Harrison Grinder

[Dieselman 63]

Sounds a bit like dendochronology

Had to look that up! Good call. Yes, it’s interesting. Other parts have more colours though, some bits had red paint layers. Such a puzzle. I’m glad it’s going to all be uniform again! Off to pick up the new lathe in half an hour, can’t wait

 

[Dieselman 63]

I began to use the chisel in a rocking motion over the casting to crack through sheets of paint. This worked really well!

The thing is finally clean, what a mission. Etch primer next step

 

[james butler]

looks amazing so far, top work
dont let others spoil your hard work with comments like "but you cant see in there" im sure all of us understand why you do it.
i know if i didn't paint it all like you have it would irritate me until i took it apart again to do it properly.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Etch primer onto the vent, happy to report this is the end of sandblasting parts for this machine.

Lots of filling and sanding to go before painting though!

I also got the motor working again off the vfd the other night, the seller reported it as not working properly when I emailed him a year ago so I’m really happy. As per the usual, a good clean inside and it came up good.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Thread resurrection anyone?

A new motor has arrived in the workshop costing me $20. It is massive. Too massive for my lathe and the power hacksaw but as luck would have it, it just about squeezes into the grinder frame!

Top tip for anyone faffing about changing the motor via the side grilles, just put the machine on its end, and you get another window of access. Makes it infinitely easier!

I’ll need to make an adapter plate, buy a new capacitor (old one is ginormous), maybe get a new larger pulley too. So far so good though!

 

[brewdexta]

That's a monster

 

[Dieselman 63]

It’s very dirty inside, loads of clag coming out of it. That red thermal paint is brilliant though - this is a high quality motor. The grease was all plasticised, and the grease points were dry - so it’s never been greased since the factory

I broke the plastic washer getting the centrifugal switch off the end so that needs replacing, I can probably make one out of styrene on the wood lathe.

The bearing pullers were absolutely essential in this motor, everything was super stiff to get off having a fair bit of rust on the shaft despite sanding and oiling to ease it along, it was tough! Since it’s in bits, I think a full repaint is in order - would be rude not to

 

[Mark Wallis]

Hi, I've got one of these lovely old grinders recently and like you have found nothing about them on line. Did you ever get any information about it, or are you just winging it.
Also wanted to know why you're changing the motor? Was it faulty, or 3 phase?

Mine is actually setup as a grinder buffer and unfortunately I don't have all the accessories yours has like the water troughs. But having the buffer is one of the main reasons I went for it.
I will be starting my refurbishment soon, after I've done my lathe.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Hi, I've got one of these lovely old grinders recently and like you have found nothing about them on line. Did you ever get any information about it, or are you just winging it.
Also wanted to know why you're changing the motor? Was it faulty, or 3 phase?

Mine is actually setup as a grinder buffer and unfortunately I don't have all the accessories yours has like the water troughs. But having the buffer is one of the main reasons I went for it.
I will be starting my refurbishment soon, after I've done my lathe.

Only the serial can give you the date from Harrison. Mine is 1955. I’m intending to swap it out to 1ph but who knows atm... it’s complete, bolted together but unfinished, out of the way!

Post a pic, I’d be interested to see yours. Harrison did indeed make dedicated buffing machines and they’re less common than the grinders.

 

[Mark Wallis]

View media item 10515
This is my old grinder buffer, before starting on the refurbishment. I'm in the process of adding some more pics.

What I love about your grinder are all the Accessories. Mine hasn't got the water tray at the front, which would be really useful, so I will be making something.

One thing I do need, I'm in the process of putting everything back together and I'm second guessing myself regarding the wiring, even though I took lots of pics and labeled the wires, I'm getting a feeling I've done something wrong. So if you can help, that would be great.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

@Dieselkid 63 has a good thread on his restoration kicking around somewhere

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

@Dieselkid 63 has a good thread on his restoration kicking around somewhere

Whoops. Opened the thread at the last post and assumed it was a new thread.
Been a long week.

 

[Mark Wallis]

Thread resurrection anyone?

