Friday Craftsman 115.6842 Grinder Find

[BuddyC01]

Good Friday all....
Went in late to work this morning so I could stop at an estate sale. Among my snags was this vintage Craftsman 115.6842, 7" monster bench grinder. At first it sounded grumpy like it hadn't been woke in years but after a warm up, now it turns on and just hums.

BuddyC

IMG_6933 (Small) by William Clark, on Flickr

IMG_6934 (Small) by William Clark, on Flickr

 

[oak_park]

Wow. Nice find.

 

[Fialaja]

How much was. It?

 

[wrenchguy]

nice, real nice. b sure to post it on the underline C thread. Vintage tools thread, https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=38

 

[BuddyC01]

How much was. It?

40 bucks

 

[torqueman2002]

1944 - 45 era. It most likely has a centrifugal start-up switch. Early CM Blocks had them in the RH end bell.

A symptom of a start-up winding (thin wires) not being energized is not turning and humming.

Do not power up the grinder like this for more than just a very brief time. Otherwise the start-up winding/coil can over heat and burn OPEN.

Try spinning the wheel by hand with the power ON. The rotor needs to be moving pretty fast for the main winding/coil to be able to overcome the inertia, which is the job of the start-up coil (at least until about 75% of operating speed, when the centrifugal switch OPENs the circuit to the start-up coil).

 

[wrenchguy]

i think i got 1 of those 4 parts, runs but broken cast iron parts, scrap box save. i'll see if i can find it.

 

[BuddyC01]

Yea... the grumpy sound was more of a crusty bearing sound that went away quickly and has not returned. It's starts quickly and runs quietly and smoothly. The former owner was 88 when he passed. It looked like the shop had been idle for a bit.

 

[rburke65]

I love the base and how heavy they were made. Nice find/buy.

 

[BuddyC01]

I love the base and how heavy they were made. Nice find/buy.

71 Lbs. heavy

 

[austin870]

What I really enjoyed seeing on your grinder was the light. Mine has the same exact light telling me it is probably the original. The odds of two 75 year old grinders having the same exact light mounted the same way to the same place and not being original is real slim. I believe the lights were only on the last ones produced. The last years had the angled front on the quench reservoir and the very last had the light too.

I have since painted it during the restoration but you can see it was the same color and everything on the "before" picture. I also have that same off white electrical cord. Mine also had what I believe to be the original wheels. The stickers said Craftsman with that unique funky blue with the orange/yellow on their logo around that time.

If you notice mine appears to be the exact same shade of grey as yours. The "CNO" on these grinder labels is very unique. I can't find it on others of any brand. Nothing comes up on a Google search. The search comes up with term "CNO" as tied to the Navy requisition department during WWII.

Mine is 78lbs. I took it completely apart when I restored it. This thing is built like a tank all the way into the shaft and bearings. What a fun project.

 

[lafester]

I picked up one of these today. Nice and complete except for the quench tray.
I'm currently trying to get apart but those damn pot metal flanges are not budging.

 

[lafester]

i think i got 1 of those 4 parts, runs but broken cast iron parts, scrap box save. i'll see if i can find it.

If you happen to have a quench tray send me a pm.

 

[lafester]

Do you have any pics of it disassembled?

What I really enjoyed seeing on your grinder was the light. Mine has the same exact light telling me it is probably the original. The odds of two 75 year old grinders having the same exact light mounted the same way to the same place and not being original is real slim. I believe the lights were only on the last ones produced. The last years had the angled front on the quench reservoir and the very last had the light too.

I have since painted it during the restoration but you can see it was the same color and everything on the "before" picture. I also have that same off white electrical cord. Mine also had what I believe to be the original wheels. The stickers said Craftsman with that unique funky blue with the orange/yellow on their logo around that time.

If you notice mine appears to be the exact same shade of grey as yours. The "CNO" on these grinder labels is very unique. I can't find it on others of any brand. Nothing comes up on a Google search. The search comes up with term "CNO" as tied to the Navy requisition department during WWII.

Mine is 78lbs. I took it completely apart when I restored it. This thing is built like a tank all the way into the shaft and bearings. What a fun project.