jccaclimber
Stainless
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2015
- Location
- San Francisco
I'm tasked with specifying a surface grinder and my lifetime total operating surface and rotary (between centers) grinders is only 60-80 hours. I've always used whatever grinder my employer had, which was almost always older than me, and did just fine. Not splitting tenths, but holding them with some effort.
The parts we would use this for are similar to 4130 steel rings, 1/2" thick, OD 3-5", wall thickness 1/4" to 3/4", quantity ranges 5-100 and I would be happy at +/- 0.0001". We may just keep shipping them out, but other operations are coming in house and this would be the only one left.
My problem is that while I can tell you the difference between knee mills, I can't tell you the difference between grinders. I'm looking specifically at grinders with a power x,y,downfeed and coolant simply because past experience tells me those things make it a lot easier for a less experienced operator to get good parts off.
A new Kent/SuperTec/Acer 10x20 is going to run about 20k to my door, and a used one $10-12k, more if I want a permanent magnet chuck.
The smallest Okamoto I see with those features is a 12x24. Those seem to be closer to 30k used, and also weigh 1500 pounds more, which I doubt they did without reason.
I could get an old Chevalier on the local Craigslist for ~$1000+rigging, and if this going in my garage I would, but while we don't mind some maintenance and minor fixes, I need to know that this thing will work, so that isn't a good option.
In knee mill terms I don't want the green unmentionable, and probably not an M-head. A J or 2J Bridgeport with a power X would do nicely and a 5 axis VMC would be overkill.
Am I setting myself up for failure with the Kent? What do I gain with the Okamoto? Based on the prices above, am I way off on my estimates?
The parts we would use this for are similar to 4130 steel rings, 1/2" thick, OD 3-5", wall thickness 1/4" to 3/4", quantity ranges 5-100 and I would be happy at +/- 0.0001". We may just keep shipping them out, but other operations are coming in house and this would be the only one left.
My problem is that while I can tell you the difference between knee mills, I can't tell you the difference between grinders. I'm looking specifically at grinders with a power x,y,downfeed and coolant simply because past experience tells me those things make it a lot easier for a less experienced operator to get good parts off.
A new Kent/SuperTec/Acer 10x20 is going to run about 20k to my door, and a used one $10-12k, more if I want a permanent magnet chuck.
The smallest Okamoto I see with those features is a 12x24. Those seem to be closer to 30k used, and also weigh 1500 pounds more, which I doubt they did without reason.
I could get an old Chevalier on the local Craigslist for ~$1000+rigging, and if this going in my garage I would, but while we don't mind some maintenance and minor fixes, I need to know that this thing will work, so that isn't a good option.
In knee mill terms I don't want the green unmentionable, and probably not an M-head. A J or 2J Bridgeport with a power X would do nicely and a 5 axis VMC would be overkill.
Am I setting myself up for failure with the Kent? What do I gain with the Okamoto? Based on the prices above, am I way off on my estimates?