Quoted:
Okay, serious question. What is the purpose of a surface grinder? I've wondered for years. I get it makes stuff flatter and nicer than a mill. What needs that level of precision/finish?
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Aside from the hardness and flatness capabilities, they are also able to-
Produce an excellent surface finish
Create intricate profiles via wheel dressing
Take very small cuts, <.0001"
They make excellent cutoff tools
Parallelism is second to none
Quoted:
I'm a hobby shop. Collant goes bad and I only run this grinder a few times a month. I hand spray on coolant when I want it but sparks and grinding dust still come off at high speed.
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A couple times per month is fairly often, IMO. Modern coolants will get you over a year sump life in a service like that. Grinder coolant is mixed to ~2% concentration, 1qt will last about 5yrs in a 2-3gallon setup.
Cool thing about a small setup like this is that you can carry it over to the lathe, mill, saw, etc when needed.