60 Year Old Craftsman Bench Grinder Restoration
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Restoration of a vintage 1954 Craftsman bench grinder. The grinder body is cast iron so it was cleaned, sand-blasted, and painted with enamel to match the original paint. This grinder was the top of the line grinder for Craftsman in the 1950s at $32. It featured precision bearings in contrast to their other grinders which just had brass bushing. The bearings have been replaced with new precision bearings as part of the restoration. New grinder disks have been installed, but 1 1/4 inch disks are no longer available, so narrower disks were used.
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#restoration
#craftsman
#restore
Right on! Great first video!
Thanks!
Once again you've reminded me of my dad. He passed 3.2021. He retired from Sears Roebuck & Co. in the late 70s, they carried mostly Craftsman tools. As I go thru his many owner's manuals of all his machinery and tools they're all Craftsman. I do believe he (or my grandfather, his dad, had one of these). Thank you!
Sorry to hear about your father. My dad and grandfathers were Craftsman men too. These old tools are a real connection to them. Thanks for watching!
"Not ANOTHER bench grinder restoration!" I say to Myself just before I sit there and watch the full 20 minutes of the video in complete awe. Loved the method of using dry ice to constrict the part to fitting into place. Also like that you colour matched the original paint work and kept the original decal in place. Top job! :)
Thanks so much!
Glad to see someone keeping the same colors
Thanks!
That dry ice technique is freaking cool!
Wonderful job. Made at a time when craftsman tools were of the top quality you could buy . Unfortunately now made in China by the lowest bidder . I'm 15 years older than that grinder , but the memories are there . My brother and l pooled resources and bought that model for our dads 50th. birthday .
Lucky for us they made a lot of them and they can still be found in pretty good shape. A testament to their quality. I've got a pretty rare craftsman tool grinder/hone coming up as a restoration video this summer. Thanks for watching.
Great job. Been a craftsman tool collector over 30 years. Very nice job.
The Craftsman name used to mean quality.
BD is trying to bring the quality back to the name. They are slowly bringing manufacturing of Craftsman back to USA.
@@bigmikeh5827 good I hope so , I have bought Craftsman for years until recently.I don't like Chinese junk.
At last someone who cares about original colours. Very good.
Thank you!
The most professional restorations I have seen on TH-cam!
I love smart and using dry ice like that is genius. Good work, good brain.
I learned that trick from @mrpete222
Nice Job when I was a kid, we had one like similar to that one. I would love to find one today.
Well, the good news is Craftsman made a TON of these. Good luck and thanks!
Great Job making that old girl look new again. I have my nieces father-in-law's 1947 Craftsman jig/Scroll saw made by King/Sealy. It is in great shape with I believe it's original belt still running the old girl! Was able to clean belt off and it had the part number of belt that I found in a 1947 sears tool catalog! They made the belts well back then as well as the machines!
Back when Craftsman meant quality!
I have this same grinder...
I was a kid when my father had this in his workshop.
I am 65 now.
I was looking to find out how to change the belt?
That was a Monumental task in itself still not sure if I can get the shaft out though?
I'm going to try to save the bearings.
Dads grinder is in excellent shape for how old it is..
Great job on refurbishing this beauty of a grinder...
Thank you for memory lane as well.
If your bearings are in good shape, leave the shaft in and just use a segmented belt, like an Accu-link. Thanks for watching!
Awesome job!!!!!! Quality work.... and with no annoying music recorded over it made it even more enjoyable...... keep up the good work 👍👍👍
Very nice job! Excellent quality of work, good job with the camera, and great results! You really got my respect when you did the touch-up around the existing label... Thanks for posting!
Wowww what an excellent restoration.
Very Cool restoration !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Превосходная работа!
РЕСПЕКТ!
Great job!
RESPECT!
👍👏🤗
Spot-on restoration!
Thank you! This is one of my favorite tools now. Love the old Craftsman tools.
Nice! Certainly pays off when you have the right tools for the job! Very professional.
I just picked up one of these grinders this morning. $50.00 on craigslist. Very cool. Everything is heavy duty; just the way I like it.
Yeah, you're not going to need to replace this one!
I love all the cast iron in that thing.
It's a beast. I love it.
Preparation is the key and you do a really good job of it, looks new. Great video also. Thank you..
That was a great restoration! That grinder would look good next to my 1947 Craftsman Scroll saw.
Ship me your scroll saw and we can find out for sure :)
wow that dry ice trick worked way better than I thought it would 2 opposable thumbs up =) lol
Credit where credit is due: learned that from MrPete222..
Beautiful machine !
Thank you! I'm very happy with how it turned out.
Perfect!! Nicely done
Beautiful job, my friend... can't wait to see it in person soon!
