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Surface grinder....

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Meldonmech:
 
  Hi Ade
                 I think you have made the right decision. That is a good price you have been quoted, giving you a machine that will do a professional job. Owning this machine, would also enable you to offer this service to other enthusiasts, which could offset the cost of the additional unit.

                                               Good Luck
                                                                    Cheers David

Manxmodder:
Ade,I have had quite a lot of experience with both types of grinder in your photos.

As someone else has already mentioned the push across table type does tend to create bows at the start and finish of the cut. We only ever used it for cast iron heads as aluminium just clogs the wheel up. It is also very slow and tedious to use.

The overhead Pratt & Whitney is very similar to the Churchill I have used,and this type of machine with segmented wheels does a great job of leveling and produces a superb finish if left to spark out on a light cut.

For aluminium heads we used to skim with a single point fly cutter on a swing arm type grinder with automatic feed......OZ.

Edit to add a video of a swing type grinder grinding an iron head with segmented wheel and flycutting with a single point tool

DavidA:
Just add my bit to the pile.

I also have considerable experience of the top (Snow) grinder and confirm that it is a rough fettling machine.  What tends to happen is that the wheel becomes distorted with use and has to be dressed fairly frequently. I used it for removing the 'skin' off cast iron samples.

I have also used the grinder (Lumsden version) depicted at the bottom.  We used it for skimming cylinder blocks after fitting new liners.

Dave.

millwright:
Can only agree with the others Ade. we had several snow grinders in the factory where i worked they were used for cleaning up the faces of flamecut plate up to 6 inches thick.
 I remember when i was an apprentice and was given the job of overhauling the engine of a non running ex RAF fork truck called an aerolift, trying to skim the old ford side valve head it bounced all over the table i couldnt hold it, it look a right pigs ear and i had to have some nice words with the grinding dept to surface grind it for me, last i heard the engine and fork truck were still running 10 yrs ago, You need a proper suface grinder mate.

John

AdeV:
All,

Many thanks for your excellent advice - I'll pass on the Snow machine then, for all the reasons given (work jumping about, wheel clogging and the bowing at either end).

Unfortunately, the big machine - which I'd absolutely love to own - is WAAAY too big for the space I have available. If anyone else is interested, it's on eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331545105660), BIN for £1500 or make an offer. Sadly, I expect it'll end up being scrapped.

Oz - great video find, that looks like exactly the sort of machine I should be looking for - relatively small footprint, but big capacity. I'd be happy to run an insert tool in it to just do ali heads, I reckon it'd be in use all the time, there's only a few places around me that can skim heads; and once I relocate to Portugal, I reckon I'd be the only one for miles around.

Either that, or I just need to look for a decent CNC milling machine with a bigger traverse than my old Mk2 Interact; I keep seeing Mk4's go past for moderate money, maybe one of those would do the trick; either that or a proper VMC in a box.

Thanks all! You just saved me 350 quid + P&P... The Snow is also on eBay if anyone wants it - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151690273977

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