smashed his knee, and the fire-department was there for about 4 hours because the front entrance to the building was covered in battery acid and the broken batteries welded themselves to the frame. Batteries were shipped at like 1/3-charge because if they were fully discharged, bad things could happen and they wouldnt hold a charge properly after that... So the fire department had 2 men dressed in the heaviest rubber suits you've ever seen dismantling the 1000V DC battery stack leaking concentrated sulfuric acid in front of our head office for most of a day... Honestly, I dont know all the fall-out. I know the shipper lost a few contracts, a driver got workers comp for at least 6 months, and the shippers got the mother of all OH&S (aka Canadian OSHA) audits. We had video of the cleanup that was used in training new hires in the team that designed battery systems for blackberries. So yeah, patience is the most important thing. Apparently, the shippers had a truck with a 5-ton lift gate, but it would have taken several hours to get it on site and they didnt want to wait.We were assured they "did this all the time. it'll be fine!"

[@AJMansfield1]

14:00 I like the choice to go with a phase analyzer; seems like a robust solution that'll easily accommodate any future changes (and prevent one failure from cascading into multiple). I'd be tempted, though, as a matter of convenience, to just add an extra connector each to the phase converter and grinder to connect their control systems together and make the phase converter start automatically when turning the grinder on. The phase converter itself even already has its "potential relay" that switches off the contractor for the start capacitors when the motor is up to speed, so not only could you have the grinder's start button trigger the phase converter to start, you could also feed this "power good" signal back to ensure the spindle motor is still sequenced after the phase converter motor.

[@akfarmboy49]

Thank you for explaining where to put the wild leg and phase safety switch

[@eddiekulp1241]

I operated a 18× 48 " Mattison surface grinder for years . Have fun

[@jesseskellington9427]

Thanks so much for showing all the trials and tribulations that you experienced I really appreciate it 😊

[@roylucas1027]

Lucky guy. Nothing is more exciting than a new tool in the shop. All good in 2023.

[@fladder1]

Congratulations! Love the googly eyes. And nice timing, mrCrispin released some great videos on grinding last week. Can highly recommend.

[@stephenjohnson6841]

Congratulations on the new machine! Thanks for sharing!

[@johnfriend240]

Also present when Stan's grinder motor toasted at the 2021 Bash. The 240 volt feeding my RPC goes through a disconnect switch. If RPC is not on, there is no voltage on any of the three lines, thus cannot repeat Stan's problem. At work, most of our products utilized single and three phase monitors at customer's request. Relay base ought to be much tighter on the DIN rail than it is.

[@bostedtap8399]

3rd time lucky, congratulations on new addition to the shop 👍. Very nice machine 👌. Thanks for sharing

[@robertmason8341]

Making and breaking alliances like socks in the dryer!!! Interesting little saying, never heard that one before, but I like it👍🏻

[@johnlennon335]

I've moved some machines. I would have completely strapped that machine to the pallet. Also when using a pallet jack, strap it down securely to the jack.

[@DudleyToolwright]

If you don't use flood coolant, wear a respirator, especially when you are dressing the wheel. Grinding generates a ton of very fine particulates.

[@GrahamHomes]

A quick smear of tallow on the finish cut really lifts the finish. As pointed out below dressing makes a huge difference ... an old rounded diamond passed slowly will really close up the wheel. The old guy who taught me would sweep his ( trailing ) finger very lightly over the running wheel to dislodge loose grits and gauge the quality of the dressing........You will not be shown that nowadays. You will need coolant if you chase accuracy. The wheel and the work heat up in the cut. On large work piece you will be cutting more as you proceed across the work. This particularly true when dressing the mag table.

[@maxcactus7]

James gets a grinder delivered for Christmas and I'm excited like it showed up in my garage! Can't wait to see it being used in future videos.

[@evbunke2]

I really appreciate the detail of looking into the circuit diagrams and control cabinet. That kind of depth is what makes your videos great.

[@wileecoyoti]

Congrats on the new machine! Surface grinder has turned out to be one of my favorite machines, I suspect it will be for you too.

[@GT40Nut]

Congrats getting a surface grinder. I don't use mine a lot but there is the whole "right tool for the job thing." I'm hoping you make a wheel balancer, as one of your first projects.

[@Clough42]

It's on my list.

[@tonyray91]

Go on James make it a dynamic balancer they’re really cool.

