Who needs a Baldor? Vintage Craftsman Grinder / Buffer Resoration WIP

I've been meaning to put this up for a while. Not sure its really a WIP since I'm done, but I can spread out the posts in it to make it FEEL like a WIP!

I have read a lot of advice about what equipment is needed and or, what brands are best for a certain piece of equipment. The issue is that LOTS of times, the best is subjective and yet it usually leads to expensive options. One that practically unanimous is for buffers. Baldor buffers are quality machines and I've always thought so. My problem though is that I've needed one (not just for knife related work) but have not had the $400 - 600 in my wallet that is their price tag. Since lots of us just starting out don't have those funds, or perhaps you have one but need a second, or even those who need a replacement tool for one that you can't repair, I decided I should post this up as what I view as a great alternative (if not slightly better!).

I love the older/vintage tools. I believe they are made better than MOST of today's tools. There are some which are better than others. Baldor buffers even on Craigslist are usually pricey, but I have an alternative most people overlook.

Craftsman Bench Grinders with one of the following model prefix's : 397, 257 or 115. Affectionately known as Block Grinders, they were overbuilt back in the day and all of them have a very unusual look, very 'blocky'. Below are 2 pictures of the 'before' restoration phase of each style of body they have.

This is the earlier version, slightly rounded top and metal eye shields. This is one I restored for my father last Christmas.


This is slightly newer (late 60's in to the 70's), square body and plastic eye shields. Lamps can be on either version. This is a 3/4 HP and the one I'm explaining in this thread.


Why are these so good? Simple answer...they were OVERBUILT to a huge degree, simple components and practically impossible to break. The housing of these is a cast metal and can break, but the motor inside will still run. Capacitors on some later models are still available today from various sources and the bearings used (even different sizes depending on HP) are common so even getting parts is not hard. Once I restored mine, I compared the power to my friends 1.5HP Baldor buffer (which is about 4-5 years old at this point). I can physically stop his Baldor buffer with a 1 inch piece of steel tube just leaning in to the wheel. My craftsman? I can NOT stop. I don't have enough oomph, I can slow it, but it has enough torque to STILL turn.

Here is my 3/4 HP I picked up off Craigslist with the stand for $40. I drove an hour each way to get it, but it was well worth it. Value depends on HP, and 3/4 and up are rather rare.


Here is the full thing, on the stand as I picked it up.



Front shot once I removed it from the stand. When I tested this, I noticed it seemed to stop almost as if there was something braking the spindle when the power was cut. Usually these will run for a while and slow down naturally (45 - 120 seconds if not more). This tipped me off that a bearing was probably bad which necessitated the restore.


Close up of the label, as time had taken its toll. When I restore a piece of equipment, I do my best to restore all of it. You'll see what I had to do for this later.


Side view showing the lamp and the eye shields a bit better.



Base of the stand....a little rusty isn't it? Rust like this usually lets me know I need to check other places and dismantle the tool to be sure of the innards!


This is the top of the stand, where the grinder was bolted down. Rust in here was rather odd and most folks would have just used the grinder as is, but with the base being rusted, I knew to break it all down to be take care of any issues. Plus once the rust is removed and painted, it could last another 50 years.


Now comes the fun part...tearing it all apart!!! The drill press restore I did was far more complicated than this, trust me, anyone thinking of making knives can disassemble this in their sleep!

Very interesting build of a buffer.
I have seen similar conversions but not with these craftsman made grinders.
Thanks and I will be watching your Mods.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

So here we go.....

First thing I did was remove those eye shields. Its a simple bolt and nut that hold it on, so remove them! While you are there, you can remove both tool rests as well. They come off the main housing very easy due to the bolts. Next up is the outside cover of both wheels to remove the grinding wheels.


In the picture above you can see the 4 bolts that hold each cover on. Remove them and you'll have access to the nut that holds the grinder wheel on. Once the nut and the grinding wheel are off, you'll have a clear view of the bolts which hold the wheel shield to the main housing. I don't have a picture of this, but it isn't hard to imagine and they come out easily. Just watch on the last bolt to not drop the guard, I've heard of them breaking!

Now, this is where the wiring comes in to play. I personally, flip the grinder on to its back and remove the single screw (very obvious sheet metal screw) on the bottom. This allows removal of the base plate (really its just a cover so things don't pop up inside) and a view of the electrical interior connections. I make a drawing at this point, I draw where a wire comes from (either the power cord, light, motor or switch) and where it connects to, in the orientation of it as I disassemble it as well as identify the wire colors. Makes life easy later! I then disconnect ALL wires that can be disconnected, and unscrew the light assembly from the housing (Shown below).



Next up, we go to the inside of the housing. To access it, you remove 4 trim screws that hold on the center 'stripe' sheet metal. There are 2 in the front and 2 for the back, visible on the ledge below the power switch in the photo below.


Once the 'stripe' piece of metal has been removed you can separate the two halves of the main housing. I didn't snap a picture of this (again, its sooooo simple its insane!), but here is a picture of the sides and the screw holes.


