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Kent surface grinder

winger

Stainless
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
Location
portage county, wisconsin
I have a 6 x 14 manual grinder with ball ways and digital readout. Walker permanent mag chuck.
Nothing like I use at work but works pretty good for my home shop.

Just curious are these considered decent mid quality machines?

Anything over a couple inches long and the hand cranking gets tiresome, especially when I ground the chuck in.

Dave
 
Ball ways should not be hard or tiresome to crank all day long. Take a straight/V guide(?) machine with poor lube and see how that feels! :D

Some years ago had a crappy no name surface grinder that would wear your shoulder out in short order. We took it apart, stoned ways for burrs, checked lube lines, not a re-build per se', but a good inspection/cleaning with no joy. Was easier to use the Okamoto automatic, even for one piece to take a few thou off....
 
It glides really smooth. Its made in Taiwan. One thing I liked about it was the hand wheel for the head is in front instead on top of the column, plus it had a digital readout already.

Helped out a friend in his job shop last year, and he had one manual grinder and a couple hydraulic. What a workout that manual was. Just used to a B & S micromaster with hydraulic feed. Getting old and lazy I guess, so I think about automating it with electric controls. Retiring next june, so will have plenty of time to fine tune the shop.
Dave
 
It glides really smooth. Its made in Taiwan. One thing I liked about it was the hand wheel for the head is in front instead on top of the column, plus it had a digital readout already.

Helped out a friend in his job shop last year, and he had one manual grinder and a couple hydraulic. What a workout that manual was. Just used to a B & S micromaster with hydraulic feed. Getting old and lazy I guess, so I think about automating it with electric controls. Retiring next june, so will have plenty of time to fine tune the shop.
Dave

kent makes a decent grinder, sounds like a good machine.
 
I just bought a 1991 Kent 1020 KGS AHD hydraulic. Decent build and holds tenths for a good operator ( I'm not there yet but it does what I need. The build of 1990s Taiwan machines is usually pretty stout if not as refined as Euro stuff. The 1020 is not a ball way machine while the smaller ones are. One thing to verify is if that Kent uses the common 1/4 taper rather than the odd 11 degree 24 minute ones on some. You can still find the odd hub but you have to ship from China unless you go the Sopko route which is expensive. The handwheels are cheap plastic but easy to swap. Some came with an overhead dresser and the machine should have a wheel balancer included. Mine has a vac and coolant. The use was low, condition very good, and price in the 4K range. They can be found cheaper but seeing one run and talking to the guy who owned it since day one made me willing to pay the price. Dave
 








 
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