B&S universal versus Elliott surface grinder?

[Steve Marquess]

Ok, I'm a rank newbie who bought a severely abused Elliott 10x20 surface grinder a couple of years ago sight unseen for scrap price. Darned if I wasn't able to get it to actually work without too much grief or expense, including the Walker mag chuck, and it's now my second favorite toy (after the Moore #2 jig bore :-).

Just a few miles from my house a Brown & Sharpe #1A cylindrical universal grinder is destined for the scrapyard (see http://cgi.ebay.com/Brown-Sharp-Uni...ryZ12580QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem).
I went to see this, it would need some TLC but looks less abused than the Elliott was.

The question: I don't have room for both, long term. The B&S looks to have about a 10x20 work area, and the wheelhead mounts a 12" wheel, same as the Elliott. Assuming it works, would it take the place of the Elliott for surface grinding in addition to the cylindrical grinding? I've cranked the wheel on the Elliott way up, a couple of feet off the chuck. Will the B&S wheelhead go up as high? The reciprocating and stepping controls on the B&S look to be far more sophisticated than on the Elliott traverse (X) feed and cross (Z) stepping. Will I be sorry if I strip the mag chuck off the Elliot and sacrifice it for the B&S 1A?

Any thoughts appreciated...

 

[johnoder]

Any thoughts appreciated...

One's a surface grinder and one is not. I.E., intended for differing functions.

The B&S by the way is quite modern.

 

[Steve Marquess]

One's a surface grinder and one is not. I.E., intended for differing functions.

Granted, but given I can only have one I was wondering if turning the wheelhead 90degrees would give me a kinda-sorta substitute for the real surface grinder. My reasoning is that it's the same work envelope, in the horizontal plane anyway, and the B&S appears to be able to do the same automatic table traversal. I'd really like to be able to grind tapered shafts, something the surface grinder isn't good at, at least in my hands. Would I still be able to surface grind the occasional flat piece? I assume the wheelhead won't go nearly as high in the Y axis, a tradeoff I could live with if it was the major one.

The B&S by the way is quite modern.

It supposedly came from a nearby production facility, so was recently in service. But the electrics looked fairly old, dull bakelite finish on the contactors for example instead of the more modern glossy black plastic I'd expect on something only a decade or two old. I was guessing late 70s.

I couldn't find much online for the 1A, though it does look superficially a lot like a 1020U or 1024U for which I could find more info. What is the differnce between the 1A and a 1020U/1024U?

 

[HelicalCut]

While I have not used a B&S universal grinder, the other cylindrical grinders that I have used have much slower table feed than a surface grinder.