Progress on the new surface grinder attachment has been slow, but it is at least moving forward. I was only able to squeeze in only a couple of hours this weekend, but I think I figured out some pretty critical things for the design of the attachment. Here are some pics of what I was able to get done.
Since I forgot to take some pics of the magnetic chuck last week, here's what it looked like after the magnets were epoxied into the slots. The magnets protrud about 1/8 of an inch on either side, which was anticipated. I will grind these off flat with the sides of the chuck to clean things up.
I just rough ground off the ends of the magnets on the flat platen of my grinder. I'll square things and clean up the squeezed out epoxy a little later. If you ever find yourself grinding rare earth magnets, be very careful. It's similar to grinding zirconium in that any little chip ignites and looks like a Fourth of July sparkler. It's pretty cool, but it can be quite dangerous. Remember that the face of the magnetic chuck will be surfaced off once the surface grinder attachment is complete. This will bring the magnets much closer to the surface of the face and increase the holding power of the magnets on the work piece.
The next major piece I needed to make was a mounting plate that would connect the slide table with the linear slide block. It's simply a rectangular block of aluminum with through holes and counter sinks to attach it to the slide table and threaded holes to connect the linear slide block.
Here is the piece with both gizmos attached. It made for a very solid connection and I took great care to make sure that everything was lined up and absolutely parallel.
For a final pick I show the linear guide in place. These two pieces mounted together will give me movement in an X and Y axis which is exactly what you need in a surface grinder. The next step is to figure out how to mount the magnetic chuck to the linear guide bar, and then how to attach this apparatus to the tool arm. I've got a good idea in my head. I just hope it comes together like I envision it.
Thanks for following along with me on this build. Have a great week.
- Brandant Robinson