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U.S. Electrical Tool Co. 12" Pedestal Grinder

Sachmanram

Stainless
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Location
New Brunswick, Canada
Hello all :)

I just bought this pedestal grinder this morning and thought that I would share.

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I bought it without the ability to power it up before purchasing, but I'm not worried in the least. I'll have to buy a plug end to test it in my shop.

It came with one usable Norton 2"x12" wheel, but the designations on the paper are gone, so I don't know the grit, nor friability of the wheel. It also came with three wire wheels, two of the "rope" style and one open.

It needs a good cleaning up and a little paint, but not much else. I bought it with the purpose of grinding larger HSS tool bits. I have read some posts on the subject of wheel types and grits, but most of the posts are quite old and am wondering if there are some good quality wheel and grit recommendations from you guys.

Oh.... everyone wants to know how much one has paid.... I paid $140.00 for the grinder and a bit of fuel. I recently bought two 8" Delta bench grinders from a fellow on Kijiji, brand new Government Surplus, for $65.00 each and thought that it was a good deal. Really bad vibration in both... machined new and accurate washers for the wheels, but no better. Unfortunately... Made in ROC.

So, I think that I got this grinder for a good price, although two new wheels will likely cost more than I paid for it.

There is an inspection tag inside the motor starter box which has a date of either 1940 or 1944. The Canadian distributor tag should have a date on it, but it must have been rubbed off over the years.

Cheers... :)

Brian
 
Brian

I bought one of these last year and had it rewound for 220v, 3HP.

Its the biggest and most powerful grinder I've ever used. Silky smooth bearings even at this age, I'm guessing it was born (cast) in the 50's.
One side is the original wheel, the other is a wire wheel for cleanup.

I've not yet found any way to slow it down. But would recommend hooking up the exhaust vents on the back to keep[ the dust from flying all over your shop.

Olaf
 
Nice grinder. I would go 36/24 and use it for snagging off wear land and the like for fast stock removal and the use the 7' or 8" or so for light skim finish grinding tool bits and the like. That way you use the part to dress the wheel and save a lot of dressing.

Super nice that you can easy remove tables for quick change to custom tables. One might make one with a protractor slot or a drill sharpening set up.

Don't like a table on the brush side but OSHA does, I think.

"2 Deltas.Really bad vibration in both..." with wheels off?
 
It was Made Before You Were Born, and it Will Outlive You

"Good Price" ??? If it runs smoothly, you practically stole it !

If you keep that thing safely bolted down so that it cannot fall over, it will outlive you.

MichiganBuck is onto something w.r.t. the Delta grinders with vibration problems. There may be an issue with the balance of the wheels themselves.
 
If you're really interested to know the date of manufacture email USET with the serial number. I recently contacted them about a filter for our 504 grinder, and they gave me the month and year it was built.

-Aaron
 
Brian

I bought one of these last year and had it rewound for 220v, 3HP.

Its the biggest and most powerful grinder I've ever used. Silky smooth bearings even at this age, I'm guessing it was born (cast) in the 50's.
One side is the original wheel, the other is a wire wheel for cleanup.

I've not yet found any way to slow it down. But would recommend hooking up the exhaust vents on the back to keep[ the dust from flying all over your shop.

Olaf

Hello Olaf,

I lived in Barrie Ontario for 15 years... where do you hail from ?

Thanks for the tip about the exhaust. I do have a dust collector for woodworking. Could this be adapted for grinding... temporarily ?

Brian :)
 
Nice grinder. I would go 36/24 and use it for snagging off wear land and the like for fast stock removal and the use the 7' or 8" or so for light skim finish grinding tool bits and the like. That way you use the part to dress the wheel and save a lot of dressing.

Super nice that you can easy remove tables for quick change to custom tables. One might make one with a protractor slot or a drill sharpening set up.

Don't like a table on the brush side but OSHA does, I think.

"2 Deltas.Really bad vibration in both..." with wheels off?

Hello Buck,

Thanks for the recommendations for grit size of the wheels. I am certain that the wheels are crap on the Delta grinders. Even with the new washers, they wobble to and fro. I will purchase a couple of good quality wheels for one of them and see if that dampens the vibration.

I'm with you on not having a table on the wire wheel side. That's a sucked in accident waiting to happen. This is just how I recieved the grinder.

Brian
 
"Good Price" ??? If it runs smoothly, you practically stole it !

If you keep that thing safely bolted down so that it cannot fall over, it will outlive you.

MichiganBuck is onto something w.r.t. the Delta grinders with vibration problems. There may be an issue with the balance of the wheels themselves.

Once I establish a good location in the shop, I will definately bolt it down. It's really top heavy.

Brian :)
 
If you're really interested to know the date of manufacture email USET with the serial number. I recently contacted them about a filter for our 504 grinder, and they gave me the month and year it was built.

-Aaron

Hello Aaron,

Thanks for the tip about emailing USET for the date of manufacture. It would be interesting to know when it was made and being used. I'm thinking WW2 years...

Brian :)
 
Brian,

Using the woodworking dust collector would be fine for you big old neat grinder but make sure the system is clear of all wood and sawdust residue...a hot clinker from the grinder just might burn your shop down if it gets into any burnable material.

Stuart
 
Most new smaller grinders come with tooo hard of wheels.

With having anyone other than yourself running a (any) grinder put up a sign "Any wheel put on must be dressed before you walk away or you will be out the door"

Good rule to help avoid stupid accidents.

Brian just run Deltas with all wheels nuts and loose hubs off to see a smooth run or not. I have an 8" delta that i use for a tilt wheel head spindle, I have a precision thrust bearing and a heavy spring at back side but think that is over kill, smooth as silk. Bent shaft would make bad but not likely two machines would be bent. Wheels setting long in same position would go out of balance just from the oil and junk in the air. Might be able to save them with ultra sound cleaning and then low temp oven drying.. never tried that.Vitrified wheels are just glass and rocks so it could not hurt...?
I save one auction bought surface grinder of a good customer buy pulling off a bad wheel. He was a happy camper to find that his machine was like new and not having a bad spindle. Yes could have bought it for a song if I was that person. One famous top class cutter grinder uses a bench grinder head for a spindle with careful shim set to precision bearings. No, I wont tell the name.
 
How do you run a 550 volt, 3 phase motor? Do you have to re-wire it?

Hello Frank :)

To be honest with you, I was so anxious to purchase the grinder, that I didn't notice the voltage. I knew that it was 3-phase. Before I saw your post, I installed a plug on the end of the cord for the grinder, hooked up my RPC and it started right up. I didn't run it for more than 30 seconds or so, and then turned it off.

By what I've read, it looks like I would need a voltage transformer.... not looking like such a good deal now... :o

Brian
 
Shouldn't be too hard to find a shop to rewind it for 220 volts. Probably easier (and maybe even cheaper) than messing around with a voltage transformer.

Andy
 
Hello Olaf,

I lived in Barrie Ontario for 15 years... where do you hail from ?

Thanks for the tip about the exhaust. I do have a dust collector for woodworking. Could this be adapted for grinding... temporarily ?

Brian :)

I live in Toronto, but my back yard won't fit a henhouse.
My shop is near Thornbury, west of Collingwood where land is a lot cheaper. So i get to make a mess on weekends only. :)

Mine is hooked to the dust collector. Technically, I just I should be concerned about sparks and sawdust. But realistically, there's 30 feet of plumbing in between, so I doubt any sparks make it that far.

Most of the dust/dirt is from the wire wheel when cleaning up parts (for other old machines...)
 








 
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