Old Gravermesiter with adapter kit

arttimes · Feb 26, 2016

I have an ancient Gravermeister that has had the adapter kit installed on it so it will have 1600-2400 spm. I got it a couple of months ago and am having some problems with it. I haven't used it over 10 hours since I got it and I hope someone can help me figure out what is wrong. It has been working okay except for the EXTREME heat it produces and I haven't turned it on for over a month. I decided to mess around with it today and it worked for a little while, about 10 minutes, and then wouldn't work any faster than about 1800 spm. I have taken the 915 hand piece apart and cleaned it (it was very gunked up, but no oil in the airline going to the handpiece) and the little can that has the hole in the bottom had a little bit of fluid in it and the other little can had a lot of fluid in it and the filter is hard as a rock. I don't know if the filter is supposed to be like that or not, I washed it with dish soap and hot water and it does look a little better but I cannot blow any air through it (don't do this, it tastes terrible) and is drying for the night. I will put it back together tomorrow. The little jar that has fluid in it on the other side is still a tad over half full. Does anyone have one of these machines and can you give me some advice please?

SamW · Feb 26, 2016

The filter is supposed to be hard...and it is supposed to pass air. I used to clean mine by soaking in acetone to remove all oil deposits. The hand piece I hear will get hot but I only ever used the original LT hand piece so have no experience with the 915. Clean the filter, the cans and try it again. That should help.

arttimes · Feb 26, 2016

Thank you Sam W. I will let it soak in acetone once it dries from the bath I gave it today. Yeah, the hand piece gets pretty hot too and this is just using it for maybe 30 minutes or so. I might cover it with some styrofoam from a cup to see if it will help but I have to get the machine running right first.

monk · Feb 26, 2016

i had some sort of upgrade to mine. the upgrade allowed the use of the large and mini holder. there was a switch lever to divert air from one handpiece to the other. after each session, i'd clean the piston, spring and bore with naphtha. never any heat buildup, but i began having a "power problem". i discovered the belt would slip a bit as it had a bit of glaze on it. a small can of belt dressing spray healed that.
try the search bar. i know this has been an issue in thre past. certainly grs could offer advise on a fix.

SamW · Feb 26, 2016

Also, when I cleaned the filter, I blew it out with an air hose and you could see the air passing through as it blew out the remaining oil/acetone.

arttimes · Feb 26, 2016

Thanks Monk. I'll find the belt on it and check it, if it needs some of the dressing stuff, I'll get it next week when I go to town. It does produce a tremendous amount of heat and GRS suggested drilling more holes in the exhaust can which I haven't done yet. Sam, I will blow it out too and see if that helps. Thank y'all.

Roger Bleile · Feb 27, 2016

It has been discussed earlier on this forum that Gravermeisters with the "high speed" upgrade have overheating problems with the handpiece getting too hot to hold. I have an original 'meister from 1978 and it has never overheated or given me any problems. In my opinion, the higher stroke speed of the modification does nothing useful. I use a Lindsay PC most of the time but, at times I like the slower speed of my 'meister. I'd check with GRS about converting your machine back to the original configuration.

arttimes · Feb 27, 2016

Roger, that is a thought or perhaps I can just run it slower if I can get it to working properly again. I have talked to GRS and it seems that no one there really knows very much about these older machines.

arttimes · Feb 27, 2016

Yeah! I have cleaned the filter and blown it out, cleaned the hand piece too and it seems to be working fine now without the extreme heat also. I have no idea how long it has been since it has been cleaned. Thank y'all so much.

Now on to learn how to sharpen a v graver by hand. I can do the flats just fine, practice, practice and more practice.

SamW · Feb 27, 2016

Sounds good! As I posted, I used the old straight LT handle with my 'meister for 30 years. I did find the higher speed to be just right for my style/technique of engraving, using the slower speed for pounding in gold line.

Another thing...the 'meister is noisy and puts out a bit of an oil smell. I piped the exhaust from the exhaust outlet through a piece of garden hose through a board locked in the window so some of the noise and the smell was vented to the outside.

Brian Marshall · Feb 27, 2016

My GraverMeister used to reside in a 2'x2'x2' box on casters. The box had 1 1/2" thick "egg crate" foam lining, a bathroom fan & inlet screen at the top and a 10" wire mesh "outlet" on the floor. It was wired so that when you flipped the switch, both the Meister and the fan came on at the same time.

I stood that for a coupla years (the fan made more noise), then it went outside to the other side of the wall - where it resided for another 10 years or so. If you didn't know it was on the other side of the wall, you'd never notice it. You could feel the floorboards vibrate more...

Tough machines. Mine was Serial #127 (or something like that?)

Used it for around 15 years and never had a problem with it. Moved on to the Max, which did have a few problems... then to the Lindsays which haven't had a problem in 15+? years...

Brian

mitch · Feb 28, 2016

i've seen a number of mentions of Gravermeister handpieces getting hot and thought i'd chime in to explain that common phenomenon. (and btw- they will ALL get hot if you run 'em hard & long enough, regardless of model, year, or speed.) Gravermeisters actually operate by creating an intermittent suction/vacuum that pulls the piston back against the spring in the handpiece bore.* therefore, Gravermeister handpieces work with only an oscillating, tidal supply of air that provides very little cooling effect. GraverMaxes push a continuous flow of air through the handpiece.

*a quick way to tell if a handpiece is for a Gravermeister or GraverMax type machine, unscrew the end cap and note the position of the spring relative to the piston. G-meister behind, G-Max in front.

arttimes · Mar 4, 2016

Thanks Mitch. It is a Meister Handpiece.

Old Gravermesiter with adapter kit

arttimes

Member

SamW

:::Pledge Member:::

arttimes

Member

monk

Moderator

SamW

:::Pledge Member:::

arttimes

Member

Roger Bleile

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

arttimes

Member

arttimes

Member

SamW

:::Pledge Member:::

Brian Marshall

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

mitch

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

arttimes

Member

Latest posts

Sponsors