Jones and shipman veterans/experts

Im now in a position where I’m the only toolmaker in my firm and now responsible for all our surface grinding. We have two late 60s J&S one 1400 and one standard 540. they both had the ways done a couple years ago and these machines grind flat, like 0.003mm flat over 150mm in both directions without even trying.

As these machines are some of the best grinders of this age I’ve ever worked on, I want to keep it that way too.

So my main questions are,

what should I be doing in terms of maintenance to keep these grinders in great shape?

What should I be doing that the manual doesn’t say? After all these things are 50+ years old.

Is there any common failures or wear parts that I should keep an eye for?

And I’d like to get an accurate year of mfg, can I tell this from the serial?

All input will be appreciated, even the trivial things as the previous toolmaker treated these machines like crap and hasn’t even greased the nipples.

Cheers,

Luke.

Well don't use grease on the nipples, apart from the ones on the motors. I put sealed bearings in the motors when i renewed them as a precaution. The nipples on the frame of the machine are for oil. The one on the right hand side of the machine (540) towards the back is the oil nipple for the crossfeed nut and screw.

Apart from keeping the machines clean and changing the oil in the hydraulics regularly, i cannot think of anything else to do really. There are two 540's in the college where i work sometimes. they have been there years and are still perfect.

I would advise the first thing would be get an operators book if you don't have one. J and S did them for all of their machines and give good information regarding their care. They can sometimes be found on a well known auction site for a reasonable price. Keep the machines cleaned and well oiled, the cross slide nut and screw can wear out due to a lack of lubrication and new parts are expensive. You have a couple of good machines and accessories are still available on the aforementioned site

Change the hydraulic/way oil every few years with the correct oil (Shell Tonna S3 M32 I think). Clean the filter when you do that. Consider getting a specialty firm (Jubilee or Andmar) to clean and regrease the grinding spindle if it hasn't been done in this century.