A new motor has arrived in the workshop costing me $20. It is massive. Too massive for my lathe and the power hacksaw but as luck would have it, it just about squeezes into the grinder frame!

Top tip for anyone faffing about changing the motor via the side grilles, just put the machine on its end, and you get another window of access. Makes it infinitely easier!

I’ll need to make an adapter plate, buy a new capacitor (old one is ginormous), maybe get a new larger pulley too. So far so good though!

Just so you know, your tip about the motor was a great help, that's how I removed my motor in the end. And just so you know, the motor that I had in mine, is exactly the same looking motor as your new monster of a motor and boy is it heavy.

I've totally stripped mine and it was full of dust and crap from years of neglect. But now it's all clean and painted and running beautifully.

So your new motor looks like it was actually the correct motor for your grinder.

 

[Mark Wallis]

@Dieselkid 63 has a good thread on his restoration kicking around somewhere

Thanks for letting me know, I'm actually putting this up, as he'd asked me to, after replying to one of his postings. I'm basically doing the same as him, giving the old grinder a newe lease of life.

 

[Mark Wallis]

Loads of work to go but hey, it’s looking very good indeed! I’ve had an idea which is to fit an ultra fine wheel on the water trough side, and a leather strop wheel on the other. By doing this I can have the grinder as a dedicated tool sharpening setup for my chisels as I’ll be doing mainly woodwork. Tormek do a good bench mounted sharpening system but the water splashes a lot and the machine is made of tin so it shakes. It’s also $1500 for the 8” model! I expected I’d spend double what I paid ($300) fixing it up, over time, so that’s still considerably less.

Here are some pretty pics to show progress!

Just out of curiosity, is that a blurry image of a Fobco drill press I see in the background?

 

[Dieselman 63]

Just out of curiosity, is that a blurry image of a Fobco drill press I see in the background?

Yes

 

[Mark Wallis]

Absolutely lovely drill press, I have the same, they are so well built and weigh an absolute ton.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Absolutely lovely drill press, I have the same, they are so well built and weigh an absolute ton.

They are, the head especially is a pain to get off by yourself. I usually get my dad to help me. They weigh about 70kg which I could lift as a plain bar but my goodness, it’s such an awkward shape as a complete drill!

Your grinder is the most unappealing shade of brown! I’d get that stripped ASAP. There’s a plate between the two grease caps on the back which has the serial and you can date the machine from that.

I was looking at mine just the other day, a fair bit of work yet to go but really a beautiful machine. I sold my bench grinder to use this one for all my needs. It’s down the back with some other machine tools for now.

The spindle for buffing is a rare attachment so don’t get too disheartened about not having the trough! You seem to be missing an end grille though?

 

[Mark Wallis]

The grinder is no longer that lovely shade of brown, it's all a nice grey. I wasn't missing one of the covers, I'd just removed it to see what was involved in taking it apart. So everything is there.

I wanted to ask you about the big new motor you got for yours, as it looks very similar to my one. Unfortunately mine has no name plate on it for some reason, so was wondering if you could take a picture of yours. The main reason, is the big start capacitor on my grinder, a huge block strapped to the back of the grinder has obviously died, as the grinder isn't starting. This capacitor is a 30uF capacitor, which seems a little low for a start capacitor. So of you could also check yours as well that would be useful.

Here are some pics of it all done and of my motor.


View media item 10572View media item 10573View media item 10517

 

[Dieselman 63]

I still haven’t done this thing. Life got in the way and the grinder was boxed up and banished to the back of the workshop. The casting sat dormant, some filler applied but nowhere near enough.

A workshop clearing session today saw me drag it out and try to get some good progress on it. I got this Brook Gryphon 1ph 2850rpm .75hp motor, ideal as the original was 3ph but identical in all other fields.

I sanded the filler on the back, and started applying more to the other areas. Unfortunately there’s an absolute ton of work still to do on this, including replacing a lot of hardware. I think I didn’t know to use BSW spanners when I got it and chewed up a few of the smaller bolts, which is a shame. I’d like the main casting filled, primed and painted so that I can start putting some bits back on, though all of the guards need filling too!