Surface Grinding Attachment - SGA

here is my SGA. so, here's my results from hand filing a blank. the pictures are top to bottom measurements. BTW, I went to an auction and got this height gauge for (are you ready?) $7.00 american! Just gotta learn how to read the durn thang!DSC01473.JPGDSC01474.JPGDSC01475.JPGDSC01476.JPG
 
It seems like you might get better(maybe marginally?) results out of a narrower belt instead of a wider one.

A lot of us use 1" wide belts on surface grinders. You can't assume an entire belt's abrasive surface is at a uniform even consistent height.

So for maximum precision, the highest point of the abrasive surface must pass over all of your material being ground. By using a narrower belt, you can decrease the chances of not having the high spot in your belt touch all the surface being ground.
 
I'd add this. If you are following this and wish you had could make one of these, you can. If you don't have a mill, find a buddy with a mill to cut your slots for the magnets. The rest goes together with holes and tapping. Getting a piece of aluminum milled won't cost that much. It might take an hour of manual milling for the magnet slots. The other metal you might need can easily be purchased online cut to size. The parts are all mild steel so it's cheap.
 
BossDog said:
I'd add this. If you are following this and wish you had could make one of these, you can. If you don't have a mill, find a buddy with a mill to cut your slots for the magnets. The rest goes together with holes and tapping. Getting a piece of aluminum milled won't cost that much. It might take an hour of manual milling for the magnet slots. The other metal you might need can easily be purchased online cut to size. The parts are all mild steel so it's cheap.
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True life! On a big machine shop mill this would be a cake walk. The only other milling I had to do was to relive the tooling arm to accept the sliding table. In my case this was necessary to line up the center of my chuck with my wheel.
 
I actually milled my mag chuck initially with my little HF 8” Drill Press! Wasn’t the prettiest, but it worked.

So if you have a drill press, you CAN still build one. Of course a mill is MUCH preferred. I purchased a mill shortly after building the first SGA in the original thread. So now I have cleaned everything up and I it’s much improved. It’s amazing what can be accomplished though, given the dedication.
 
One Armed said:
I actually milled my mag chuck initially with my little HF 8” Drill Press! Wasn’t the prettiest, but it worked.

So if you have a drill press, you CAN still build one. Of course a mill is MUCH preferred. I purchased a mill shortly after building the first SGA in the original thread. So now I have cleaned everything up and I it’s much improved. It’s amazing what can be accomplished though, given the dedication.
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The "purists" on some of the YouTube comments on my video are appalled by my milling. Not precise enough. Not Pretty enough. Not expensive enough mill...

They'd really flip out on you using a drill press!! LOL



*Note: I'm the first to admit I was learning as I went and didn't know what I was doing... Not a machinist here.
 
J. Keeton said:
The "purists" on some of the YouTube comments on my video are appalled by my milling. Not precise enough. Not Pretty enough. Not expensive enough mill...

They'd really flip out on you using a drill press!! LOL



*Note: I'm the first to admit I was learning as I went and didn't know what I was doing... Not a machinist here.
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Many already did in 2017, LOL! :D But hey, I picked up a $35 XY Axis table & it got the job done!

The original one cost me about $250 total...including the end mills, & Axis table, etc. And it held a few thous. tolerance. I have posted a video using the original setup. I think it worked pretty darn good!

Of course using a mill IS the way to go! Cleaner work, and better tolerances. But in the world of DIY, ya do what you have to when an idea comes up. I wanted Travis Wuertz SGA-1, but could NEVER afford one! Thing is, I KNEW I could build one if I could just find that linear slide rail. Took me a couple weeks of searching. First, I found out what it was, and located a source in the States. Although it was still quite expensive, several hundred dollars and would still be above my budget. Then I remembered finding things on Aliexpress the few years prior to 2017. And BINGO! Led us to this point now.
 
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machinists love to criticize others work. It's a toxic part of their culture. Youtube isn't much better. I always disable comments posts to Youtube to keep the hate down.


J. Keeton said:
The "purists" on some of the YouTube comments on my video are appalled by my milling. Not precise enough. Not Pretty enough. Not expensive enough mill...

They'd really flip out on you using a drill press!! LOL



*Note: I'm the first to admit I was learning as I went and didn't know what I was doing... Not a machinist here.
Click to expand...
 
BossDog said:
machinists love to criticize others work. It's a toxic part of their culture. Youtube isn't much better. I always disable comments posts to Youtube to keep the hate down.
Click to expand...
J. Keeton said:
The "purists" on some of the YouTube comments on my video are appalled by my milling. Not precise enough. Not Pretty enough. Not expensive enough mill...

They'd really flip out on you using a drill press!! LOL



*Note: I'm the first to admit I was learning as I went and didn't know what I was doing... Not a machinist here.
Click to expand...
Imagine the comments to me using files ! Tee hee hee!
 
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