9.1.15 Free Grinder

Post date: Oct 9, 2015 5:17:31 PM

A little while ago I got a free grinder from a neighbor, which had been dropped and left in a puddle. He was going to scrap it and maybe should have but turned out to be quite a find. Took a little work (OK, a lot) but for $17 and some elbow grease and creative repairs it's turned out to be an awesome grinder. It was a 1986 import but had a large frame and felt very sturdy. When I first saw it I thought it was a 3/4hp but it ended up it was only 1/2hp...but strong! The power chord was a mess and been spliced about 4 times and had been dropped on the contactor button which broke the housing around it.

The first thing I did was remove the contactor and bottom plate to get to the wiring. Basically the contactor was in pretty good shape but would not stay pulled out because the face was crushed. I did some clean up inside and creative gluing to put it back in shape. Attached a spare power cable and sparked her up. Ran Ok but could hear one of the bearings. OK Then pulled every thing apart ordered and replaced the bearings, power cord and new plug. Below are a few of the pictures.

Originally I was going to use it as a buffer but change my mind after seeing how strong it was compared to my HFT. Now the HFT is the buffer and will handle that fine! Over all a fun project and got a good grinder for $17 and some elbow grease, a few parts and paint.