Kingston Conley 1/3 HP Bench Grinder

Hello all!

I have been setting up a new workshop space and found the need for a bench grinder - to sharpen chisels and twist bits, wire wheel fasteners, and polish small parts. Due to limited funds I decided to buy used and after a lot of research I came to understand that the grinders of old were generally more reliable and better built than the newer (lower cost) grinders today. This leads me to buying a 1/3 HP Kingston-Conley 6" bench grinder. I picked it up for $30 and it runs quiet and mostly smooth. One wheel has quite the wobble that may be able to be dressed. I am debating rewiring the power chord as I am a little skeptical about the current one and it being safe. I and am also wondering if anyone can decode the serial number to give an idea of when it was made! According to the vintage machinery website that I'm sure you are familiar with, Kingston-Conley made the motors that were used in a variety of grinders sold from around the 30's to the 60's. It is a smooth running machine but I may eventually open it up and see about replacing bearings as I'm sure it wouldn't hurt due to its age! for $30 I could have bought a new Harbor Freight grinder, but judging by the weight and build quality of this unit, I think I made the right choice! Looking forward to fabricating some sort of adapter to allow for dust collection on those rear ports.

You may find that old grinder to perform like 1/2 hp modern one. Is that a wire hanging out near the plug?..Good if so and you can add a ground fault plug to it..In nor then good to find a way to run a ground wire from the body to something about the shop that is a good ground.

I would not think about tearing it down..likely it may last your lifetime. The on /of switch may go puts but the is an easy fix.
Keep the table rest 1/16 or closer to the wheel so you cant get a finger between.
Good find for 30 bucks.

Good to not run any electrical machine with wet shoes/feet ground or no ground, not even a hand drill.

Welcome to PM.

Buck

It is more powerful than I thought for a 1/3 HP machine. It would bog down if I pressed with a lot of force, but never stalled - not going to push my luck or intentionally abuse it!

The power chord does have a wire hanging out that I am not sure what to do with. Could I simply change the plug to one with a ground pin? The ground is bolted to the bottom of the machine where the chord begins so I think it would work - please correct me if I'm wrong! once I get it mounted on the bench and figure out what wheel combination is best, I will be adjusting the tool rests to not be potential finger crushers! I'm thinking an ideal combo would be a finer grit friable wheel on one side and a wire wheel on the other. Thanks for the reply!

You stole it.

I have a couple of the 1/3rd HP Harbor Freight style grinder. These are pretty good machines actually and have served me well over a period of nearly 40 years. To the point where I finally had to replace the bearings on one of these.

I found one of the bearings "catching" which is where the sound was coming from. On disassembly I removed the bearing, removed the dust shield from the bearing, washed out the bearing and used air to blow it out before a coat of lubricant. And back in service for another possibly 40 years.

Funny though - the bearings are not "sealed" rather just "shielded." I guess you pay more, you gets more.

But who can argue with 40 years?

Joe in NH

deleted an accidental double post

Nothing against Harbor Freight - I have lots of tools from there and recently picked up (barely) a used 13" 16 speed drill press. It seems very well made and drilled smoothly. I'd be curious to check the runout on the chuck but I'd say 4-5 thousandths at the most which for what I'm doing, is acceptable. That's just a guess though.

I just removed a bunch of surface rust from the inboard spacer, hopefully this helps get rid of the wobble I was experiencing. Once mounted I'm sure It will be hardly noticeable but I'd like to get the most out of my new machine and see how smooth I can get it. If I only had a way to remove the eccentricity of that rear spacer. It seems to be made of hardened steel. The wheels I removed were made by American Emery Wheel Works, which seem to have gone out of business in the late 50's, giving me a clue to it's age.

If you have a bench grinder in a shop with a lot of other equipment, these always help keep things a little neater;

Amazon.com: Bench Grinder Guard & Enclosure: Home Improvement

Check it out, its an enclosure you can hook a shop vac to for cleaner grinding.

JohnhAIMCO said:

If you have a bench grinder in a shop with a lot of other equipment, these always help keep things a little neater;

Amazon.com: Bench Grinder Guard & Enclosure: Home Improvement

Check it out, its an enclosure you can hook a shop vac to for cleaner grinding.

Click to expand...

Qty (2) postings, both with the same linky....

CarltheCraftsman: I think you will find that "loose" wire at the plug end is a ground wire(safety)that was originally fastened to the screw that held the cover plate on the receptacle. This was before the 3 prong plug became common. Nice find.

Edit: Check to determine if the wire in question is grounded to the frame of the grinder with your ohm meter.

JH

Might be good to check the shaft for runout to see if that is what is causing the wobble. Nice old grinder.