[@melgross]

While I have no problem with using DIN rails, as I use them myself, and large equipment I bought for my own company that was built in Europe had them, there is one thing I’m seeing here that I don’t like. Nothing I’ve used has been as loose in the rail as the socket you’ve put in. Rails really should be horizontal, not vertical. Still, I’ve occasionally seen them installed that way, but that gives much less support as the latches are designed for horizontal rails. I like using a fiberglass filter on the shield as the garbage is collected in the fibers. McMastercarr sells boxes of paint filters which I use as well as for my powder coat spray booth I built. They are frameless as so can be cut to whatever size you want. Very effective.

[@joemcgarry1106]

Congrats on your latest acquisition, I retired from a lifetime in the tool room. The surface grinders were my go-to machines.There is so much more you can do with one besides flattening work. good luck with it. I am sure you will learn fast, and conquer your new system. We are all looking forward to it.

[@MrRctintin]

I’d love to know what else can be done on one. I understand making parts square, parallel etc, but other that grinding surfaces flat, what else can they be used for?

[@1pcfred]

I had a boss that removed metal splinters with a surface grinder. Henry was a real animal.

[@ThePottingShedWorkshop]

Speaking as someone who has a vintage manual surface grinder, I predict it wont be long before you're wishing the side to side on the table had a power feed! Looks like there's a dust collecting nozzle on the left side of the spindle... I'd connect it up to a shop vac at minimum (I use an extractor that was designed for extracting woodturning chips, so it provides a large extraction rate). A very nice machine, congratulations!

[@JTL1313]

You should wet the yellow cloth when using the machine. Wetting the cloth does two things. One it protects the cloth from burning up and keeps the paint behind it from being damaged. Two it keeps the dust down and minimizes the dust on the rest of your equipment. Looks great.

[@jeremylastname873]

What a great delivery person! Job well done!

[@maikeydii]

Regarding the thoughts about the surface finish on the test part, a 0200mm wheel is at the lower end of wheel diameters where wheel balancing will begin to take effect on the surface finish.

[@designandbuild3953]

Hey buddy, new subscriber here, binge watching your whole library on my holiday vacation. Love it all!! I'm leaving a comment to tell you, your decorative background lighting game is on point! Probably something no one ever comments on, but I know you're a detail guy, and I want to give you props on that detail you do, it makes a difference! Thank you for all your value added content, the world is, indeed, a better place for it.

[@michaellazarowicz5421]

Happy new years James. I enjoyed your story about the shipping of the surface grinder. I learned that lesson about arranging my own shipping on Ebay a while ago and never take on the shipping responsibility id I can help. I recently upgraded my Lathe to the VFD conversion you chronicled on your channel. As you know , the motor you used is no longer available (supply chain) and I went with the replacement the vendors now offer. Basically Identical and fit with some very minor mods. The problem is that motor is in short supply and all the vendors have it on back order. Zorro tools had one on sale but canceled my order 4 days after I placed it. (supply chain). I found one on Granger, a hundred bucks more but I was desperate. I order and had it sent to the closest Granger near me 40 miles. when I went to pick it up the motor looked like you first grinder. the mounts were completely broken off. They had another one sent for the next day, and I Asked if they could check it before I drove another 80 miles round trip. They called the next day and number two was also damaged. I offered to buy it at a reduced price, but they could not do it. The manager called and said they were sorry and would have the last one they had in the US (supply chain), shipped to my house free. They made a mistake and shipped it to the branch 40 miles away. This time they called and said it was OK. I drove to pick it up to avaid any further possible damage. This is the world we live in for now. Not cheep but at least I have a variable speed lathe. Next stop trying to get the ELS installed. Mike

[@squelchstuff]

What a tortuous journey you've had getting a surface grinder, but seeing the care taken during delivery must make it all worthwhile. Interesting gotcha on the interlock too. Thumbs up for the googly eyes, and happy Christmas to you and Mrs Clough42 James.

[@candynevadacinnamon5527]

Just fyi, get two DIN rail end stops to hold the phase monitor more securely. The are usually plastic or metal. However, you might need to use a slightly longer piece of DIN rail.

[@907jl]

Congrats James! Newbie grinder here as well ( Harig Super 612 ). Highly recommend the mist cooler( I'm running a Kool Mist and their Formula 77 and very happy. Big Improvement over dry ) Wait a while and get your poop in a group before you tackle grinding your chuck. DAMHIK! A porous ceramic 46H is a good general purpose wheel. Your Acra looks like it's loosely based on a Harig type design, and they ( Acra ) seem to me one of the top Taiwan imports. Bet it will serve you well! I know you're going to to square away that wiring loom once you get the proper safety device from American Rotary. It'll drive you nuts if you don't! 🙂

[@joselrodriguez5999]

Great addition to your shop. Grinding the top of the magnetic vise is a must for the kind of accuracy I know you like.

