Chris Jackson
03-13-2011, 11:56 PM
As promised here's the first installment of rebuilding my new/old "CoolKutter" hand crank grinder.
186694
Picked this guy up for $30 on ebay a couple weeks ago...
Decided to build a Krenov like hand crank grinding station, so I picked up a Veritas Tool Holder/Jig and a fresh white oxide wheel.
Initial inspection of the grinder reveals that it is in working condition, I don't hear/feel any skipping teeth, 90% of the coating is still present, and runout does not appear too bad though the wheel that is installed must be tossed...all in all it feels like a well made American hand tool...
started my disassembly and noted that someone managed to inject this old guy full of colloidal graphite based anit-sieze!!! FYI for any of you folks out there looking to rebuild one of these old beauties DO NOT USE GREASE!! Grease is for bearings...helical, herringbone, and/or straight cut gearing should all be oil lubricated...I won't go into a diatribe about the engineering bases for this, suffice it to say it is for the same reasons that you do not grease your bicycle gears/chain. With a light load, single pinion and bull gear, straight tooth, setup like this, and occasional shot of T9 is more than enough lube.
Here's the dirty bits disassembled:
186700
I did lots of cleanup and inspections, and finally managed to remove all the old ant-sieze (what a pain)!! I went through a lot of Q-tips and alcohol!!
Used a lot for Rust Free as well, to clean up the fasteners. The bull gear and pinion teeth looked to be in great shape. Pinion teeth may have been a bit thinned, but nothing that should affect performance.
The fasteners needed some love, a little touch with a diamond file to remove old strip/slip marks and then a good dousing of the whole works with T-9.
One negative I did notice is that the hand crank bore where it mates to the bull gear shaft is bored slightly out of line, or has gone out of round with time/use...the fix would require either bending the handle slightly (risky) or reboring and sleeving the hole which seems a bit overboard for this project...so, I backed the handle off far enough where it would not create a rub to set the play in the bullgear a little bigger than normally necessary (maybe an extra .050") and it works fine...if only a little more loose than I'd like.
Here's the cleaned up bits:
186706
So, as you can see in the photos I also picked up a new white oxide wheel and a veritas tool holding jig...mounting those items to a stable base is the next step...I'm thinking a Baltic Birch ply slab that I can clamp to the bench.
Went to mount the wheel and realized that I should have measured before ordering!!! :eek: I picked up a 6" and the max the grinder will take is 5" without interefering with the clamp mechanism...so, two choices: 1. Mail it back to Lee Valley in exchange for a 5" and wait a week or so; or 2. whip out the diamond dresser and start turning it down to size...I chose the latter.
***Note: If you are planning to pick up one of these hand crank grinders sight unseen (ebay), make sure you clarify what the maximum wheel diameter/width/arbor it can accept; this will save you lots of time/suffering later!! (This model will take 5"x1"x1" Max)
So, I'm going to grind this wheel down tomorrow from 6" to 5" and build the base...mount the tool holder and test it out on a new plane/iron I picked up at the woodworking show in Dulles today...
More to follow.
186694
Picked this guy up for $30 on ebay a couple weeks ago...
Decided to build a Krenov like hand crank grinding station, so I picked up a Veritas Tool Holder/Jig and a fresh white oxide wheel.
Initial inspection of the grinder reveals that it is in working condition, I don't hear/feel any skipping teeth, 90% of the coating is still present, and runout does not appear too bad though the wheel that is installed must be tossed...all in all it feels like a well made American hand tool...
started my disassembly and noted that someone managed to inject this old guy full of colloidal graphite based anit-sieze!!! FYI for any of you folks out there looking to rebuild one of these old beauties DO NOT USE GREASE!! Grease is for bearings...helical, herringbone, and/or straight cut gearing should all be oil lubricated...I won't go into a diatribe about the engineering bases for this, suffice it to say it is for the same reasons that you do not grease your bicycle gears/chain. With a light load, single pinion and bull gear, straight tooth, setup like this, and occasional shot of T9 is more than enough lube.
Here's the dirty bits disassembled:
186700
I did lots of cleanup and inspections, and finally managed to remove all the old ant-sieze (what a pain)!! I went through a lot of Q-tips and alcohol!!
Used a lot for Rust Free as well, to clean up the fasteners. The bull gear and pinion teeth looked to be in great shape. Pinion teeth may have been a bit thinned, but nothing that should affect performance.
The fasteners needed some love, a little touch with a diamond file to remove old strip/slip marks and then a good dousing of the whole works with T-9.
One negative I did notice is that the hand crank bore where it mates to the bull gear shaft is bored slightly out of line, or has gone out of round with time/use...the fix would require either bending the handle slightly (risky) or reboring and sleeving the hole which seems a bit overboard for this project...so, I backed the handle off far enough where it would not create a rub to set the play in the bullgear a little bigger than normally necessary (maybe an extra .050") and it works fine...if only a little more loose than I'd like.
Here's the cleaned up bits:
186706
So, as you can see in the photos I also picked up a new white oxide wheel and a veritas tool holding jig...mounting those items to a stable base is the next step...I'm thinking a Baltic Birch ply slab that I can clamp to the bench.
Went to mount the wheel and realized that I should have measured before ordering!!! :eek: I picked up a 6" and the max the grinder will take is 5" without interefering with the clamp mechanism...so, two choices: 1. Mail it back to Lee Valley in exchange for a 5" and wait a week or so; or 2. whip out the diamond dresser and start turning it down to size...I chose the latter.
***Note: If you are planning to pick up one of these hand crank grinders sight unseen (ebay), make sure you clarify what the maximum wheel diameter/width/arbor it can accept; this will save you lots of time/suffering later!! (This model will take 5"x1"x1" Max)
So, I'm going to grind this wheel down tomorrow from 6" to 5" and build the base...mount the tool holder and test it out on a new plane/iron I picked up at the woodworking show in Dulles today...
More to follow.