Craftsman, my favorite tool brand
There you go. Good for another 60 years.
Beautiful work! Subscribed. I've watched this video three times now. I like the dry ice method too. I typically just put the part in the freezer, then heat the bearing and it drops into place.
Very nice job. The paint behind the plastic is awesome. Great tip and work.
Thanks!
I must say three things. 1. You definitely have the perfect workshop. 2. You are taking restoration to a new level on YT. 3. I love your video editing (detailed and no cutting corners for making it short).
If this is your first YT video of many then we are not going to be disappointed at all. Subscribing today for not missing out 😊
Thanks Frank! I appreciate the thoughtful comments and constructive feedback.
Beautiful work, love the video.
Thank you so much 😀
Our father bought a craftsman grinder ~1958. It looks more modern and my brother is still using it.
They don't make 'em like they used to. Some of the stuff in the 50s had some really great design too. I love the 50s Blackhawk tools.
Back at the time Craftsman was well made! I have thought about the ice method in the past, my concern is the moisture it may create where bearing seats on the shaft. Possibly some anti sieze on shaft would be good to have where bearing sits to negate the moisture issue. Only other thing I might have done is use the old stones and put the dressing tool to them, they had the look of aluminum had been ground on them. As always, another nice job, enjoyed the video. Thanks!
He used dry ice, so any moisture would be from condensation, not the ice itself since it's just frozen CO2
2 screens! brilliant!
God tier restoration
Ingenious.
Good thing you got it restored that Ryobi sounds like death warmed over!
That Ryobi was used on half this project, then quickly given away. Absolutely useless.
It sure does look nice now
Sweet 👍🏻 👍🏻
Sweet!
Wow... They sure don't make quality like that anymore... :-( You did a beautiful job restoring it!
Very nice job!
A.R. very nice restoration.. They just don't make em like that anymore.. great video...
Thanks Gary. This thing is SOLID. I love it :)
Great job, very professional, that's a great lesson for teaching when you love your work, you have it done the right way... just wandering, why you haven't used the thicker grinding stones?
THANK YOU...for sharing. Very nice.
Hi ACME Restorations. I have enjoyed both of your very well made videos and I have subscribed. Both videos are great and well edited, this looks like it is going to be a brilliant channel. Congratulations on your work so far. All the very best, with love from the UK Brother.
That was a great restoration and you did a good job matching the colour as well. I hope there will be lots more to come but I have subscribed so I don’t miss them. Cheers Stuart 🇦🇺
Thanks Stuart!
Awesome Job! I look forward to more restoration projects from you.
You sir, have earn’t yourself an 11th subscriber 😊 hands down, for your first video this is incredible, both presentation, editing and the outcome of your restoration project. You’ll go far on TH-cam I’m sure, just don’t forget your first bunch of subscribers 😂
Thank you! That means a lot to me. Put in a lot of effort and am pleased with the outcome. Also got a really nice grinder out of the deal :) . More coming..
ACME Restorations keep it up mate, I sent you an email as well 👍
@@S3ARCH_N_D3STROY Thanks. Try that email again; had the wrong address in my about.
ACME Restorations there’s no email in the about section? You able to send it here then delete the comment?
@@S3ARCH_N_D3STROY acmerestos@gmail.com
I like it!
Nice work, good for another 50 years.
Старые инструменты и станки понадежнее современных..
Great Job !
thats great.
I have to admit, when you said you needed to match the paint I figure'd you were just going to drag it up to Lowes (assuming you are in the US). Then you just eyeballed a perfect match. Nice!
I have one of these. Had to replace the cord on the motor in the stand once, but other than grinding wheels it hasn't needed anything and ist still quiet and smooth.
Nice. I probably could have gotten away without new bearings, but since I was restoring it anyways what the heck? Purrs like a kitten now. Thanks for watching.
@@AcmeRestorations If end up restoring mine, I'll definitely replace the bearings. It was given to me 25 years ago for free because of the bad cord (shrug) so I have been just using it since. I think its going to out last me though. ;-) BTW, I recommend getting a link belt for it that won't take a set between uses. It'll stay smooth as the belt ages and you won't have to disassemble to change anything.
Pro Restoration👍👍👍
Thank you!
great job!! the snap rings didn't completely seat.
Great work.
First class restoration. Very thorough. The dry ice idea really worked. How long did you have to cool the shaft?
About 10 minutes.
Learned a lot from watching ... thanks.
Great job
Beautiful restoration 😲👍
Very nice job...
Lovely job indeed, shame not to set up with CBN wheels, which are so much better than stones. Thanks ACME
Great restoration video! Happy to subscribe, keep it up!
Thanks. I really appreciate it!
