Michael_PE2003
Well-known member
I posted my recent purchase to the block grinder thread but decided to post here as well, mostly to show the switch (PN 4984992) repair as I searched for similar repairs but only found one, and in that one the picture links were broken. Hopefully this will help somebody with a similar issue in the future.
I'm only going to show photos and provide an overall description for most of it as there are plenty of restoration threads on here already. I will show the wiring and switch repair in greater detail as that's the real meat and potatoes here. My apologies if this is well covered somewhere else that my search didn't find and, worst case, here's another look at the switch guts.
I recently purchased this 397.19340 1/2 HP block grinder to (finally) replace my cheap Chinese, underpowered (yeah, I know that's redundant) 1/4 HP grinder. I found this one on FBM at a good price, not too far away and what appeared to be in complete and very good shape. This is the photo from the ad...
When I got it home and started taking it apart, it was in almost unused condition! The nice lady who sold it to me said it was her fathers and when he passed, her husband took it but never used it. The husband recently retired, and they were moving to Florida, so it was time to start selling stuff off. It looks to me like her father was a woodworker as that's most of what they were selling of his and there was a coating of sawdust in all the grinders nooks and crannies.
It seemed the only thing it needed was a little clean-up and some fresh grease to the bearings. (although they felt very good, not at all like 50-year-old grease, one spun a little freely.) I figured a couple of shots of new grease couldn't hurt. I did find a couple of assembly errors though. The part rests were swapped left to right, so they were at a too steep angle to the wheels, both eye shields were upside down and the washers on the left-hand wheel were swapped, which made getting the inner one off a real pain and the outer one was too loose. All easily remedied during reassembly.
The one thing I did notice was the on/off switch didn't feel right, it worked but seemed stiff. I didn't think much about it as it DID work when testing at the seller's house and one time at home. When it came time to reinstall it, it still seemed awfully stiff, so I checked the resistance, and it definitely had issues. It only made contact about fifty percent of the time and would make and break by wiggling the switch. Here is the patient in question...
And a picture of the wiring should anybody need it in the future.
Next up, it's time for switch surgery...
I'm only going to show photos and provide an overall description for most of it as there are plenty of restoration threads on here already. I will show the wiring and switch repair in greater detail as that's the real meat and potatoes here. My apologies if this is well covered somewhere else that my search didn't find and, worst case, here's another look at the switch guts.
I recently purchased this 397.19340 1/2 HP block grinder to (finally) replace my cheap Chinese, underpowered (yeah, I know that's redundant) 1/4 HP grinder. I found this one on FBM at a good price, not too far away and what appeared to be in complete and very good shape. This is the photo from the ad...
When I got it home and started taking it apart, it was in almost unused condition! The nice lady who sold it to me said it was her fathers and when he passed, her husband took it but never used it. The husband recently retired, and they were moving to Florida, so it was time to start selling stuff off. It looks to me like her father was a woodworker as that's most of what they were selling of his and there was a coating of sawdust in all the grinders nooks and crannies.
It seemed the only thing it needed was a little clean-up and some fresh grease to the bearings. (although they felt very good, not at all like 50-year-old grease, one spun a little freely.) I figured a couple of shots of new grease couldn't hurt. I did find a couple of assembly errors though. The part rests were swapped left to right, so they were at a too steep angle to the wheels, both eye shields were upside down and the washers on the left-hand wheel were swapped, which made getting the inner one off a real pain and the outer one was too loose. All easily remedied during reassembly.
The one thing I did notice was the on/off switch didn't feel right, it worked but seemed stiff. I didn't think much about it as it DID work when testing at the seller's house and one time at home. When it came time to reinstall it, it still seemed awfully stiff, so I checked the resistance, and it definitely had issues. It only made contact about fifty percent of the time and would make and break by wiggling the switch. Here is the patient in question...
And a picture of the wiring should anybody need it in the future.
Next up, it's time for switch surgery...
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