I've been posting in a few different places, so I'm gonna start my own thread where I can dump everything. I'm going to repeat some stuff that's been stated elsewhere, so pardon my dust.
So I've been keeping an eye out for a good bench grinder for a couple months now. It hasn't really been urgent, and I wasn't trying to spend a ton of money. One would pop up on the local CL every now and then, but they tend to be either pretty beat up or $100+. Well, on Friday night, I was checking out CL when I saw that someone in Pittsburgh had an old 1/2 HP block grinder up for $35! It looked good in the pictures, so I texted the guy immediately. It had been up for less than a day, and he said he'd already had several people that wanted to see it, and that it was first-come-first-serve. Well, I'd been looking for one for a while, so I told him if he could hold it for me, I'd give him $50...he agreed.
I made the drive out to Pittsburgh the next morning. I actually got to drive through downtown (dahntahn!) which was pretty cool. I show up at the guy's place, and he's got the grinder set up on some boxes in the basement. He fires it up, and it purrs like a kitten. Takes forever to wind down too! The guy said he'd had it for a long time and it wasn't used much...he had just moved back in with his parents and was trying to make ends meet. So, I gave him the $50, we chatted for a couple minutes, and I was on my way.
I forgot to take pictures when I got it, but here it is after I started disassembly. Everything is in great shape, but it's missing the spark arresters (and the quench tray, if it ever had one):
And the nameplate:
It's a 397.1949, Commercial 1/2 HP, made on September 14, 1973. This sucker has the exhaust ports on the back! There's very little rust, so it should clean up pretty nicely.
In any case, after I picked up the first grinder, I decided to find some lunch, as it was about noon by then. The first thing I came across was a Subway, so I pulled over for some food. As I was eating, I got an email from someone else who had another block grinder in the Pittsburgh area. It was an even older model with the steel/glass eyeguards, work light and quench tray, and it came with a hefty looking stand. The guy was asking $150, so I had tossed out a $100 offer on Friday night, knowing I would be in the area.
Well, the guy came back saying he wouldn't go any less than $130. I wasn't desperate for a grinder at this point, and was ready to head back to Ohio, so I told him I understood, that he had a nice grinder, and best of luck with his sale. After a couple minutes the guy sent a reply saying if I could use it, he'd let me have it for $100! It was really unexpected. He said he'd had a ton of $100 offers, but that you don't see too many polite folk anymore (in his town, I believe him, but that's another story...). So, he wanted me to have it. This guy was an hour in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go, but I figured even if the grinder wasn't great, I could keep the stand and some parts, flip the grinder, and still make out pretty good.
It turns out this grinder was originally his father's; he had passed away a couple years back, and this guy had no use for it, so it had just been sitting. He wanted it to go to good use, and when I told him about a couple projects I had planned, his face just lit up. We loaded it up into my little Honda, and man is that stand heavy! The top plate and gusset plates are 1/4" plate steel, the leg is 4"? steel tubing, and the base is 1/2" plate steel with 1/4" steel plates welded underneath for feet.
After getting the beast into the car, we talked for a couple minutes. Apparently the guy's son is an engineering student like myself. In any case, again I was off, this time back to Ohio.
And again I forgot to take pictures when I picked this one up, but here she is after a few hours of degreasing. Some parts are still disassembled for derusting. It's a 1/2 HP "Industrial Rated" model, made on August 29, 1964 (this one's almost as old as my parents!):
And the nameplate:
I think I'm really partial to this one. You could tell it had a lot of sentimental value to the guy, and it just has this style to it that the 70's model doesn't. It's cleaning up beautifully, and with a bit of derusting it should look great...no restoration necessary. With both of these grinders, I was really surprised at how in-tact the nameplates are...a lot of the ones I've seen floating around are pretty banged up.
There's more to this adventure, but it's time to get to work, so I'll just mark this "to be continued..."
So I've been keeping an eye out for a good bench grinder for a couple months now. It hasn't really been urgent, and I wasn't trying to spend a ton of money. One would pop up on the local CL every now and then, but they tend to be either pretty beat up or $100+. Well, on Friday night, I was checking out CL when I saw that someone in Pittsburgh had an old 1/2 HP block grinder up for $35! It looked good in the pictures, so I texted the guy immediately. It had been up for less than a day, and he said he'd already had several people that wanted to see it, and that it was first-come-first-serve. Well, I'd been looking for one for a while, so I told him if he could hold it for me, I'd give him $50...he agreed.
I made the drive out to Pittsburgh the next morning. I actually got to drive through downtown (dahntahn!) which was pretty cool. I show up at the guy's place, and he's got the grinder set up on some boxes in the basement. He fires it up, and it purrs like a kitten. Takes forever to wind down too! The guy said he'd had it for a long time and it wasn't used much...he had just moved back in with his parents and was trying to make ends meet. So, I gave him the $50, we chatted for a couple minutes, and I was on my way.
I forgot to take pictures when I got it, but here it is after I started disassembly. Everything is in great shape, but it's missing the spark arresters (and the quench tray, if it ever had one):
And the nameplate:
It's a 397.1949, Commercial 1/2 HP, made on September 14, 1973. This sucker has the exhaust ports on the back! There's very little rust, so it should clean up pretty nicely.
In any case, after I picked up the first grinder, I decided to find some lunch, as it was about noon by then. The first thing I came across was a Subway, so I pulled over for some food. As I was eating, I got an email from someone else who had another block grinder in the Pittsburgh area. It was an even older model with the steel/glass eyeguards, work light and quench tray, and it came with a hefty looking stand. The guy was asking $150, so I had tossed out a $100 offer on Friday night, knowing I would be in the area.
Well, the guy came back saying he wouldn't go any less than $130. I wasn't desperate for a grinder at this point, and was ready to head back to Ohio, so I told him I understood, that he had a nice grinder, and best of luck with his sale. After a couple minutes the guy sent a reply saying if I could use it, he'd let me have it for $100! It was really unexpected. He said he'd had a ton of $100 offers, but that you don't see too many polite folk anymore (in his town, I believe him, but that's another story...). So, he wanted me to have it. This guy was an hour in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go, but I figured even if the grinder wasn't great, I could keep the stand and some parts, flip the grinder, and still make out pretty good.
It turns out this grinder was originally his father's; he had passed away a couple years back, and this guy had no use for it, so it had just been sitting. He wanted it to go to good use, and when I told him about a couple projects I had planned, his face just lit up. We loaded it up into my little Honda, and man is that stand heavy! The top plate and gusset plates are 1/4" plate steel, the leg is 4"? steel tubing, and the base is 1/2" plate steel with 1/4" steel plates welded underneath for feet.
After getting the beast into the car, we talked for a couple minutes. Apparently the guy's son is an engineering student like myself. In any case, again I was off, this time back to Ohio.
And again I forgot to take pictures when I picked this one up, but here she is after a few hours of degreasing. Some parts are still disassembled for derusting. It's a 1/2 HP "Industrial Rated" model, made on August 29, 1964 (this one's almost as old as my parents!):
And the nameplate:
I think I'm really partial to this one. You could tell it had a lot of sentimental value to the guy, and it just has this style to it that the 70's model doesn't. It's cleaning up beautifully, and with a bit of derusting it should look great...no restoration necessary. With both of these grinders, I was really surprised at how in-tact the nameplates are...a lot of the ones I've seen floating around are pretty banged up.
There's more to this adventure, but it's time to get to work, so I'll just mark this "to be continued..."
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