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How loud is too loud for the head of a blanchard grinder

kpotter

Diamond
Joined
Apr 30, 2001
Location
tucson arizona usa
I have a very very old blanchard grinder 11 16 it works fine and does what I need it to do. I payed 1200 dollars for it. I have been using it everyday for about 2 years. It is loud real loud I wear ear muffs it is so loud you cant scream at the person next to you. The bearing are probably shot. The machine is 1915. I dont know if I can get bearings for it.
 
We had an old Blanchard at the previous shop I worked at. Something like a 60 HP motor, it took 5 seconds to spool up. Machine was very worn, the table would rise 0.015" if you hit the stop too fast- but it wasn't necessary to wear ear muffs or hearing protection. Loud in comparison to a manual lathe with worn bearings.

Pack them with grease?
 
Unloaded the spindle should be no louder than any other large electric motor. That motor looks huge, but it's probably only 15hp on a machine that old.

I've not worked on one that old, but the typical bearing layout is tapered roller bearings top and bottom. The bottom is greased, the top runs in its own oil bath. The top bearing will have coil springs to set the preload. You want to replace the springs. Every one I have seen are standard Timken tapered roller bearings. Nothing special.

The real bitch is getting the face plate off the spindle. 100 years of rust and grit could have that thing seized right up.

I would also have the windings checked out with a megger. Grinding grit is incredibly hard on the winding insulation, and those direct drive spindle motors are all open frame.
 
The spindle really should be just about silent.
The machine is from 1915 (not) or the tag is serial 1915? (confused a bit here, one of my 11s has the WWII tags, and owned Blanchards that predate this)
The bearings are easy to buy. It should not make any noise.
The bottom bearing needs to be filled more often than the top.
Once it gets to this point it will lock up on you one day.
It's not a hard job to replace both ends on a 11 and you do not have to pull the guts as it will sit inside nicely but getting the bottom inner race out can be difficult.
It's a very simple and elegant design. Big ass Timken roller down side, ball up top, spring loaded up top to hold and adjust it.
Do you have a parts diagram/manual/book?
1200 bucks is a good deal .
Bob
 
The grinder is definitly old I called and they told me it was 1915. The table motor runs on a flat leather belt and that also drives the pump. The down feed uses a ratchet like system. So I dont have to take the whole motor off the machine to change the bearings. I will look at it closer tomorrow. The oiler on the bottom was full of grinding grit when I got it. I cleaned and flushed out what I could and put heavy oil in it. It got a little quiter but it is super loud. I dont grind to a tolerance I just use it to clean up the shear blades after heat treat for our table top shears we build.
 
They all use a ratchet for the down feed, but it's hidden behind the hand wheel.

Removing the head is pretty easy if you have rapid feed on the spindle. Just run the spindle up until it comes off the top of the screw. Mark the gibs and loosen them. Remove the electrical connection to the motor. Lift the spindle up off the the ways.

It's much easier to get the face plate off with the spindle removed from the machine.
 
I have been looking at google images of blanchard grinders and there is nothing that looks like mine. My grinders down feed is a hand wheel with a pawl and gear, you have to set the pawl on the gear. The drive mechanism works like a locomotive it has an arm that is driven off the transmission. The transmission has a clutch just like a kearny and treckor mill. The 1919 version that I saw looks pretty modern compared to mine. When you say remove the spindel you mean take the whole motor off from the top of the machine correct.
 
Yes, take the whole thing off the top. It's a little trickier to put it back on.

All the manual Blanchards use a ratchet pawl for the down feed. The small 11s use a crank in the feed box and a long connecting rod. The larger machines have a splined drive shaft that runs vertically to the down feed mechanism, but it still uses a ratchet internally. It's the same idea, just hidden inside.
 
Who has bearing for this thing. I am concerned that this is really old. I just found a pic of it online and it turns out it is mine. When I got stones for it I got them from jowit and rogers they had to custom cast them they didnt stock them. I sent the remains of mine into them. Who might have bearings for it.
 
I don't know. You'll probably have to get it apart and see what they are. Every one I ever worked on had Timken tapered roller bearings. Bog standard stuff. But the oldest ones I have worked on are from the 1930s.
 
I usually just go to eBay when I need bearings. There's tons of them on there. I just type the bearing number in the search bar and usually find what I need.

Barring that, I've actually had good luck at my local Motion Industries. Most guys here hate Motion, but the one I go to has always been helpful getting me oddball stuff, and the price has always been reasonable, so ymmv.

I think if you can get a number off the bearings in your grinder, you should be able to find them somewhere.
 
Potter, what size is your machine? I have an entire grinder for sale about the same vintage as yours. Shipping on the entire grinder spindle alone wouldn't be to much. Mine has an internal oil pump of some type, and is nearly silent when running. More noise from the air turbulence from the wheel than either the motor or spindle bearings.
 
The flat belt drive and external pick is not a #11. It is their Father.
Was my first at 16 years old but the pick did not work anymore so you had to hand "tap" it.
Spindle construction is mostly same though. Fairly simple and not hard to tear apart.
If for nothing else but curiosity pics or a pointer to one please.
It should not make lots of noise, you have flushed the bearings so now time rip it apart and find out why.
You can do this or instruct others in an afternoon. I have sent so many rookies to tearing apart a Blanchard spindle.
Worse case button it back up and hope it will not seize but you will know the inside guts.
It's not hard by any stretch and you will figure it out quickly.

If it screams at you it wants help from you.
Bob
 
Potter, the machine isn't worth the freight but if the spindle fits your machine that would be great. Its a '30's vintage machine of bizarre construction. I think the weight was between 11 and 14K. The magnet is fixed under the wheel head, no travel axis. The magnet is 30" outside diameter, with about a 15" hole in the center. IIRC its a 25hp motor. It runs good and grinds nice. The wheel is 18 x 5 x 10 tape wrapped. The machine wheel is near new, and there is a new spare. I think the pick feed is a flat belt arrangement with a separate drive motor mounted down low. The spindle motor was first rebuilt in 1940.
 








 
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