Robot surface grinder Manual and Power feed issues

[jmjones]

Here are pics of the machine and where I am at:

The second pics shows the belt that moves the table. I have it threaded down under the drive wheel for the x axis of table. I unhooked it taking the table off and I am not sure how to reinstall correctly. Currently when the table is hooked on it moves fine with the z axis out toward the operator but when I move it in, the belt slips for the x table movement. Any thoughts? Also power feed is still not engaging, which is less important if the table slides easier, but I would like to get it working if it is a fairly simple fix. Thanks again, John

 

[michiganbuck]

Here is an old thread with experienced grinder hands discussing XYZ, almost tothe point of arguing. When I see guys in a shop hung up on this I just walk away. I use Long Cross and Down or Verticle for SG travels, and everybody seems to understand what I am saying, and nobody has anything to argue about. I did not get into this old thread because it is a foolish subject with rarely a winner. NO, let's not hack this Robot SD thread by arguing XYZ on manual surface grinders.

Z Axis Readout for Surface Grinder

I would like to setup a Dial indicator on an adjustable slide to indicate movement of the Z Axis (Rise) on my Harig 6x12 manual surface grinder. Does anyone have any plans or can point me to some info on building something like this for my surface grinder. Thanks Skipd1

www.practicalmachinist.com

 

[jmjones]

Not sure of the nomenclature, but using the example above, the long table movement stops working as the cross feed is fed toward the machine, about the half way point.

 

[michiganbuck]

*Are any belts in conjunction with the feeds?
Having someone take up/hold the slack in the long travel strap, does hand cranking the long travel hand wheel seem easy/OK?
Your ways are not perfect but better than I expected. They do need flaking.
With no oil pots, the way oil needs some method of getting to the ways. Is there a pump of sorts?

 

[jmjones]

Thanks for the reply, taking up the slack in the belt was the fix! It took a few attempts of putting the table on and off but not too bad. The machine has oil/grease zirks on the front that lubricate the cross ways. It had oil and grease in there and I cleaned them out and pumped way oil in. The process definitely reduced the effort to move the table significantly but it was not like night and day or anything. Not sure about the power feed issue but probably going to just use it manually for a bit and see how that goes.

 

[michiganbuck]

The oil detent flaking to reduce the dead flats in the ways will reduce the effort for hand cranking and power feed. I have seen oil detents put in by using the side/edge of a Dremel cutoff wheel,* but don't recommend doing that, it is a hack method.

I scrape just with a by-hand scraper and for a one-up that works OK. The old-fashioned belt dressing was much better than what they call belt dressing nowadays. It was like sticky tar that would get almost hard,..but where to find it?

If there is no oil pump of any sort. you may have to give an oil can squirt each time you use the machine, with gauging the amount to keep it off the floor...or get used to rag wiping where it runs down. Perhaps one squirt every few days may be good.

 

[eKretz]

If there is no method of lubricating the ways other than squirting oil in the zerks it's even more important to get the oil flaking on the ways, IMO. It will help a great deal as long as your ways are still fairly flat. If that's all you have, you could also investigate adding actual oil cups with felt wicks or something, to replace the zerks.