Stanley 637A bench grinder

[Paul1963]

I’ve got this bench grinder that’s really clean the thing looks like it was never used
It’s a Stanley 637A and I’m pretty sure it takes 7” wheels
I say this because one wheel on one side looks like it’s never been touched and I measured it I had it off and looked at it and it’s exactly 7 inches across it’s 5/8 arbor and the grinder is 1/2 horsepower The other wheel looks like it was used a little bit

Is there anyone on this forum that’s familiar with this grinder?
I believe there were a number of companies that made grinders for Stanley to badge as their own back in the 50s 60s and 70s
I found a Stanley grinder that looks exactly the same as this one online and it has a badge on it right under the on off switch that says Morris Abrams

I really just like to find a manual for it and I’m having trouble doing that so if anyone has information about this grinder for me that would be terrific thanks so much guys
Paul

 

[RTM]

yup, 7"

Stanley Power Tools : Catalog 562 : Stanley Power Tools Division : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

52 p., illus., 27.9 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

Nothing shows up in the manual library

The Manual Library : Free Texts : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive

Only catalogs at Vintage Machinery

Stanley Works, Stanley Electric Tools - Publication Reprints | VintageMachinery.org

Pretty much running out of choices, unless someone has one. Or you take your chances googling it, an hope its not a scam site.

 

[Paul1963]

Thanks for sending what you can

 

[Paul1963]

Turns out it’s in the last catalog listed so thanks
At least it does tell me what size wheel that I need to use to replace the one that used a little bit but it’s not much so I won’t need to replace it for quite some time
mine has the lights inside the eye shields which were an additional cost but for some reason the wires were cut and they were 12 V bulbs like old car bulbs so today we just use our own lights you know we have a variety of different types lights to see our work with today

I’m now wondering if anyone has an opinion onto the quality of this grinder as compared to the Wissota made grinder I have which is an 8 inch and 3/4 Hp and 3/4” arbor made for wards powr kfaft her model number is 8135

 

[1982fxr]

Can you post a picture of the Stanley?

Wissota made nice grinders, they were good quality. If memory serves, on most/all of them you can't remove all the guards to gain more clearance for buffing, etc. Inner guard is part of the shaft housing.

Main thing to compare on similar-ish grinders is the amps. Baldor made the nicest stuff of all, IMHO, excluding some of the old home owner type stuff, which was still very good.

 

[Paul1963]

Ok

 

[Paul1963]

Ok

 

[Paul1963]

This is a Stanley 637A bench grinder it’s got 7”x 1” wheels with 5/8” arbor and 1/2 Hp
The inner washer for the wheels are heavy cast pressed onto the shaft so they hold wheel dead on straight

The pictures don’t show how clean it really is and frankly if I do really clean it it will look brand new again
Runs super smooth and is all there too. Not missing anything
It even has the lights with switches that go into the guards but they were never wired in so for now I’ve removed them

I’m wondering how this compares to the Wissota 8135 grinder 8”x1” wheels with 3/4” arbor and 3/4 Hp

 

[1982fxr]

Other than the Wissota having more power for wire wheeling, as long as they both run good they should be very similar.

They are both high level vintage USA machines. Worlds better than the modern China ****.

 

[Paul1963]

Yupper And frankly I only paid $40 for the Wissotta and I paid $30 for the Stanley
So I’ve got the wissotta on Facebook marketplace for 200 cause that’s a pretty appropriate price for a machine as clean as it is and so what if I have to wait a while to sell it someone says I’ll give you 150 I’m still way ahead of the game

I’ll just keep looking on Facebook marketplace and other places for a good deal on 7” wheels for this machine I know I can buy them retail but I don’t trust retail today and I definitely do not trust any shipping service to get them to my house without them getting cracked even just fractured internally so that they fly apart later when I put them on my Grinder there are guys out there with high grade 7” wheels to fit my Stanley
I’ll just bide my time and I’ll find them near me Or maybe over in Jersey I have to go over to Jersey in another week or so and I’ll be there a couple of weeks visiting friends down the shore which I can’t wait to do it’s gonna be beautiful

 

[1982fxr]

I don't think I've ever seen quality 7 inch wheels come up used unless they were attached to an old grinder.

Wherever you get them just make sure stone wheels pass the ring test.

 

[Paul1963]

I’m talking about new unused
As I’m sure you know there are guys out there that bought wheels for the grinder and never got around to putting them on or maybe they bought a grinder that needed wheels and it also needed some work and they never got around to doing it or they couldn’t fix it there’s any number of reasons why guys would have brand new stock laying around that’s what I’m talking about and that’s why if I wait I might get them for 10 bucks each or even less because a lot of guys are like yup I’ve had them forever they’ve been hanging on a nail over my workbench and I cleaned out the shop and I want to just pass them on

 

[Paul1963]

Anyway how do you like that Stanley grinder?
isn’t that thing beautiful?

 

[PBCampbell]

I think that is a rebranded Balder.

 

[Paul1963]

Stanley did have a lot of different companies make grinders for them so it could be a Baldor

 

[Paul1963]

Would the Year of production being either one of the model or the serial numbers?

 

[RTM]

probably not the model number, since it was in the 1962 catalog I linked above

 

[Paul1963]

Yeah the serial #wont work
I thought most power tools had a date stamped on them somewhere