let's see your craftsman block grinders

[rrich1]

Here is mine at the moment. Anyone want to see a separate build thread? I'm going to clean it up first to see if I'm going to do a repaint on it. The dark gray is pretty close to the dark shadow gray of my drill press. The silver section does have some chipping I'd like to fix though.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Rileysan]

Picked this one up today for $50...little high on the price but the eye shields and quench tray are in excellent condition. He had about a dozen extra wheels, a wheel dresser and drill attachment that he was selling for an extra $40 but I didn't want to be into this for nearly $100...although I might be kicking myself later for not picking up all those original extra stones

I suppose it depends on where you're from, but here in the Pacific NW, you got a great deal!

Brian

 

[MercLSU]

Orange? Is that the only color you could find at 3:00 AM?

It's not the only one, but it's much easier to spot when you're tired?

And the kicker IS, he should have painted it PURPLE & GOLD
Go TIGERS!

GO TIGERS indeed, sir. Fortunately baseball season is well underway so I can do my best to forget about basketball...

Watch out. I picked up another block and a Belsaw (which, when I spotted it, I thought it was a round top CM block grinder). I wouldn't be surprised if this one ended up P&G

Took to meaning of "Orange is the new black" literally, eh? lol...

For me, it's always been orange. And the stands should always be black. Does that qualify me as a renaissance man?

Wow!

That is awesome!

.....

Then there's the color -- Orange is taken (my favorite Snap-On hard handle screwdriver color).

Anyways -- Nice job!

Thank you sir! There's always more room for orange...

 

[EOC_Jason]

Guess I'll have to paint mine maroon & white...

 

[cajunfirehawk]

Odd how that center band on the soon to be purple & gold belsaw has the knock out for the quench tray just like the blocks, makes you wonder who actually made it? In fact, a number of similarities...

GO TIGERS indeed, sir. I wouldn't be surprised if this one ended up P&G

 

[torqueman2002]

I'll add my comments below in RED.

Picked this one up today for $50...
Nice.
little high on the price but the eye shields and quench tray are in excellent condition. He had about a dozen extra wheels, a wheel dresser and drill attachment that he was selling for an extra $40 but I didn't want to be into this for nearly $100...although I might be kicking myself later for not picking up all those original extra stones
IMO - your $$ is safer spent on NEW stones. See post #9400, above.

Here is mine at the moment. Anyone want to see a separate build thread?
If you do, I can link to it from the 'Craftsman Block motor Bench Grinders - Restorations' -->
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=325578
I'm going to clean it up first to see if I'm going to do a repaint on it. The dark gray is pretty close to the dark shadow gray of my drill press. The silver section does have some chipping I'd like to fix though. ...

I suppose it depends on where you're from, but here in the Pacific NW, you got a great deal!

Brian
I agree.
Here in SE Michigan it's a different story. I seem to find them (1/3-HP Blocks) everywhere.

That's what I think, also. [/B]

Thank you sir! There's always more room for orange...

Guess I'll have to paint mine maroon & white...
I like Maroon & White!

Odd how that center band on the soon to be purple & gold belsaw has the knock out for the quench tray just like the blocks, makes you wonder who actually made it? In fact, a number of similarities...
Probably the same supplier.

 

[MercLSU]

Guess I'll have to paint mine maroon & white...

Why would you want to vandalize such a nice piece of equipment?

Made a little more progress this evening. Runs like an orange bat out of hell. I still need to:

(1) Pick up fasteners to mount the end caps. As soon as I saw the grinder I handed the guy money as fast as I could. Then I dug around for two hours and finally found the end caps, but no hardware. Looks like 8x32 x 1-1/16.

(2) Paint the light and mount it. I'll probably stick with black paint here

(3) Figure out what to do in regard to eye shields. In the family shot below, I stole the eye shields from the 1/2 HP round top and moved them to the 1 HP flat top with HD base. I will likely take those same eye shields, paint the frames orange, and attach them to Big Ernge here.

 

[stonesfan68]

Why would a Tiger paint a perfectly good block grinder burnt orange? Are you a closet Texas fan?

I love the maroon and white. Gig 'em, Aggies!

 

[6PTsocket]

I agree wonder why they ever put the plastic cover on them in the first place. the metal only looks nice to me.

So you don't get burned by the hot metal reflector, heated by the "50 watt max" bulb.The plastic is spaced away from the reflector by the mounting screw post in the plastic.Cool running LEDs had not been invented yet.Besides, the metal reflector is not a finished shade. it is just a liner and looks like it.

 

[cajunfirehawk]

GO TIGERS indeed, sir. Fortunately baseball season is well underway so I can do my best to forget about basketball... I wouldn't be surprised if this one ended up P&G

​

Lets get the LSU thing going again...
# 4 showed up on my porch, nice circa 74 1/2'hp, don't think any paint work needed, just maybe internal as usual, cap and bearings at most? Quench tray needs to be cleaned up though.

Notice the 2 vintage circa 80's patton fans w/mcmillain motors, I collect those too I also collect old radio flyer wagons and built this LSU edition for my grandkids, but it never left my shop I need therapy...

20170309_190812 by Cajun Firehawk, on Flickr
​

​

20170309_190829 by Cajun Firehawk, on Flickr
​

20170309_190332 by Cajun Firehawk, on Flickr
​

20170309_190339#1 by Cajun Firehawk, on Flickr​

 

[torqueman2002]

cajunfirehawk - Sweet! I love the Radio Flyer, too!

 

[torqueman2002]

$10 bucks at a garage sale, works just fine.

Welcome to the thread an GJ.

