Belt grinder coolant.

[mikehaugen]

I am in the process of cleaning/stripping/painting a porter cable g4 belt grinder. It has a coolant nozzle to spray the belt. The inside of the housing is pretty rusty, but still in overall good shape.

I am wondering if the coolant is a bad idea. There is like a 3" port on the bottom for dust collection, but if I use coolant it will make a huge mess. I thought about putting a hose on it to drain into a bucket, but then do I try to recirculate it? Is there a filtering/straining technique you would recommend? Of course this is assuming I use an actual coolant, if I use water then I wouldn't worry about reclaiming it. Is there a coolant you would recommend over water just for grinding? I would assume plain water would be adequate for grinding.

The cooling would be nice so I don't heat up the metal as much, but I think I would have to use it all the time or not at all or the mess inside would be worse because the dust would stick to everything. There will be times when I don't think I would want to use it.

So I guess what it boils down to is... is it worth messing with coolant, and what to use (plain water?).

 

[PT Doc]

You could hook up the coolant system and only run it when you want witht the plug of the pump going into a foot pedal switch and then use it as needed. What type of metal are you grinding! What is the thickness! Is this heat treated?

I am resorting a kalamazoo 3 hp belt grinder now and would love to see photos of your project.

 

[mikehaugen]

Thanks for the reply, but sorry- no pics yet. I dropped part of it off to get sand blasted as it was just too difficult to get a wire wheel into, the rest is getting the wire wheel treatment.

Anyway, I realize I could turn the coolant on and off using various methods, but I don't know if it's a good idea. My thinking is either all the time or none at all. If you grind dry, you get the little dust sometimes packed into places, particularly right below where you are grinding. Then next time you grind wet and all the built up dust absorbs the coolant and stays wet... Next time you grind dry and even more sticks. I think the coolant would keep the dust in suspension and help keep it flushed out if it was used all of the time. Does this sound logical?

I will be sure to post pics, I have already started on some of it so it's a little late for too many before pics. I will get some during and after pics for you though.

Here are a couple I found from Google so you at least know what it looks like.

 

[mikehaugen]

Sorry, forgot to answer your questions... I want this just for general grinding work like sharpening blades (where I think the coolant would be most useful), cleaning up a torch cut, chamfering edges, etc.

 

[kazlx]

Holy ****. Coolant on that thing would be a huge mess. I would just use a small bucket/reservoir to dip parts in. That's what I do. Waaay easier and little mess.

 

[mikehaugen]

Holy ****. Coolant on that thing would be a huge mess. I would just use a small bucket/reservoir to dip parts in. That's what I do. Waaay easier and little mess.

That was my thinking. If you look at the pictures you will see a little ****** almost straight under the rest on the shroud. There is a misting/spraying nozzle inside the shroud and it seems it relies on the belt to carry it around. Doesn't seem to make sense to have it in front of the suction port though.

With further research I found out these were supposedly made in the '40's! Pretty cool to me.

 

[A_Pmech]

I don't think that machine was originally intended to run wet. I suppose you can, but it will be messy.

Wet grinders normally have a large tub surround:

http://www.kalamazooind.com/products/belt-sanders/s460w-wet-belt-sander/

If you need to run a coolant, I would use a Kool Mist nozzle on the machine.

 

[kazlx]

I have a similar Rockwell sander that I use all the time dry. Works fine.

 

[mikehaugen]

I don't think that machine was originally intended to run wet. I suppose you can, but it will be messy.

I'm not sure, just about all the ones I see have the little ****** on them. Could you describe the "kool mist" nozzle, it may be similar to what this has... I'm not sure. I may just try it with water and see what happens. I may find out quick that it's not worth the mess.

So then, plain water, or something else?

 

[kazlx]

http://www.koolmist.com/

 

[404]

Maybe this was used to grind glass at one time.

Regards,
404

 

[dr_clyde]

We have a PC grinder like that at my uncles shop. Its a really awesome old grinder. I would love to have one in my shop.