[@vincei4252]

Wow, thanks for the warning about the shipping scam from the first seller. I'll be keeping an eye out for that trick. That said, congrats on the new surface grinder! I have a 60? year old Brown & Sharp 510 on a palette in my garage with all it's original paperwork and the sales invoice - one previous owner who was a guy that had it in his home shop. [edit] Yep, getting it off the palette is gonna be interesting. If I'd known I would have asked my neighbor who brought a fork lift over to take it off the palette.

[@DudleyToolwright]

I almost got an ACRA myself. like my lathe and my mill, but I decided that a z-axis adjust on the column was too annoying, so I opted for the ACER. Congrats. Having a surface grinder opens up all kinds of options you might not have thought of. Steve over at solid rock is a surface grinding magician and he helped me immensely.

[@Clough42]

Thanks for all the tips. I've been watching Steve's videos this week. Pretty amazing stuff.

[@eriklesta32]

I’m pretty sure those boxes connected to the contactors are thermal relays (or however the are called in english). Their only purpose is to protect the motors against over current and running at 2 phase. Its really rare to find a motor without one of those.

[@bobuk5722]

Hi James, first happy Christmas! That control relay socket should have come with a spring clip to hold the relay securely. Normally there are a couple of indents either side of the socket to take the turned in spring clip legs. These sockets are a very good way of installing a relay, if the relay ever does fail they are very easy and quick to change out. I've made extensive use of them for interlocks. Whilst waiting for the 'right' relay I suggest putting a stick it note on the control box - "Turn on convertor first" - I would need that myself! Congratulations on the machine purchase and I'm sure we all look forward to seeing it in use.

[@jeffanderson4979]

Good for you. You’ll love it

[@bernardwill7196]

I wish you and your family Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[@TyroneDamShewlaces]

I say screw the muscle memory thing. CNC that longitudinal feed. One axis with a speed ramp up & down at the end of strokes for smooth operation. You could sell the one-axis controller like the e-leadscrew project. I guess you could get fancy and CNC both axes, but the longitudinal would be a MAJOR labor saver.

[@brandontscheschlog]

Thanks James for the info on the phase monitor. American Rotary salesman should be telling telling customers they need one of these. You either discover you need it by attempting to start a 3 phase motor without the phase converter or you find out about it after you purchase one and then the salesman try’s to tell you that you need a different phase converter that costs more money. Ask me how I know!

[@tonyhunt1230]

Love the hand spin start for balance of the wheel. You were taught well. Nothing like the smell of paint and oil of a new machine. Congrats James !

[@brandonshudy789]

My grandpa made the first Hermann Schmidt vise with the rounded nut I think he still has it! As well as a few of there test Indicator stands! It makes me so happy to see you using there products! I cut my teeth in shops that made stuff for them!

[@KevinBrowder]

DIN rails are great, tons of stuff slots in and you can print clips for non standard things; wish they were more common in the US.

[@dangallmeyer5118]

Congrats James. Surface finish will improve with a softer wheel and a fine, light dress, as you mentioned.

[@clarkmaq]

Congratulations !!! What a Xmass !!! I hope the grinder brings lots of joy and new projects for you. A new machine in the shop is always welcome.....enjoy!!!

[@randyshoquist7726]

I occasionally forget to turn on my RPC before switching on the mill, but I hear that distinctive 1-phase hum before my hand leaves the switch, so it goes for less than a second. I'm sure it takes much longer than that to do any overheating damage. Anyway, so far so good. 30 years now. BTW: Googly eyes? I suppose with a smiling rotation arrow it was an obvious upgrade.

[@JCS1069]

New shop soon you have filled that one up.

[@chronokoks]

4:10 that's not sketchy looking at all. It's just your nerves playing tricks on you :D But it's easy to understand why.

[@grizzlyrideemwet1698]

James, Enjoying your channel. Since your phase converter leaves the incoming legs live even when off, I would suggest putting your trip relay on the primary side of the transformer, just to eliminate the parasitic loss in the transformer when you're not using the machine. Obviously you'd lose the ability to switch on the light w/o the phase converter, which may be more important to you.

[@coplandjason]

Congratulations! I recently collected an Elliott 8x20 SG, that weighs in at just under 2000lbs, it took a lot of effort and some ingenuity to get it onto a pallet for transport. It's still on the pallet and I need to lift it off. I'm not looking forward to doing that, I know from experience with my milling machine it's hard work and easy to get it very wrong

[@justinhillpac]

I love new machine days! That’s so awesome it finally made it safely. Those googly eyes tho. . 😂 Merry Christmas!