The three holes on the very outside of the housing pieces that form a triangle are long threaded bolts which hold it all together. The largest hole in the center of each side is for the spindle, and the 6 holes surrounding that hold the wheel guard (though only 3 are needed, the 6 holes allow it to change as you need them). Once the bolts and nuts are removed, the housing pieces might need gentle persuasion to come apart. I used a rubber mallet. The bearings might stay in the housing pieces, or they might come out but remain on the shaft. You never know what you are gonna get!

Once one of the sides gives way, you can remove the armature and set it aside. Now you can remove the 2 screws holding the motor wiring and remove the switch (if you didn't remove it when you disconnected the wiring).

I borrowed this image from a friend who did a restoration as well. Note the bearing inside the housing? If this happens (which it did for me), you'll need a blind bearing puller to remove the bearing. This will destroy the bearing, so only remove it this way IF you intend to replace it (Which I was intending)! If you don't want to remove it, you can just tape it off if you intend to paint it.


In the picture below you can see the main reason why these have such power, look at the wire used in the motor. Modern motors don't use such thick copper wiring. I'd guess this motor uses 10 Gauge, where as my friends Baldor was probably around 18.


Another picture of the parts.


And here is an overall view of all the components


Hopefully this gives you an idea of how simple this process is, and why you can have faith in your ability to restore one too!

Whoops!! I edited this to add...there was no rust on the exterior or the interior of this. Hopefully you can see that from the pictures. With no rust, I didn't perform electrolysis as I did on my drill press. Just popped the pieces in my sandblasting cabinet to remove the paint and get a nice surface to adhere the paint. Also, be aware of the potential for the lead paint problem! Since I restore a few machines, I ordered lead testing strips that I've tested all these machines BEFORE cleaning. Luckily I haven't had lead but you need to be aware and take precautions.

Once cleaned of the old paint, I taped off the interior of the housing pieces above where the bearings sit. I did this because that is a precision fit and didn't want paint to be an issue! So remember that! And once the bearings arrived, I had a friend press them in for me since he has the press (which I NOW have and can do myself ).


Follow up with finished grinder coming soon!

Ok, lets finish this thing up!

First thing is first, the rather useless label. Sometimes they are just pointless to keep. This one was a kind of lightweight metal sticker that just faded beyond useful measures. I couldn't save it so I didn't try. I took pictures to keep my Serial number, and looked all over the internet for models similar to mine. Once I did, I found on other sites a few instances of good looking shots of the label. I then took those and passed them over to my graphic artist friend who was willing to edit the pictures in Photoshop and basically recreate my label so I could print it out.

Once I got the ratio correct, I printed it out in as high quality as I could on Photo Paper, then laminated it and used a spray adhesive to attach it to the front of the grinder after a fresh coat of paint! The great thing is, while my photo paper might fade over time, I can just reprint a new one!

After the different components were sandblasted, I sprayed it all with Rustoleum Self etching primer, 2 quick coats about 10 minutes apart and let them dry a full 48 hours. Once that was done, I sprayed it with my preferred Rustoleum Hammered Blue color. 2 coats about 24 hours apart. I live in Florida so I brought these inside in order to help eliminate the high humidity we have almost year round.

While the last coat of paint was drying, I needed to fix the wiring of the motor. After so many years, the wire covering had started to harden and crack off. I stripped off quite a lot and used some shrink tubing I have on hand for just such an occasion. Once that was done, I replaced all the connectors in the wiring just to be sure I had solid connections. I also used some 320 grit sand paper to sand a bit on the relay tabs to help ensure a solid connection there.

Once all of this was done and the paint was dry, I started the assembly process. It pretty much is just a reverse of how I tore it all down. The only thing to be careful of is the alignment of the armature with the wiring assembly.



In the picture above, notice the 'fins' on the left side of the armature? As the motor wiring assembly is mounted to one side or the other of the main housing pieces, it is actually offset some. IF you mount it in the right side of the housing, the fins of the armature should be on the left side. Basically, don't insert the armature with the fins IN the wiring assembly, the motor won't work correctly.

Well, I always take pictures of a project fully restored, so here it goes. But first...the BEFORE!!!



Now, the AFTER!!



This is a close up of the new label. You can see the shadow of the outline of the laminate.


On the left corner near the white center piece, you'll notice what looks like some rough spots. They are, its from the casting method they used. I didn't bother removing it as I thought it gave it character!

This is a slightly down facing shot, showing the top of the lamp and the top of the grinder.



I forgot to get one of the stand, I just stripped the rust and painted it black.

The pictures above show the eye shields before they were cleaned. They were tricky, I didn't have a clue what to do with them so I left them alone until I knew what to try. Then a few weeks later, I realized that I cleaned up my headlights on my truck, so I just used the same stuff! Worked like a charm!

Since those pictures were taken, I've removed the wheel guards and just use it as a buffer. I have different wheels I pop on and off as I need them. I love it!

Any questions you have are welcome, I'll see if I can't snap a few pics in the next few days of how it sits now.