That said, just get a bucket of water and set it next to it. Flood or mist coolant on that thing would be a HUGE pain in the ***. If your abrasives are working right, the part shouldn't get that hot.

 

[mikehaugen]

Well, I finally finished it a couple days ago. Well, I haven't finished the guard yet, but I will do that later. I think it will make a big difference in directing the dust out the port in the rear. Still haven't decided on the coolant yet.

Here are the pics I promised.

It was supposed to be light gray... valspar "ford grey", but it is way lighter than I expected- almost white. I have actually grown to like it though, especially after I painted the letters red.

 

[A_Pmech]

Looks great!

Now I want one...

 

[mikehaugen]

Looks great!

Now I want one...

Don't worry, there's some crack-smoker with one on ebay with the low buy-it-now price of $1850.

 

[A_Pmech]

Don't worry, there's some crack-smoker with one on ebay with the low buy-it-now price of $1850.

I saw that.

I want to buy the grinder, not the building it's in.

 

[catalytic]

Your grinder was made in BOTH a dry and wet version. The dry is a G-4, and the wet is a G-4W. Vintagemachinery.org has the manuals and several member-submitted pics of both versions. If you use coolant, use water-based. You can use metal/horizontal band saw coolant, or use water with a bit of rust inhibitor mixed in.

Even dry, that grinder will eat steel. Try trugrit.com for belts -- call them if you don't see your size listed (no personal affiliation but I order from them). Try a Norton Blaze ceramic belt in 36-50 grit for hogging metal (I'm not sure on whether these belts work wet -- I've never tried).

G4's are nice grinders -- very well built. Looks like you did a nice resto on it.

 

[kazlx]

Daddy like.

 

[BJ42LX]

That is beautiful.

How did you do the lettering?

 

[larry_g]

Wonderful looking machine. Do you know the motor speed and the drive wheel size? I'm curious to figure the belt speed.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[bsaint]

Wow that machine looks awesome.

 

[mikehaugen]

Thanks guys, I don't know why but the pics aren't showing up on my computer. I posted from my phone earlier and they showed up, but not on the pc... weird.

Your grinder was made in BOTH a dry and wet version. The dry is a G-4, and the wet is a G-4W. Vintagemachinery.org has the manuals and several member-submitted pics of both versions. If you use coolant, use water-based. You can use metal/horizontal band saw coolant, or use water with a bit of rust inhibitor mixed in.

Even dry, that grinder will eat steel. Try trugrit.com for belts -- call them if you don't see your size listed (no personal affiliation but I order from them). Try a Norton Blaze ceramic belt in 36-50 grit for hogging metal (I'm not sure on whether these belts work wet -- I've never tried).

G4's are nice grinders -- very well built. Looks like you did a nice resto on it.

Thanks, I will check them out. I bought a ten pack of 60 grit off ebay that were supposedly Norton, but I am having my doubts. They are made in USA, but don't say Norton anywhere on the belts, and the quality isn't what I would expect. They came in a Norton box though... IDK?

That is beautiful.

How did you do the lettering?

Used a very small brush and a lot of time.

Wonderful looking machine. Do you know the motor speed and the drive wheel size? I'm curious to figure the belt speed.

lg
no neat sig line

It's a 1725 motor, but I don't remember the diameter of the wheel. I had it figured out at one point, but I can't remember now. For some reason the 5500 range sticks in my head, can't remember if that is fpm or sfpm though. I will measure in the morning.

 

[mikehaugen]

Wonderful looking machine. Do you know the motor speed and the drive wheel size? I'm curious to figure the belt speed.

lg
no neat sig line

The diameter is 7 7/16 so about 3350 ftm, or 1100 sfpm... if I did the math right.

 

[larry_g]

The diameter is 7 7/16 so about 3350 ftm, or 1100 sfpm... if I did the math right.

Thank you for the info.

lg
no neat sig line