03-19-2015, 09:30 AM
If the goal is to resurface lathe beds, what's wrong with using the planer as originally intended rather than trying to make a surface grinder out of it?
I'm no scraper hand but I was under the impression that a good planer finish was a better starting point than a ground surface. A planed surface would likely be better than a milled one too.
In years past I ran a Gray Planer Mill with a single 50HP spindle. It had a 3 meter x 2 meter table and could just get a 6" milling cutter to the 4 corners. The 2-1/2" Acme screw for the table topped out at about 40" per minute in rapid or feed. The head could tilt about 30º either side of vertical, but once it was set by the last employed Gray service technician we never touched it. Your conversion wouldn't be a problem because milling rates would never approach that of the existing gear and rack arrangement.
I'm no scraper hand but I was under the impression that a good planer finish was a better starting point than a ground surface. A planed surface would likely be better than a milled one too.
In years past I ran a Gray Planer Mill with a single 50HP spindle. It had a 3 meter x 2 meter table and could just get a 6" milling cutter to the 4 corners. The 2-1/2" Acme screw for the table topped out at about 40" per minute in rapid or feed. The head could tilt about 30º either side of vertical, but once it was set by the last employed Gray service technician we never touched it. Your conversion wouldn't be a problem because milling rates would never approach that of the existing gear and rack arrangement.