Glendo Accu-finish tool grinders / hones?

[thistle]

I bought a Accufinish series 1 from ebay awhile ago, it turned out to be new in the box.
i am quite pleased with it

i just have a fine 800 grit diamond wheel on it .
i was going to get a coarser grit wheel , but am doing fine without at the moment.

the only negative for me are that the wheel i have has some runout at the edge, but i think this is due to the countersunk set screw used to fasten the wheel being off center, as oppsed to a defect . this could be fixed by carefully cleaning up the screw in the lathe.

i would say it actually removes material at a fairly good rate, especially compared to doing the job by hand .

the machine could be easily reverse engineered.
it is just a spindle with speed reduction via large and small pulley wheel

[Lew Hartswick]

the machine could be easily reverse engineered.
it is just a spindle with speed reduction via large and small pulley wheel

We were given one at school about 3 or 4 years ago and I have used it extensively for lathe bits with excelent results. Made a fixture to sharpen wood chisels for the wood shop also.
As to "reverse engineering", the motor / wheel wouldn't be too dificult but the table with the degrees of motion and clamping would be another matter entirely. [ I have considered doing something like it
for another grinder but too many other things in the queue ]
...lew...

[uncle pete]

Forrest,
The use of sheet metal doesn't sway my opinion. As you say, If it works, It works. I'd love to own heavy duty large cast iron equipment but can't at this time. Your thoughts about overkill cast iron equipment can have bad design, Ergonomics, Poor concept are very seldom mentioned by the "Old American or nothing" crowd. There were some beautifully designed and made equipment and there were some duds too. I own a Atlas MFB horizontal mill and a S.B. 7" shaper. While they were built to a price point and generally for the HSM types There's a noticable differance between the build and design quality on them and what's been done on my Chinese lathe.

Thistle,
Nice score, I'm jealous.

Lew,
LOL, Yeah it could be reverse engineered but my project list right now is at least 300 years long.

Pete

[Arthur.Marks]

You prompted me to look at these. From what I can tell, there were a few makers until recently: Kool Kut, Cold Grind, KK Calamar (same as Kold Kut??) and Accufinish. All I can find now are Accufinish and two in-stock KK Calamar grinders at MSC. I think all but the Accufinish are now defunct. I see the pictures of the others and think Heavy Duty, Cast-Iron Monstrosity ...as mentioned. I also found this webpage: http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/GrindRLap.html Look here, though: http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/GrindRLapBottom.jpg Sure it is cast (Aluminum), but the impression from the top gives a misleading impression

From what I can tell, these are all essentially the same except for one feature. On all but the Accufinish, the wheel moves side to side. On the Accufinish the table moves side to side. To continue with the Accufinishes, it looks like the major difference other than size between the Model 1 and the Model 2 is how the table moves. The series 1 uses a rod & bore to slide the table. The series 2 uses a ball-bearing slide. For those that have used both, is the movement of the series 2 table noticeably smoother? In other words, is it really an 'upgrade' or is the series 2 just intended to be a more permanent, freestanding machine---what with the optional stand and all.

[gcude]

I did not notice a difference in the slide of the tables between the Series I and II at the Arlington scraping class. However, when I got my used Series I, the table was very stiff and jerky. Checked the slides and found gummy residue ... cleaned the slides and now the table moves slick-as-a-whistle. Maybe the Series II never has an issue with gumming up and needing cleaning?

[Arthur.Marks]

Gary, sounds like it might have been a rust preventative. (whoops. Just noticed you mentioned buying yours used.)

[Arthur.Marks]

These things were looking familiar. I hope some find this picture fun

from Turret Lathe Operator's Manual. Longstreet and Bailey. 1940 Warner & Swasey Co. p.57

[rklopp]

I have a Glendo II and like it. My main beefs are that the table travel is a tad too short, and that it's tough to hold lathe tools with near zero lead angle for sharpening. I end up holding them against a rectangular block used as a square against the miter arm.

[uncle pete]

Arthur,
Now that's a heavy duty unit and a pretty cool picture showing how things were once done. Thanks. Interesting grinding tool with what looks to be a full length set of tee slots on the R/H side of the grinder in the picture. There's more to that grinder than it first seems.

Pete

[PeteM]

I've owned two earlier versions of this; with 5" diamond wheels. These were sold as Do-All, Lenoard, SPI, Glendo, KK Calamar Grind R-Lap etc. These have a fairly heavy die cast housing and a sturdy and easily adjustable table.

The wheels attach with magnets and the user has a choice of either a slow rotation or a combination of rotation and oscillation to better use the entire wheel.

They do a terrific job of finely honing carbide lathe tools, scraping tools, and even touching up lightly worn inserts. I've also built a number of my own wheels; some faced with aluminum oxide for HSS and some made from cast iron and impregnated with diamond grit. All work fine.

The new price does seem high. However, used units often go for around $300-600. Get one with at least one of the pricey diamond plated wheels (better IMO than the resin bonded) in good shape.