Brian@VersaMil
Stainless
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2001
- Location
- Gaston, Oregon USA
I ALMOST scrapped a Gardner 124 horizontal disc grinder this week, but the more I think about this machine, the more I want to make it run and use it. This machine has a fifty three inch diameter grinding wheel, made up out of FOUR pie shaped segments. These segments are attached to a 1 1/4 inch thick metal disc with a series of bolts. The wheel segments were originally supplied by Gardner but I'm curious if any one knows what grinding wheel company might make custom sized abrasives? The whell is driven by a twenty horsepower motor.
This machine is used to give ONE flat surface to a casting. Just sitting the castings on the 450 rpm wheel,grinds off the imperfections you have in a casting, giving you a flat surface to start machining from. There is a bar that goes across the grinding wheel that prevents the parts from just rotating around with the wheel. After receiving castings for the last 20 years that are always twisted, I think this machine is worth saving. Using sanders to try and get a 24 to 36 inch long casting flat enough to fixture, just doesn't work that well.
The main casting of this machine, is a giant tub- probably weighs four thousand pounds. Can't imagine what a machine like this would cost today. MAYBE this machine would not be allowed in todays shops, IT will take at least forty to sixty hours to resurrect this beast, I'm hoping at least when I'm done with VersaMil, this machine will still have some sort of value. I paid $240.00 for it from Reliable Tools, years ago. I don't think anyone knew what it was used for. There's almost NO information on this machine online. Anyone here used one? I DO have a perfect advertising flyer on the machines from Gardner. I'd post it if I knew how.
This machine is used to give ONE flat surface to a casting. Just sitting the castings on the 450 rpm wheel,grinds off the imperfections you have in a casting, giving you a flat surface to start machining from. There is a bar that goes across the grinding wheel that prevents the parts from just rotating around with the wheel. After receiving castings for the last 20 years that are always twisted, I think this machine is worth saving. Using sanders to try and get a 24 to 36 inch long casting flat enough to fixture, just doesn't work that well.
The main casting of this machine, is a giant tub- probably weighs four thousand pounds. Can't imagine what a machine like this would cost today. MAYBE this machine would not be allowed in todays shops, IT will take at least forty to sixty hours to resurrect this beast, I'm hoping at least when I'm done with VersaMil, this machine will still have some sort of value. I paid $240.00 for it from Reliable Tools, years ago. I don't think anyone knew what it was used for. There's almost NO information on this machine online. Anyone here used one? I DO have a perfect advertising flyer on the machines from Gardner. I'd post it if I knew how.