S&S Machinery also sold used machine tools too. After working there for a while as an electrical retrofitter on the imported Chinese Machine Tools, I was asked if I could make a new electric system for a used Cincinnati cylindrical grinder that was up for sale. My boss had a customer interested in it, but said he could get more for it if it was in working condition. There are many different types of surface grinding machines. They are all designed to achieve one objective, and that is to impart a very smooth mirror like surface on the part being worked on by using a high speed rotating abrasive stone. The most common type is known as the surface grinder. These machines grind flat surfaces smooth on metal plates. You also have other types too, each for a different type of surface or finish. Of the grinder types you have centerless, Blanchard, jig, cylindrical, and more. The machine you see pictured above is a cylindrical grinder. This machine grinds smooth surfaces onto round bar stock like those used in long hydraulic pistons.