Cincinnati #2 tool and cutter grinder

[cs123]

I recently extended my shed because I had too much clutter. So what do I do? I clutter up the extension with new toys.

This one is a blast from the past. A Cincinnati #2 tool and cutter grinder.





These machines were originally sold to enable machine shops to resharpen their milling cutters, end mills and drills with high precision and also to make custom tools for the lathe and mill.

The reason I was attracted to this machine was less for that, although I will use it to make tools for the lathe mostly. But I was interested in a secondary capability of being able to surface grind and cylindrical grind parts.

Trying to buy a new machine to do both of those things will cost a lot and the machine will be less capable that this one.

I asked Charliewool to talk me down from buying this machine, but he was all for it.

The only downside was the location. It was in Melbourne. Rare to find this sort of machine in QLD and my experience has been that the more capable industrial machines are going to be found in Victoria and South Australia

So needed to add freight and delivery to the price of the machine. Plus the trauma that comes with entrusting a precision machine to a zero-care trucking company

[cs123]

The machine predates the early 70s being built in England



It was also originally a 3 phase machine, but had been retrofitted to single phase at some stage in its life.



I love the old control panel. Pretty groovy



It has 2 speeds selectable via different pulley sizes and powered via a flat belt. The speeds are fast and faster. 3800rpm and 5500rpm.



I don't see a need to revert back to 3 phase. Being a precision grinder it won't be taking big cuts into things.

[cs123]

The business end. The spindle head. It has 2 spindles and the head sits on a riser that can be lowered and raised via a handwheel. It can also rotate through 360 degrees. This model does not have a tilting head



At the time of manufacture these ran matched bearing sets and they were pricey. I think these days it is possible to find replacements off the shelf that exceed the specifications for the bearings. The spindle seems OK and not noisy, so no plans to pull this down.

[cs123]

Some of the accessories.



It comes with 2 work heads plus a vice. The work heads allow rotation the tool you are making as well as being able to position the workhead into just about any angle

The second workhead is powered


I need to find some tool holders for these. The have a #50 taper on one end and a MT5 on the other end. This stuff is mostly missing apart from a MT5 to MT3 adapter and a #50 to #40 adapter. You can also grind between centres on this setup, but again the parts for this are missing, so is the chuck.

I am hoping to adapt a NT50 tool holder to fit into the #50, but will need to do some more research.

I also thing I need to strip these heads down. One was a bit hard to turn as it seemed to have run dry. I will probably use that opportunity to see if I can retro fit a shaft that suits more modern tool holders.

[cs123]

A first test drive was to sharpen an old beaten up chisel



Mission accomplished as it put a very nice finish on it.

You will notice the lack of wheel guard. One of the first jobs it to make some. It only has one and that isn't for cup wheels