[@bpoweski]

I thoroughly appreciate the details on the wiring and power design. Your VFD video (plus my university computer engineering courses) gave me the confidence to replace the motor and electronics of my 3 phase Leinen MLZ4S. Great content!

[@SolidRockMachineShopInc]

Hi James, The finish may be better if you never turn the wheel off after dressing. The torque of the wheel starting again can cause it to shift a little from true causing a finish like you had. Also, flood coolant can be cheap. A subscriber of mine recommended a fountain pump which was cheap and I bought a tank on sale from MSC form about $100. I have been using it now for many years. You can also get a 25 Micron filter bag form MSC and place it in the return line to filter the coolant.

[@1pcfred]

Yeah we pretty much didn't turn grinders off all day. If you're running a machine then you're running it.

[@joernd8449]

The only grinder in our shop you can shut off and restart without redressing the wheel is our big wet grinder with a 16 inch wheel that you spend about half an hour balancing.

[@1pcfred]

@@joernd8449 I doubt our wheel dressing experience was typical for the trade. I worked for a company that had a machine shop and sold industrial diamonds too. From what I was told the only thing that kept that business afloat was the profits from selling diamonds and the shop operated at a loss. From what I saw I have no problem believing that was the case. But we did have some really nice grinders. Our big wet grinder was a 4 footer. The table ran on tracks on the floor. I never got too close to that machine because the guy that ran it didn't let anyone near it. He was a little squirrely. I guess everyone in that shop was kinda off their beam. It was a regular nuthouse. Good times.

[@cschwad559]

My second favorite machine in the shop is my harig 612. It works beautifully and gives mirror like finishes.

[@irkedoff]

Congratulations on the new machine! Happy holidays to your family.

[@alankeith7866]

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!!!

[@TheQuantumFire]

This would be a great future project to convert into a CNC grinder.

[@mith5168]

Thanks James, Congratulations on your new toy…look forward to your methodical learning curve, and the sharing of the experience. I recently saw a video from Mr. Crispin regarding grinding concepts, and his explanation of the process was an eye opener for me… just an FYI. Merry Christmas.

[@Clough42]

Yeah, I saw that. Lots of studying to do.

[@hororr4409]

Check the magnetic table for curvature, it may be necessary to regrind the table and make it parallel to the spindle

[@scrout]

Hell, you know you could deadlift that thing 💪

[@seabreezecoffeeroasters7994]

Congrats on the final toy arrival and Merry Christmas and all the best for the upcoming year :)

[@usearsive]

Congratulations for new machine and happy New year to you

[@rogerbehrens4879]

So envious. Merry Christmas James from Australia

[@orangetruckman]

I’m baffled with how low your subscriber number is 🤯 how you don’t have over a million, I just don’t understand 🤷🏼‍♂️ Glad you got the grinder. Can’t wait to see the projects you’ve need the grinder for!

[@stephencox4224]

Trick with any machine but especially surface grinders if you want perfection is to run the machine up to operating temperature before cutting any metal, This was taught to me by the man who invented childproof caps for food and drink containers who ran a one man shop that as far back as the late seventies actually had a bank overdraft of $200,000 Aud a month which shows just how valuable his abilities were considered by the big corporations that used his expertise Branco was a master in every way

[@johncooper4637]

I picked up a Harig 612 at auction for $300. Works great.

[@1pcfred]

I've run a manual surface grinder. It does take some practice. I had to laugh when you were touching off with the wheel. Usually you just feed down while you're traversing. We never used vises. We just put work right on the chuck. You really have to traverse pretty fast. Then do your step overs a little at a time.

[@Clough42]

A vise or a block is pretty handy for squaring.

[@andarthome142]

Merry Christmas, love to see it all went smoot this time. Thanks for all the content in 2022👍😎

[@gwharton68]

Merry Christmas to you and your family. I can see the next project coming, a larger workshop.

[@ocs748]

Congratulations for the machine. Balancing the grinding wheel will improve the finish by eliminating vibrations.

[@anmafab]

Congrats on the SG! It's in good hands

[@adamalterman6657]

I like the Googly eyes

[@RRINTHESHOP]

Merry Christmas, very nice.

[@reinierwelgemoed8171]

Awesome! I am so glad you got your surface grinder. I literally watched your video yesterday where you went over to a fellow utuber to use his surface grinder and you made a comment saying that you need to get your own surface grinder. Merry Christmas.

[@TERRYB0688]

James nice explanation of the electrics, every days a school day, Merry Christmas to you and more videos in 2023 , Terry from Scotland 👍👴🏻

[@helicopterdriver]

I have an old Boyar Schultz 6 x 12 with dust collector. Never used it. It's probably the heaviest machine I've moved out of all I have. It's 3 phase and I've never bothered to connect all the stuff to make it run. I don't need to grind anything obviously. Hand grinding takes a bit of practice... you'll get there pretty quick.

