Wadkin surface grinder.

I have been offered a small Wadkin surface grinder for around £100.00

I don't know the model but I should soon have photos.

It probably weighs around three or four cwt. and looks pretty sturdy but will need complete overhaul and change of motor to single phase.

Has anyone here had any experience of this make of machine ?

Mike.

Only know their wood working machines, top of the range,some of them 50 years on,still going strong.

No DIY stuff there !

Have a look here. **LINK**

So not a surface grinder as we know it? In which case changing to a single phase motor probably won't matter. If it was a proper surface grinder, as opposed to a cutter sharpener, then changing to a single phase motor would be a bad thing due to motor vibration.

Andrew

A Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) could be used to drive the 3 phase motor, so avoiding a motor change? Other 3 phase converters are also available.

It looks to be smaller version than this one. Or the one shown below has larger control handles/wheels.

Hi Mike,

I sent you a PM a while ago regarding another matter - I thought you were'nt on the forum any more

Dave

I now have the machine home. Very heavy to lift so we stripped it down into manageable smaller lumps !!

Photos enclosed. Any more info on this machine/model would be very useful.

Mike.

Looks like a steal if it polishes up

Now I'm jealous.

So far,all the nuts and bolts, bar one, have undone ok. Looks mainly like surface rust on the beds so am hoping to do a fast restore on this one. Could well be of use, as I often have to reduce thickness of hardened washers.

The paint is just flaking off, so that will save a considerable time. Being Wadkin make, I wonder if they included this machine in their range of woodworking machines, so that it could have been used for planer blade sharpening ?

Looks like a proper surface grinder from here...

Neil

One thing that mystifies me, is what does the "Test" figure represent on the machine lable in photo above ?

Mike.

Don't worry about driving it from a single phase motor. The drive belt and inertia of the spindle/wheel will absorb the torque fluctuations for what you want.

Original 3 phase motor was around 2500 RPM, but luckily I have a single phase, same RPM, motor on the shelf ready to bolt on, that a friend gave me last year..

Some of the paint looks like battleship grey, but don't know if that is original.

I find that car engine paint comes up with a nice gloss but takes around three days to dry.

Mike.

The machine is now stripped down except for two parts, the pinion for the rack has a taper pin that refuses to move for the time being, and the rod that holds the collars for setting the travel , will not budge and as both are mounted in the casting I have to take care with both points if I need to remove them.

All the castings have a part number cast in then. Would it be of use to make a list of

all parts for future reference ?

All the castings seem to ring ok with no signs of any cracks.

The base pedestal is a two man lift , as is the middle plate, so not easy to move round the workshop. The base is now primed with a rust inhibitor paint and I will spray it first with a spray two pack filler, that sands easily and makes for a good undercoat for the top gloss.

Original paint seems to be a grey with a blue tint. Looks to be similar shade to Myford's.

I found traces of the paint under the name plate and warning plate. That plate informs owner to only grease bearings with motor running. ?

Due to heavy construction I had wondered if the machine, with suitable chuck, could be used for light milling as well as the grinding it was intended for.

Mike.

We all should be following that advice.

Re "Test Number" Most older Wadkin Machines have this unique number stamped on the ID plate. It seems to be a factory reference number for the machines final testing

Hi Martin,

when you say older, any idea of date when they used this test number.

I have been searching the net ,but so far have been unlucky in finding any information on it.

A photo or drawing would be handy for ref. For example, the wheel guard has been "got at" by previous owners and it would be nice to get it looking how it was when new. I have a feeling it is from 1948 era.

The grinders supplied by Wadkin in later years were used to re-grind blades as used on their woodworking machines, and these were known as cutter grinders. This makes me think that my machine was used for same purpose.

Mike.

RE: surface grinder as miller

Spindle will be too fast for horizontal mill blades. If you can somehow mount a chuck on it you could get away with small endmills but you would have some awkwardness because of the rack and pinion preventing fine adjustment in one axis. Not sure you would mount the chuck either.

If you want a mill I would swap you a denbigh for it