Photo Index - Van Dorn Electric Tool Co. - Bench Grinder

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Van Dorn Electric Tool Co.
Cleveland, OH; Towson, MD

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Metal Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Grinder, Bench
Machine Size:	8"
Submitted By:	Chuck Lutz

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Bench Grinder
Date of Manufacturer:	Pre 1928
Serial Number:	111867
Last Updated	2/22/2014 12:05:27 AM

Comments:

This Van Dorn 8" Bench Grinder was purchased off of Craig's List - Chicago back in May 2013. Always looking for a bargain, I was originally looking for a low-cost bench grinder for my shop. The price of $50.00 looked great yet when I saw the un-restored grinder for the first time, as grubby as it looked, I thought it looked like a piece of art, kind of like an Art-Deco look to it. I paid the guy his $50.00 for it and when I got it home, it worked fine.

Yet the more I looked at this, the more I thought I need to do something more with it than just use it as my shop's bench grinder. The huge brass nameplate for it seemed to express high quality and pride of manufacturing. The cast iron material which makes this item extremely heavy just seemed to scream solid old time manufacturing. I got bit and started to take it apart to fully restore it.

This grinder had a broken right side adjustable arm assembly and missing was the right side pivot plate that went into this arm assembly. Located a machining company, Dagger Tool Company in Addison, Illinois, contact and owner is Arte, who made the new parts. Took him several weeks more than I would have liked, but the end result was the parts looked identical to the originals on the left side. I welded up the pieces for the pivot plate and it looked identical to the original one on the left side as well.

Getting replacement bearings and bushings were not a problem, received a lot of support from suppliers when I told them what I was doing. Received an exact replacement for the inner bearings and bushing from Ajay Dharkar of BDI in Addison, Illinois. Helped research the thousands of different bearings his company sold to find me a pair of bearings and bushings to get me exact replacements. This was unbelievable, he never once complained of the time to do this, super good guy.

The armature and stator were in great shape, only had to polish the armature slightly. The electrical replacement brushes came from Eurton Electric in Santa Fe Springs, California. Charley Zacharia was my contact and he was extremely helpful locating a set of replacement brushes for the unit. The Chrome bolts came from Mike at Chromebolt.com. The “On-Off” switch plate came from Jennifer at Midwest Awards in Aurora, Illinois. Powder Coating was supplied by Larry Dickinson at Fox Valley Sandblasting and Powder Coating in Yorkville, Illinois. Roy at Courtesy Plating in Addison, Illinois re-chromed and brass plated several miscellaneous pieces.

The inner seals were another story. Had to modify seals sold by McMaster Carr and believe it or not, the rear main rope seal for a 1960 Chevy V8 motor. All of these efforts worked out just great. These seals were probably the biggest hurdle, took more time than I expected.

Right now, everyone in my shop and including my wife feels that the grinder looks too nice to use. I am either going to put this in my office as a conversation piece or sell it to someone who can pass it on to the next generation. Since this grinder has been around since 1928, I suppose it is about time to have a nice retirement plan for it.

Photo 1:

Comments: Restored Van Dorn 8" Bench Grinder, Front Side
Source: Carla Lutz of Clutzy Artworks

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Photo 2:

Comments: Restored Van Dorn 8" Bench Grinder, Back Side
Source: Carla Lutz of Clutzy Artworks

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Photo 3:

Comments: Van Dorn Electric Tool Company Brass Nameplate
Source: Carla Lutz of Clutzy Artworks

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Photo 4:

Comments: Van Dorn 8" Bench Grinder as purchased
Source: Carla Lutz of Clutzy Artworks

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Photo 5:

Comments: Van Dorn 8" Bench Grinder Parts before sending to power coating, note newly machines arm assembly and pivot plate
Source: Carla Lutz of Clutzy Artworks

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Photo 6:

Comments: Restored Van Dorn 8" Bench Grinder
Source: Carla Lutz of Clutzy Artworks

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