Questions about Blanchard grinding

[Garwood]

So I bought an old 18-36 Blanchard today.

I can get it loaded, but I need to Unload it using some exciting combined forklift and crane action.

Does anyone know how to lift a Blanchard with a crane?

I'm also very interested in learning how to tram the spindle and hearing any Blanchard tips and tricks.

Thanks!

 

[Milland]

What's the weight of the machine and the capacity of your FL and crane? Any lift eye holes on the top of the column? And presumably you've got some beefy toe jacks?

 

[Garwood]

Book says 13,300, but it might weigh 15k-16k lbs with all the shit in the tank.. My forklift is pretty happy with 12K @ 36" on the forks. The crane can handle 10k lbs at the distance the machine will be at to unload it from the trailer.

 

[Milland]

Book says 13,300, but it might weigh 15k-16k lbs with all the shit in the tank.. My forklift is pretty happy with 12K @ 36" on the forks. The crane can handle 10k lbs at the distance the machine will be at to unload it from the trailer.

Well, the spindle assembly is close to 1,500 or so on it's own, right? If you get desperate, maybe remove it and then see if it's safe to FL off the pallet. I think I've read they come off "relatively" easily, and you could give it a check while it was off.

My thinking on the toe jacks was if you didn't have enough clearance to get the FL under the machine you could block it up a bit. Might be good for setting it into its final spot too.

 

[Garwood]

Well, the spindle assembly is close to 1,500 or so on it's own, right? If you get desperate, maybe remove it and then see if it's safe to FL off the pallet. I think I've read they come off "relatively" easily, and you could give it a check while it was off.

My thinking on the toe jacks was if you didn't have enough clearance to get the FL under the machine you could block it up a bit. Might be good for setting it into its final spot too.

Im good on jacks and skates and bars and you-name-its for rigging. I just don't want to pay $1000 for landoll hauling when I can do it with a little help from friends.

I've become anti- take machines apart to move them. I find I somehow lose 2 months of my life and spend a small fortune on stuff I never would have known the machine needed had I not taken it apart. I'm more interested in grinding stuff with the Blanchard than restoring a Blanchard lol. If it needs fixing I fix it, but I'd like to move it in one piece, level it up, wire it up, clean out the sump, fill it up with coolant and grind a shitload of parts.

 

[Milland]

Heh, I get what you're saying.

Stay safe...

 

[Richard King]

I bought one just like that years ago at an auction in a small town in Iowa. I sent a machinery mover down here to lift it onto the truck. He took a 15,000 pound fork lift and it would not lift it. As Garwood said the tank under the chuck was filled with grit and iron. (had to use a jackhammer to get it out) He had to call the local lumber yard with a 10,000 pound truck and they had to lift it up from each side and back the truck backward and under it so they could lower it down, must have been scary. I would go and look in the tank and send a 25,000 pound fork lift or bigger crane. I will have to check on how to lift it with a crane.

I would call Bourn & Koch and buy a manual and ask them how to unload it. The manual should tell you how and how to align the 3 leveling head screws to align the wheel.

Blanchard Surface Grinder Parts, Service, Rebuild & Support

Blanchard Surface Grinder repair parts, service, support, and rebuild. OEM support for your Blanchard by Bourn & Koch. American-Made Machine Tool Support.

www.bourn-koch.com

 

[Garwood]

I'll have to drive down and pick up the books.

What does it entail to pull the motor/column if I had to?

 

[michiganbuck]

Here is a pretty good tram video..I have seen guys fight this because they did not check the table for being flat first.
Some Blanchard are deliberately set out of tram, at a dish for grinding mill cutter faces at a dish (lower ar the face center).

 

[Richard King]

The machine I owned was very old and the head had a motor built inside it. I had to buy the spindle bearing from an surplus vintage bearing company. It had been reconditioned because it was so old.

 

[Garwood]

Here is a pretty good tram video..I have seen guys fight this because they did not check the table for being flat first.
Some Blanchard are deliberately set out of tram, at a dish for grinding mill cutter faces at a dish (lower ar the face center).

Great video! Thanks for posting that!

 

[CarbideBob]

I had one of my GMI students do his fifth year paper on aligning a Blanchard.
Above video is somewhat on. BUT once you adjust you get a whole new reference plane when you grind the chuck.

18-36, nice. Why and what use?

 

[Garwood]

I had one of my GMI students do his fifth year paper on aligning a Blanchard.
Above video is somewhat on. BUT once you adjust you get a whole new reference plane when you grind the chuck.

18-36, nice. Why and what use?

I would imagine it's not terribly difficult to get it cutting within a couple thou, but it probably takes exponentially more fussing to get it "dialed" just right for close work?

I need to convert ugly 3/16" A514 flats into pretty .13" parts. Shluffing off mill scale is essentially what I hope to do with it. The parts don't need to be flat. Just parallel within .005" or so.

There are not many grinding shops here in the NW. The handful that are here have very high rates. Bringing it in-house seems like the only option.

 

[michiganbuck]

Grinding to closer than .001 should be easy. Tippy /tall parts can be challenging,
Blanchards can really take stock with all that weight behind the wheel.

 

[michiganbuck]

Spotters are king on Blanchards...The parts removal stock, and the amount of dressing can vary, so to get size you put a measured something on the chuck with the parts..with it having a strip of masking tape or two on the spotter..when you wipe off the tape carefully continue some to see your grease pencil marks get streaked to get +- .001 with no measuring.

 

[Garwood]

I've been using the Blanchard a lot. Getting used to the controls and how hard you can feed different hardness steels.

I've got a large assortment of setup blocks and parallels for HBM work I've accumulated. I've been having fun filling the table with like thickness parts and letting her make hideous ugly steel into beautiful pieces.

Some of these pieces are steel parallels and I'd like to grind the skinny sides too, but I'd like them to be close to true 90 from the faces.

Any tricks to get the first side 90 without putting a vise on the table? Clamp some 2-4-6 blocks on either side of the part maybe?

 

[CarbideBob]

I've been using the Blanchard a lot. Getting used to the controls and how hard you can feed different hardness steels.

That is scary.. oh my.
Once you push the spindle start on this size machine. ohh.. this is not a lathe or mill.

 

[Garwood]

That is scary.. oh my.
Once you push the spindle start on this size machine. ohh.. this is not a lathe or mill.

Bob, I didn't mean pushing it to it's limits, just how the material behaves with a soft wheel, how many turns of the table to go after the feed kicks out, that kind of thing. I haven't pushed over 50% on the load meter yet.

 

[EmGo]

I haven't pushed over 50% on the load meter yet.

There was a blanchard shop near me, it was always fun to go there. I swear those guys ground from the load meter, and they didn't like it under 80%. Usually closer to 100. Steam pouring off the table, motor making that deep do-work noise, you knew stuff was happening.

Not to lure Gar into a power dopamine hit or anything but it was pretty cool

 

[Hobby Shop]

I have its baby brother #11 but an 18-36 is the perfect size machine. It took a little bit but I finally got mine dialed in to .0004” on a 16” flywheel.

Heavy duty sq. angle plates of different sizes work great for squaring material. Remember to put dowel pins between the chuck and part when squaring larger material to the angle plate. That magnet is so strong the part will bend the angle plate outta square when turned on

If you’re not familiar with the spotters Buck is talking about, I can snap a few pictures of mine. Don’t forget to change the speed of the chuck when grinding different size parts. It helps with cooling, deglazing the wheel and material removal.