Did you mean to post a picture?

 

[rrich1]

Finished resto pic

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[M_George]

Great job!! It's a thing ob beauty.

 

[bagged89s10]

Finished resto pic

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

I'm digging the brushed look on the center band. Might try that on my 1 HP block.

 

[rrich1]

I'm digging the brushed look on the center band. [emoji106] Might try that on my 1 HP block.

Thanks. I like it a lot.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[balthor]

Got this beauty for $10 at a garage sale.

 

[exmaxima1]

Got this beauty for $10 at a garage sale.

LOL, I got this "beauty" as well for $10. Good enough for parts though...

 

[bagged89s10]

Debating selling this 1HP block.

Not sure if I can let it go though.

 

[exmaxima1]

Debating selling this 1HP block.

Not sure if I can let it go though.

I've got the sharpening attachment that bolts to the bracket on your end bell (which I need)--maybe you can sell that part separately....

 

[EOC_Jason]

How much you want to sell it for?

 

[bagged89s10]

How much you want to sell it for?

A lot. Haha I need to check the market on these. I think they were selling for upwards of $400 in the past. But I may never find another 1HP grinder for a decent price so that's why I am not sure if I want to sell it.

 

[Pig9r]

Found this one on CL yesterday and picked it up on the way home from work - 1/2 hp commercial crown top 7in with stand. Shows little signs of use but it's crusty from sitting in a garage for years.

 

[bagged89s10]

I've got the sharpening attachment that bolts to the bracket on your end bell (which I need)--maybe you can sell that part separately....

If I sell the grinder, The attachment Is yours

 

[cajunfirehawk]

A lot. Haha I need to check the market on these. I think they were selling for upwards of $400 in the past.

Wait not everyone has one of those?

​

 

[exmaxima1]

If I sell the grinder, The attachment Is yours

Yousa! Thanks. Send me a message when that happens and I'll send you the shipping cost.

 

[torqueman2002]

How much you want to sell it for?

Hold on, .... isn't that the rare 1-HP HD Block with double quench trays??!!??

Oh man, oh man.

 

[bagged89s10]

Hold on, .... isn't that the rare 1-HP HD Block with double quench trays??!!??

Oh man, oh man.

It sure is. My theory is to list the price high enough where it doesn't get too much interest, but if it sells at that price, I won't regret it. So I'll give it a week and see what happens then take the listing down.

 

[EOC_Jason]

It sure is. My theory is to list the price high enough where it doesn't get too much interest, but if it sells at that price, I won't regret it. So I'll give it a week and see what happens then take the listing down.

In for the watch...

 

[cajunfirehawk]

In for the watch...

Gold Rolex watch

 

[raramuri]

First post on GJ! I just jumped in and bought this mint condition Craftsman 397 19400 from the original owner (well, his daughter; he has passed away).

And, yeah. I feel as though I overpaid. $120. But, it's flawless. Anyway, it's now mine now and it's going to be put to use in my evolving garage.

 

[torqueman2002]

raramuri - Welcome to GJ and the main Block grinder thread.

Nice looking round top Block. I'm guessing 1/4 or 1/3-HP, but what model number is it?

 

[torqueman2002]

I need help answering a Block question.

This is a 1/2-HP m-397.19590.

The question is why are the LH and RH wheel guards shaped differently? Notice the lower front 'lip' is fuller on the RH side.

I believe this has been discussed before, but can't recall if there was a definitive answer.

Thanks.

 

[cajunfirehawk]

I need help answering a Block question.

This is a 1/2-HP m-397.19590.
The question is why are the LH and RH wheel guards shaped differently? Notice the lower front 'lip' is fuller on the RH side.
I believe this has been discussed before, but can't recall if there was a definitive answer.
Thanks.

3/4 hp has same design...

 

[raramuri]

It's a 397 19400. 1/4 HP. Thanks. This is gonna be great.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Could be they had more leftover stock of one side than the other and just mis-matched for a while to use them up?

 

[WWShop]

I need help answering a Block question.

This is a 1/2-HP m-397.19590.

The question is why are the LH and RH wheel guards shaped differently? Notice the lower front 'lip' is fuller on the RH side.

I believe this has been discussed before, but can't recall if there was a definitive answer.

Thanks.

Possibly designed to have the more coarse grit wheel be located on the side with the extra piece to catch more of the dust or exhaust from whatever was being worked on? Just a guess.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

I need help answering a Block question.

This is a 1/2-HP m-397.19590.


The question is why are the LH and RH wheel guards shaped differently? Notice the lower front 'lip' is fuller on the RH side.

I believe this has been discussed before, but can't recall if there was a definitive answer.

Thanks.

I believe it was to allow extra support/mounting points for particular grinding attachments. The extra piece has a cutout/bolt hole at the bottom to mount something. I think I have only seen it on the older round top (late 50's early 60's) grinders, not the newer (late 60's early 70's) block grinders.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

Possibly designed to have the more coarse grit wheel be located on the side with the extra piece to catch more of the dust or exhaust from whatever was being worked on? Just a guess.

The additional piece dose not add any volume to inside of the guard. It is "grafted" on the outside of the casting if that makes sense. I will see if I can find a pic later.

 

[torqueman2002]

The additional piece dose not add any volume to inside of the guard. It is "grafted" on the outside of the casting if that makes sense. I will see if I can find a pic later.

I see what you mean. The picture below is from a NIB 1/2-HP m-397.19590 | Not mine, sorry I can't recall who posted it.

Funny, I am torn between wanting one like this NIB, and glad I don't have to wrestle with keeping it nice or using it like it's suppose to be used.