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Gardner Horizontal Disc grinders- Tub Grinder.

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.
 
Blanchard grinders can use a solid ring type wheel, or many have switched to segments.

Pretty common, I would check with Norton
 
Blanchard grinders use a much different segment than this one. Divide a fifty three inch diameter into four equal sized quarters, that start out life at 1 1/8 inches thick. Four PIE shaped pieces with twenty five inch sides. Add 16 holes for bolts that all have shoulders in them, for the bolt to bear against. This machine isn't worth working on, if the grinding segments aren't obtainable. I have a feeling these machines are NOT very abundant. I used to have Pacific Grinding Wheels make wheels for my product line, and they made custom abrasives. but this is truly a niche abrasive.
 
Sounds neat - an upside-down Blanchard grinder. OSHA will love it... :)

If you have old abrasive segments and backing plates, I bet Norton or someone will cast new segments on them at a "reasonable" price. I dunno exactly how they do it (like concrete work?), but maybe you can supply plywood "forms" for the segments for the pouring?

Now all you have to do is figure out how to dress the segments flat before use, unless you just let them wear flat using old random castings.

Largest abrasive face wheel I have here is around 36" or so, but they're solid, not segments.
 
Upside down Blanchard, confused.
90 tipped I understand and that a standard but this a tub grinder.
Pics of the machine?
Bob

Eh, it's more likely I'm confused, but it sounds like it's a "face up" drive plate with abrasive segments bolted to it from the bottom, so if a casting is resting on it gravity drives the bottom face of the casting into the abrasive. The tub is the housing to catch swarf and coolant.

The "arrester bar" keeps the casting from acting like a cat on a phonograph player and just spinning around.
 
Milland has this grinder completely figured out. I removed the top ring and air deflector last night. An almost sixty inch ring with angled deflectors running around it.

Dressing the segments is easy. There's a swing around arm that a dresser slides on from the outside of the wheel to the center. Uses the star wheels like a hand held dresser. Really coarse wheel- not trying for a fine finish- just a flat part.

I need to figure out how to get pictures from my phone onto this site. An old guy only has so much time to figure out MANY things. I'd be more than happy to take a picture and text it to anybody.
 
Pretty sure Norton and their peers can make some custom segments for you, to your drawing. But even if possible, might be wise to get a few quotes to see if it's reasonable and what the lead time might be.
 
You might try calling General Grinding in Oakland. Another grind shop in Oakland that went out of business (F&F Grinding) had two Gardner DD grinders and some of the guys from F&F are over at General Grinding now or possibly Bay Area Grinding. worth a call to find out.
 
I need to figure out how to get pictures from my phone onto this site. An old guy only has so much time to figure out MANY things. I'd be more than happy to take a picture and text it to anybody.

To post pics try to post using a real computer, not a cell ph., be sure pics are on the computer and then click the picture icon above the text window. The icon is a "picture" of a tree. To do videos is the same, just click the film strip icon next to the picture icon.
 
We (Anchor Abrasives Company) manufacture 53" 4 Section grinding wheels for Gardner 53" Tub grinders, all of our customers are grinding compression springs with this type of grinder but can be used for castings. Mike English
 








 
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