AH!! No mag chuck. Well then! You are going to want the procedure for
"grinding in" a new mag chuck, Alan. Here's the deal: it HAS to be
done with full flood coolant. So you are going to need a pond pump,
a bucket, some tubing, and some coolant fluid. Then you clean the
place where the chuck goes so it's CLEAN. Then you lightly bolt the
chuck on upside down, turn on the coolant, and grind until it comes
clean everywhere. Then you remove the chuck, again CLEAN, install the
chuck right side up to correct torque, dialing in the sides so they
are dead parallel, then again turn on the coolant and grind clean. You
don't want a mirror finish, just a commercial grind finish. This should
be done by about a 46 grit stone dressed so it is as open as possible.

It took me about 4 hours to grind in my 6x12" chuck. You *might* want
to do your CNC thing first. Oh, and when you do the CNC thing, you
might also consider automating just the X and Y feeds, and do the
downfeeds manually. You can get into a lot of trouble downfeeding!
That's what the big hydraulic grinders I've run are like.

Grant

To email me see http://www.tinyisland.com/email.html

Alan Rothenbush wrote:

Grant;

Thanks for the thoughts, I'll take them all to heart, especially the one
about a glazed wheel. Hadn't thought about that.

(Or about the extra "blocking" piece .. or the DTI .. or the ... )

I understand about the depth of cut.

In fact, I plan to "CNC" this machine, largely for this reason. Twenty
thou, 1/10 at a time, is less onerous if the machine is doing the work.
(And being an electronics guy, I can't resist)

I'm thinking about a stepper on the "Y" and "Z", with a DC servo on the "X".
A VERY simple program composed of variables and loops and I'm done. I'll
probably do this with a microcontroller and a small LCD, as I'm VERY short
on space, I'm pretty good with micros and mostly, I have a bunch around
from previous projects.

The good news is that I'm never more than 10 feet away, so any "funny
noises" should be quickly captured.

( I wonder, maybe an accurate tach on the spindle or an accurate ammeter in
the motor circuit .. surely, if the wheel started to load up, the spindle
would slow OR the motor current would rise. Either event could then
trigger an EStop ... )

Anyway, thanks again. I will read everything I can get my hands on, but
there's nothing like experience to tell you what chapters to read twice !

Now, to find a mag chuck at an affordable price ...

Alan

Grant Erwin wrote:


I suggest you look it over carefully, maybe clean the machine, level
it, and figure out how to lube it. Then figure out how to change wheels.
A word of caution: many little grinders have a left hand thread on the
flange on the wheel adapter. If you're lucky, it will use Sopko adapters
and if you're real lucky, it will have the Sopko wrench. Get in the habit
of trying to tighten things as little as possible. You don't want the
wheel to spin on you but you don't need to crush it.