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I have a small home shop (Bridgeport, lathe, benchtop cnc) and am looking for a hard material removal device.
I often outsource part of my projects (start with laser cut blanks, or have complex geometry wired, then I finish it up) to reduce costs.
I find myself working with more hard materials (S7 52-54RC has become the material of choice in one of my hobbies), so being able to work with it after hardening would be helpful.
At the mold shop where I work, this would just be a matter of putting a sine plate or a fixture on a surface grinder and working it down. And so naturally I have been watching Craigslist for a surface grinder. So far, I have found 110v to be scarce, and usually these machines are rather large for my shop.
This morning I got thinking (dangerous, I know) that maybe there's another machine to do what I need. Mostly I want to be steps, angles, or bevels on mostly finished parts. I don't have a need to precisely square up stock etc, so maybe a surface grinder is just way over kill?
Is there perhaps another grinding device that could suit my needs? In the wood working world, a 2 in 1 sander (belt/disc) with a nice table and miter slide would do nicely... I just need better control/clamping for metal (I think).
Is there anything between 'pedestal grinder' and 'surface grinder'?
I've got a little garage setup with a little mill, lathe, welding setup, plasma table. There's a nice little Boyar Schultz on craigslist that looks to be in great shape, for a reasonable price.
I've never used a surface grinder before, but it would be nice to be able to make things that are actually flat and smooth, rather than flat and smooth enough. Do you think a surface grinder is worth the space in a hobby shop? Are there any novel uses for them besides making things precise and flat?