[@NottinghamshireNick]

Happy Christmas to you James. Lovely new ‘toy’ - I’m more than a little green with envy (not grinch-iness). Love your content - look forward to whatever you have up your sleeve for us in the coming year. Hope you have a happy and healthy 2023.

[@nf4x]

The googly eyes really make the installation. :)

[@GBWM_CNC]

That's a great machine. Wish to have one someday too. Have fun using it 😁

[@joell439]

Merry Christmas James 🎄. Thanks for yet another subject I’m very interested in and know virtually nothing about 😜. Time to start reading the comments as so many of your viewers are willing to share and accelerate all of our ability to learn. (Just need to sift through and past the snarky ones 😂)

[@mlefe09]

Hey, nice lighting you’ve shown at the end ;)

[@cletusberkeley9441]

Holy crap!!! He finally did it, nice machine! Merry Christmas!

[@ar-mory]

Great channel. Awesome content. Rotary converters are superb. For rhe spindle motors I reccomend an inexpensive VFD. Sure there is a little more wiring but in my less than humble opinion the advantages of a VFD outweigh the minor hassle. Keep up the great work.

[@DudleyToolwright]

When you fist get a grinder here are the things Steve recommended: Before you put on the vise you grind the bed (I skipped this and the next step because I was too new to trust grinding the bed), then you mount the mag vise and grind the surface and rear fence. You should plunge grind the rear fence. Then to see if you have done the job correctly, you grind 5 pieces of material - one in each corner and one in the middle. Measure the thicknesses and they should be identical to each other to within whatever flatness you are going for - like 0.00005". You need to make final passes with very little material removed (0.0001" to a spring pass) AND coolant to prevent the vise from heating and moving into the grinding wheel. I hope this helps.

[@davidlong3521]

My experience with my manual grinder and coolant.kool Mist, corrosion problems. Unist mister, ok. Flood with Tri Cool TC 1, the best. Use a 5 gal bucket with pump from Master, 3/8" hoses and 3/8" auto online filter.

[@624Dudley]

Merry Christmas, James! Congratulations on the new, googly-eyed arrival. 👍

[@tooltimechris7217]

Merry Christmas! Awesome addition to the shop!

[@sharkrivermachine]

Congratulations on the new machine. I use the mist coolant system on my surface grinder, it works great but I do end up with mist in the air after long grinding projects. I am working on a pressurized system rather than the syphon system currently used. This should help to keep the airborne mist down. Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas.

[@adamhunt8522]

Merry Christmas!!! Really enjoy the content and have found many of your videos helpful.

[@billbaden742]

Surface grinders are the bomb!

[@yellowcrescent]

Nice looking new machine. The phase status relay was a good idea, wouldn't have thought of that, but makes sense. Those DIN 8-pin/11-pin sockets are pretty common on bigger and specialty relays (like Omron timer relays or AB pilot-duty relays). Also, I always pictured your shop as a spacious 3 car garage -- I guess it goes to show that no matter how much space you have, you can always find more things to fill it up. lol. my single car tiny garage is absolutely packed full.

[@Clough42]

I've got a 3-car garage to work with, and one bay is taken up by the gym, so it's pretty tight.

[@americaisnowafrica8315]

The installed motor overloads should be setup to protect the motors from drawing too much current when single phasing.

[@Clough42]

Oh, interesting. I saw they were there, but didn't know they could do that. More learning...

[@chrisnorth3458]

or power the transformer from the rotary phase converters control

[@HexenzirkelZuluhed]

What a nice christmas gift for yourself! And for us viewers, too. Though: I'm running out of space, keeping up is becoming a problem...

[@dom1310df]

I'm pretty sure that the seller asking you to contact them outside of eBay to arrange shipping is against eBay's TOS. You are supposed to do everything through eBay, or none of it.

[@erik_dk842]

Yeah. James should have reported him to eBay right there

[@shawnwilson9812]

I’m a big believer in flood coolant for grinders.

[@michaeljuan98]

Congrats on the grinder. I just got a surface grinder myself and it tipped over in my van but it seems to be fine fingers crossed

[@el_kibitzer]

I saw your video on Rotary Phase Converter and I wonder why you didn't prefer to incorporate the Phase Monitor Circuit with a relay in the converter box where you had plenty of space. It seemed to me a more logical choice to have the monitored three -phase socket available in general for any machine in the workshop. Thanks for your wonderful tutorials.

[@Clough42]

That's an option I considered. I would need an additional contactor.