1950s Italian Bench Grinder / Buffer Restoration

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Complete and in depth restoration of a cool vintage italian bench grinder, probably used as buffig and cleaning tool.
I found this beauty listed on online market place near me for only 50€, had to have it! I always wanted one of this kind of grinders with long shafts. I think it will be extremely useful for quickly cleaning rust off pieces and buffing stuff out like my blades. Since now I made both this operation with small motors (a tiny bench gridner and a washing machine motor with a drill cuck) and it has always been a pain to work on bigger things as the motor or the base often gets in the way of you workpiece. With this extened shaft you can work all around the wheel and being this a mcuh bigger motor than what I am used to it's also nice to have the extra power so I don't stall the motor while pushing hard! Win-win!
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Index of operation and materials:
1:40 WD-40 to lubricate a bit the old fasteners
3:00 Old bearing will be replaced, so are removed with little care
4:03 Old placque is unreadable
4:30 Remove loose dust with compressed air
5:03 De-grease surfaces for better paint stripper action
5:28 Paint stripper brushed on and left on for 15-30 min
5:52 Old paint removed with card scraper and steel wire brush
7:00 Inside the grinder we find some surface rust, instead of removing it I seal it with rust converter, it's way easier for hard to reach areas. Grease or thick oil can be applied over the rust removal patina once it's dried to improve rust prevention.
7:45 The inside of the stand is treated the same way
7:58 Wire wheel on angle grinder gets rid of the rust on the main shaft
8:15 A soft and fine abrasive sponge removes rust from the rotor, just a lite touch!
8:36 Rust onverter is applied the same way as before also on the shaft get rid of rust in tight spots and prevent rust from coming back
9:22 A very very light touch of fine sponge abrasive inside the stator to remove bad rust spots
9:47 Unnecessary holes filled with bondo
10:50 New, sealed and anti-dust bearings installed
12:10 Hammered effect dark green paint brushed on, for this kind of paint brush works better than spraygun, the hammered effect develops better in my experience
12:47 Old fasteners restored with ultrasonic cleaner
12:50 De greased for 15 min with nitro solvant
13:03 De rusted for 15 min with rust removal
13:32 Blackened for 10 min with cold blueing fluid
13:45 Oiled well immediatly after the cold blue to prevent flash rust on the now etched steel
14:53 Switch housing cleaned with spray degreased
15:03 Old paint scraped with box cutter
15:16 Holes filled with bondo
15:27 Cured bondo and residue paint sanded off with fine abrasive sponge
15:37 Matt black spray paint
15:50 Switch cleaned with WD-40
16:06 And with solvent and fine sand paper where needed
16:22 Mark the position of the switch
16:30 Drill and tap for M3 mounting bolts
17:11 New wiring installed and unnecessary "fuse" connection shorted
17:24 All wires are crimped and fastened to terminals
17:52 Run and start capacitors re installed to simulate third phase
18:10 New mains voltage wire connected and ground wire bolted to the casting
18:40 All wiring and components secured with zipties
19:00 Motor and tray are bolted to the column with four M6 bolts and nylon lock nuts
19:18 Shaft extenders threads are cleaned with WD-40
19:30 And oiled with thin anti size oil
19:45 Shaft extenders are brushed with the motor running for convinience
20:20 Thin oil on every exposed steel surface
20:40 Old cotton buffing wheel is cleaned with steel wire brush
20:58 Steel wire wheel that came with the grinder
21:10 De rusted with rust removal fluid (and oiled off camera)
21:26 A new spacer is needed as the one that came with the wheel was loose for this shaft
21:35 Machining a new mild steel spacer on the metal lathe
22:23 Two thick washers were machined off camera
22:30 A fourth piece was machined off camera the same way as the spacer to be used as locking ring
22:32 Two flat spot are ground where holes needs to be drilled
22:37 Holes position is marked with center puch
22:45 And drilled for M6 grub scew
23:12 Tapping with M6 tap set
23:36 Grub screw
24:25 Fine polishing coumpound
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