This is a professional restoration by a professional restorer 😃
Question please: How long have you had the “Locktite” for? it’s very expensive here in Australia, don’t want it buy 1 tube for 1 job then it goes off after 1 use.
Fantastic restoration, many thanks for sharing.
I've had that loctite for years. It lasts.
Excelente !
Very good job, 100% follow
Very nice bro.
Beautiful work, looking forward and have a good luck
Damn nice. Thumbs up.
Hi bro 👋👋👋very good restoration grinder 👍👍👍and video cool 🤝🤝🤝
Thanks bro!
To be honest they don’t really have changed but nice work.
Nice restorations. Keep going.
Thanks for the video.
Both discs (or however they are called) are spinning simultaneously in the video. But, if I understand correctly, either of them can be turned off separately?
No. There bolted to the same shaft.
After all that great work, got the “ball bearing “ label out of square. 🙀
that's cool
Te quedo muy bien pero porque no dejaste las piedras originales hubiera quedado mejor y totalmente original pero gran trabajo
Son muy viejos. No es seguro.
Excellent, but I would make another back label.
The original grinding wheels were much higher quality than the ones you replaced them with. The back sticker that you saved could have been reproduced. Overall a very nice restoration.
Yeah, I'm waiting until I can find wheels that match the original width. 1 1/2. They aren't easy to find. I just put those wheels on for the video; only ones I could find on short notice that fit that large shaft.
Nice video and nice work. 8 jealous people gave the thumbs down?
I’m restoring this exact model. It’s in quite a bit rougher shape but I’ll do my best. Get a motor to run it and find a permanent home in the shop👍🏻
Did you get that spindle out OK?
ACME Restorations - I did, it was tough though, one of the bearings is stuck on there. Not sure how I’m gonna get that sucker off yet. Any tips?
@@bobbybrady7872 Threaded rod, a few large washers and nuts. Press it out that way.
ACME Restorations Nice! Good idea. I’ll keep you posted
Very nice restoration on a very cool old grinder. The dry ice trick was amazing. I always wondered why heating up (expanding) stuck bolts helps them come out. Wouldn’t freezing (contracting) them work better? Anyway I’m looking forward to more videos. Great job. 👍🏼
WAY cheaper to heat up around a bolt. That dry ice ain't cheap! Thanks for watching!
Doing one right now. Tore it apart today. How did you get the pin out of the model number plate? Where do you get the stainless replacements? Great job. Might have future stupid questions!!
You can pound the pins out with a thin punch from the inside. The replacements are called Knurled Shank Rivets and you can get a kit of different sizes on Amazon. Good luck with your project!
Thanks for the quick response!!
Sorry to keep bothering you. The stainless knurled shank robots. Do you know what size you used? I’d like to order the right size and not have a lot of left overs I don’t use. I’ve don’t three craftsman drill presses this winter and this is the first grinder. I love 1950’s craftsman stuff. Also I got the model number badge off. I broke a punch because of the angle. Ended up using a hardened number four finishing nail to get it out. Loved the video. Now I have to watch the rest you have!!
I smacked the sub button immediately after I saw your newest video.
Just found your channel and your work is amazing, keep it up and you'll grow on TH-cam fast.
Thank you!
Excellent restoration and video. I'm particularly impressed with the color match. I've been restoring Craftsman machine tools for about 30 years and haven's been able to match the paint. Would you be willing to share your paint formula?
ACNE Restorations 2019
ACME. ACNE is a whole different thing.
We recently aquired this model of craftsman arbor. How did you secure the shaft to remove the grinding wheels?
Oh, I tried the chrome polish. Didn't work. This is hardened glass.
Excelente trabalho parabéns 🇧🇷👍👏
great restoration...maybe new belt..
🎥 Nice job 🎬 ! _ Congratulations! 👍 🇧🇷
That color matching was brilliant! Are you an auto painter by trade? What was your reasoning for replacing the grinder wheels? They seemed to be in excellent shape. Thanks for the video
I noticed that too. I saw another restoration video where the guy actually resurfaced the original disc and balanced it cause it rattled the bench while rotating.
Que pintura usaste? Poliuretano?
No. Pintura de esmalte.
Nice work, You need to make some paper washers for were the labels came off. The label cushions the wheel from the metal washer. Keeps the wheel from cracking.
I replaced the grinding wheels with new ones. If I decide to reuse those old ones I'll do that though. Great tip and I had not considered that. Thanks!
Where did you get the rivet kit at 17:07 at? I've been looking for one like that.
Amazon. Search for "knuled shank rivets"
@@AcmeRestorations Thank you! Thank You! I've been looking for that style rivet to replace the ones that hold on the heat shield on the bottom of a vintage car's intake manifold