NOT "A". antique tool question

MrTube

MrTube

Well-known member
I'm going to hope no one gets upset over this post as some have in the past. I've warned it does not concern model As so people don't waste their time if they don't want to help friends.

A close friend of mine has a very old bench grinder which he offered to give me. The grinder looks like a large air cooled motor mounted horizontally on a piece of wood using two wire style brackets, one on each end of the motor. The motor has one shaft coming out of the end which the grinding wheel is mounted on. Motor is painted a glossy black and runs amazingly quiet. I looked at it late last night so don't have any pictures at least not yet.

The only thing that caught my attention was the electrical plug says MAYTAG on it. Not sure if the plug is original but who knows. No power switch, so I would plug it into a switched outlet if I take it.


The stone wheel was ground down quite a bit and for some reason I think it was white colored rather than gray. It had plenty of power, though barely made sparks when grinding? I have to assume this motor runs in the neighborhood of 1700rpm as its a split-phase 110V AC motor.

Now the reason for my post. Something odd like this is hard to find info on but I'm willing to bet quite a few on this forum have experience with older grinders like this.

It has no guards which I'm not terribly concerned about, but how good will it be as a grinder? What are the chances of finding stones or wire wheels to fit it? Why did it seem to not produce sparks when griding? Was it due to the wheel being ground way down? Wheel material or does this motor somehow run slower than 1700rpm?

The grinder was the same style as the one in this picture, but mounted with the wire brackets and had a MUCH larger motor and only one shaft.

The picture is NOT of the grinder in question.

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Thank you for your time and help.
Chris J
 
Sure it wasn't an old washing machine engine converted to a grinder? My grandfather used to do that kind of stuff.
 
I suppose its always possible. Apparently 1725RPM is on the lowside for a grinder, I think my dad's 10" grinder runs at that speed, maybe the large wheel makes up for it.

I guess the first thing I need to do is measure the shaft size.
 
Mr. Tube,

Try posting this over on "garagegazette.org" in the Antique power tool section. With pics I can almost bet you that someone will have some info on it.

Mike
 
It is most likely off an old washing machine, like 29 model A suggested. It is slow for a small grinding wheel, you need more surface speed. A big wheel would increase surface speed but would likely not have enough power. White stones are for sharpening carbide tools, and are not the best for regular steels.
 
Get it in shape and you will find occasions to us it... I have an old arbor with grinding wheels and an old quarter hp motor mounted on a board so can move it around as needed on it made by my dad 60 yrs ago and great for little stuff...John
 
Here is a Maytag washer motor.

Bob
 

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When you say "wire brackets" do you mean "fencing staples", which are U shaped nails, pointed on each tip? That was a common way to nail these motors to boards.

I find my 3400 RPM grinder with a wire wheel on one end is much too fast for a lot of things, so I use my 1725 as you just mentioned. It has a 1/2" arbor held to the motor's 1/2" shaft by setscrews. 1/2" wheels are easy to find. Maytag put their name on the electric motors used in their old wringer washing machines. Once I even had a 32 volt Maytag motor from the old wringer washer. Wind generators and powerplants for the farms were often 32 volts back in the Model A days.
 
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Thank you for all of the replies.

Tom, I don't think they are fencing stables. They look more like a bracket to me and they are horizontal for the most part and go in opposit directions. One goes to the left and down and the other to the right and down.

I'll try to get some pictures tonight.
 
Oops! Above I stated that a white stone is for carbide tool bits, that is wrong. Carbide tool bits require a green stone. I'm not sure what a white stone is for.
 
The white stone is aluminum oxide, it won't heat up what you are grinding as quickly as the grey wheel that you typically see on a bench grinder. The down side is that it wears much more quickly, it will be best for fine finish work.
 
OK so I took a few pictures, its covered in sawdust but overall seems like it would cleanup easily.

Its definatly home made but I don't know out of what. I was wrong when I said it was mounted using wirebrackets, not sure why I rememberd that. I was also wrong about the stone, its more of a reddish color, the white I guess is from aluminum being ground or something.




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The steel rod is the original mount for the washer, so the motor can pivot some and is held tight by a strong coiled expansion spring. It now has perf strap to hold it steady on the wheel end. The wheel is mounted to a common arbor, which is slipped onto the 1/2" motor shaft and probably held in place by a couple set screws.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
The steel rod is the original mount for the washer, so the motor can pivot some and is held tight by a strong coiled expansion spring. It now has perf strap to hold it steady on the wheel end. The wheel is mounted to a common arbor, which is slipped onto the 1/2" motor shaft and probably held in place by a couple set screws.
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Hi Tom,

Yep two set screws on the arbor. What I'm not sure of is there are two rubber o rings, or whatever you want to call them on the shaft towards the motor. They don't appear to do anything other than make noise. I originally feared maybe they were jammed in there to take out slop on the shaft, but they don't.

Any idea what washer this is from? Like I said the plug says Maytag but I have yet to find a Maytag that looks like it. All of the ones I've found look sealed.
 
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I see a red and a black O rings but don't know why they are there.
An 8" wheel would be the limit and even then you couldn't press in too hard on the part being ground.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
I see a red and a black O rings but don't know why they are there.
An 8" wheel would be the limit and even then you couldn't press in too hard on the part being ground.
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I modified my post just before you responded. So far I cannot find any 8" wheel for a 1/2" arbor. 6" is the biggest I've found.
 
Looks a bit sketchy to me. Safe practice says to use a grinder with tool rests and eye shields. With reasonably priced bench grinders available why chance your personal safety?
 
Fordors said:
Looks a bit sketchy to me. Safe practice says to use a grinder with tool rests and eye shields. With reasonably priced bench grinders available why chance your personal safety?
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True, but I've never known anyone to use eye shields on a grinder. Maybe I just hang out with the wrong crowed? :D

Personally, I always wear glasses and feel naked without them.
 
Look at any commercially available grinder, they will include tool rests, spark shields and eye shields. Do what you like, it's your body.
Free grinder-cool
Safety equipment-don't need
Trip to ER-unexpected.
 
Fordors said:
Look at any commercially available grinder, they will include tool rests, spark shields and eye shields. Do what you like, it's your body.
Free grinder-cool
Safety equipment-don't need
Trip to ER-unexpected.
Click to expand...

The sarcasm is not needed or appreciated. As stated above I always wear eye protection. I also wear ear protection and very often a face mask.

Yes, all grinders sold come with that and as I stated above everyone I know doesn't use the eye shields.
 
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