aarongough
Stainless
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2014
- Location
- Toronto, Canada
Hey all!
I have been looking for a surface grinder for my shop, preferably something well built and a little larger than the small grinders that seem most common. Ideally I'd be looking for a CNC grinder, but they seem relatively uncommon (and expensive!) so I'm looking at hydraulic grinders for the most part.
I just came across a 'TOS - Hostivar' brand surface grinder, model number BPH300. It has 300x1000mm travels with a 12x36" chuck on it. From photos the condition looks reasonable, and the price is more than reasonable. Owner says his dad bought it and that it grinds flat, and works fine except for one of the travel stops sometimes not actuating correctly. I don't know what year this machine was made in, but it has 'Made in CSSR' stamped on it, so my rough guess is sometime in the 80s.
Does anyone have any experience with these machines? Are they well built, easy to run? Simple to maintain?
I'm certainly happy to put some work into it given the price, but I don't want to spend too much time polishing a turd! (No jokes about my Fadal here please )
I am a complete novice when it comes to grinding, so apart from listening for spindle bearing noise and visually assessing the condition of the ways and so on I am going to be far out of my depth inspecting this machine. Grinding is a skill that I very much want to pick up though, and I'm looking for the right machine that I can learn on and that I won't outgrow any time soon.
Owner says he can run it for me to demonstrate, any tips on things I should be looking for when inspecting would be welcomed!
Thanks guys!
-Aaron
I have been looking for a surface grinder for my shop, preferably something well built and a little larger than the small grinders that seem most common. Ideally I'd be looking for a CNC grinder, but they seem relatively uncommon (and expensive!) so I'm looking at hydraulic grinders for the most part.
I just came across a 'TOS - Hostivar' brand surface grinder, model number BPH300. It has 300x1000mm travels with a 12x36" chuck on it. From photos the condition looks reasonable, and the price is more than reasonable. Owner says his dad bought it and that it grinds flat, and works fine except for one of the travel stops sometimes not actuating correctly. I don't know what year this machine was made in, but it has 'Made in CSSR' stamped on it, so my rough guess is sometime in the 80s.
Does anyone have any experience with these machines? Are they well built, easy to run? Simple to maintain?
I'm certainly happy to put some work into it given the price, but I don't want to spend too much time polishing a turd! (No jokes about my Fadal here please )
I am a complete novice when it comes to grinding, so apart from listening for spindle bearing noise and visually assessing the condition of the ways and so on I am going to be far out of my depth inspecting this machine. Grinding is a skill that I very much want to pick up though, and I'm looking for the right machine that I can learn on and that I won't outgrow any time soon.
Owner says he can run it for me to demonstrate, any tips on things I should be looking for when inspecting would be welcomed!
Thanks guys!
-Aaron