Revitalizing a hand crank grinder
This came in today, a hand crank grinder, model 85, from Prairie Tool Co.
Prairie du Chien, WI.; made sometime after 1920.
Auction photo.
My pics. These are all before I took it apart, cleaned, oiled/greased. I'll get new pics after dinner.
For some reason my youtube video is not showing up. FIXED!
The threads were in rough shape. After buying a 7/16×20 nut and filing the threads a bit I finally realized they were left handed… another trip to the hardware store. A little work with a wrench and channel locks and I got the new nut working smoothly.
Either the arbor is undersized or the grinding wheel hole is oversized but there is about 1/32"+ difference, just enough to cause crazy vibration that can be felt through the floor. I wrapped the arbor with masking tape until the wheel was snug and now it runs smooth but I want a more elegant solution.
Opened the case and cleaned out the petrified grease then regreased the gears. (before pic)
I'm told this is a type of grease zerk. I tried pumping grease through it with a grease gun but it didn't seem to be happening. How do I make this work?
This is my first tool restoration and I have a couple of questions that maybe someone can answer.
The grinder is covered with some kind of scaly gunk, probably old grease/oil/dirt over the original paint (what's left). It comes off if I scrape it with the handle end of a file or an old screwdriver then a brass brush gets most of what is left but not all. Hopefully there is a chemical solution that will work a little faster. Maybe Simple Green and hot water?
I bought some gasket material to replace the paper gasket, it is a variety kit with black rubber, red rubber, and cork. Does it matter which I use?
Some of these old grinders were designed to hold some amount of machine oil inside the case for lubricating the gears. I applied grease but the worm gears just push it to the outside. I'm wondering if grease will be good enough or if I should add machine oil once it's all finished?
This came in today, a hand crank grinder, model 85, from Prairie Tool Co.
Prairie du Chien, WI.; made sometime after 1920.
Auction photo.
My pics. These are all before I took it apart, cleaned, oiled/greased. I'll get new pics after dinner.
For some reason my youtube video is not showing up. FIXED!
The threads were in rough shape. After buying a 7/16×20 nut and filing the threads a bit I finally realized they were left handed… another trip to the hardware store. A little work with a wrench and channel locks and I got the new nut working smoothly.
Either the arbor is undersized or the grinding wheel hole is oversized but there is about 1/32"+ difference, just enough to cause crazy vibration that can be felt through the floor. I wrapped the arbor with masking tape until the wheel was snug and now it runs smooth but I want a more elegant solution.
Opened the case and cleaned out the petrified grease then regreased the gears. (before pic)
I'm told this is a type of grease zerk. I tried pumping grease through it with a grease gun but it didn't seem to be happening. How do I make this work?
This is my first tool restoration and I have a couple of questions that maybe someone can answer.
The grinder is covered with some kind of scaly gunk, probably old grease/oil/dirt over the original paint (what's left). It comes off if I scrape it with the handle end of a file or an old screwdriver then a brass brush gets most of what is left but not all. Hopefully there is a chemical solution that will work a little faster. Maybe Simple Green and hot water?
I bought some gasket material to replace the paper gasket, it is a variety kit with black rubber, red rubber, and cork. Does it matter which I use?
Some of these old grinders were designed to hold some amount of machine oil inside the case for lubricating the gears. I applied grease but the worm gears just push it to the outside. I'm wondering if grease will be good enough or if I should add machine oil once it's all finished?