Craftsman "Block Motor" bench grinders --

[goodfellow]

I love these things and owned some over the years, but unfortunately I sold or traded all of them over the years. I got reintroduced to these fine grinders way back when there was a now defunct site called the Garage Hangout, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of these fine old workhorses.

Picked it up on ebay for a song because it was listed as DOA. The venerable "Block Motor" grinder was one of Sears' best power tools ever. Knowing that these things are bullet proof, I bet on the fact that it was a faulty connection and not a bad motor -- it was a good bet.

Turns out it was a bad switch that had fried when a hot wire that was feeding it shorted out. No big deal!!! th-bounce







Previous owner stuffed a very thick buffing pad on the left side and it must have frayed to all get out when he turned it on because the pad threads are caught in everything.



Right side is the OEM 6 inch medium grit wheel and it still rings good when "pinged".





Bypassed the faulty switch and she started right up -- smooth as silk.



Bad switch --



All apart and ready for some "love" --







People always want to know what makes these things so special; here's the reason.
Look at those field windings. That is some VERY thick copper wire. When compared to a modern Chinese winding, these look GIGANTIC. The imports use very thin field wire. This is what makes these "block motors" so darn powerful and long lasting.





Time to go to the store and get some hammered paint.

[goodfellow]

At lunch I went and purchased some hammered paint -- silver and copper tones. Two hours later I was done.

The frame and cover were a breeze to paint. The brackets and side covers took a little longer, but the parts washer made short work of cleaning.







The switch was also salvageable. I took it apart, cleaned the contacts and put a new stem into it; good as new!!



Done!! only other thing I had to do was rewire the light fixture. A great grinder for next to nothing invested. All I need is to find a left housing cover for it. The seller didn't know what happened to it, since it was an estate sale. No problem, I have time to look for one. Just glad to have the unit working and lookin' good again.









The water tray was blasted and painted -- ready for another 40 years of service.



For a couple hours work in the warm sunshine, this was a lot of fun and -- worth it!

[goodfellow]

Some months later I found another one -- a bit in worse shape, but also cheap!!

Not perfect, but for $20 it was worth it --

Split phase 1/3 HP Craftsman Industrial version. Needs some work, but the bearings are nice and smooth and the housing is clean. It needs a few parts such as the right side wheel guard and wheel guard cover, as well as the wheel guard end plate. Also the eye shield.

I can make most of these sheet metal parts, except for the cast wheel guard housing. If anyone has one for sale please PM me.









I will use this machine as a dedicated tungsten grinder for my Miller TIG machine.

[goodfellow]

Had a few hours to kill, so I pretty much tore into it hard. Cleaned, sanded, painted the pieces this afternoon and they are drying up as I'm typing this. It'll be ready for reassembly tomorrow morning.



Built in 1969 --









Everything disassembled --





Previous owner used the wheel to grind on wood  -- pretty much ruined it with embedded pitch and tar







Everything nicely painted and drying --







I used copper hammered paint on the center shroud -- I like that color.



Finished it up this morning. This is not a restore, but just a cleaning, sanding and respray job. The bearings and other components worked flawlessly, so no need to dig into the machine to any great detail.






Onward --