1/21/2013 9:01 PM
We have a Foley 652 Accu Master with touch screen control we bought in January 2006. This grinder is great. I have used SIP and Bernhard Express Dual. The Express Dual was a great grinder for spin grinding, quick and easy setup, just not capable of relief grinding easily. We have an SIP that is 12 years old, and it has been a good work bench the last 7 years. I heard SIP made some changes, but the one we have had nothing but problems with. The side to side action was air operated and never moved fluently. It was so much of a hassle to set up for relief that we had to spin grind all of our reels first, take them off, then come back and relief grind them all. Like I said, I have heard they have improved them, we just had bad experience with them.
The Foley we have is more expensive but well worth it. I can set up a reel, program the grinder to our desired specs, turn it on, and go back to assembling reals or working on something in the shop while the grinder is doing its thing. When it is time to relief, I do not have to take the reel out after spin grinding. It only takes a couple minutes to install the relief stone and adjust the stops. Then you set the computer up and tell it how much you want to grind and how many blades are on the reel so it knows when to stop, instead of having to stand in front of it and count the blades as it reliefs. The automation of this grinder is awesome and has saved us so much money in labor that can be spent working on other equipment while the grinder is doing its thing.
Good Luck
Paul L Double
Sugar Valley Golf Club
Bellbrook, Ohio