# Homemade Grinder Tool Rest?



## Splat

Those little "tables" found on most bench grinders are usually more trouble than they're worth. Have you made your own and got any pics?


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## schor

Perfect thread because I want to make one for myself.


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## zman

Often, I tend to just leave them off. I will be designing one or more soon too, I have all kinds of ideas, and I love to come up with stuff like this. I'll try to get to it soon, and post something.


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## itsme_Bernie

Here is a homemade tool rest I found on a Ebay once.  It really works great!  I am in the process of reinstalling it since my move.  




It has all the necessary movements and is WAY better than using the one that was on my grinder!

Bernie


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## francist

Just building one as we speak. Uses a turnbuckle mechanism as a support leg to give fine tuning of the angles. If it works I'll try to post a pic or two.


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## itsme_Bernie

If you want more pics or more info I will post more.

Bernie


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## Sharky

itsme_Bernie said:


> If you want more pics or more info I will post more.
> 
> Bernie



Its another project on my ever growing to do list... pics are always great brain food!


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## Hawkeye

When I got my 8" grinder, the tool rests left a lot to be desired, especially when grinding lathe tools. This is what I made up for the fine grit wheel. The table is made from 1/2" steel, with the pivot bracket welded to the bottom. The whole thing is attached to the wheel guard with 1 1/2" angle iron, with a brace to the pedestal base. I milled a groove to take a miter from one of my belt sanders, as well as other attachments for grinding specific angles.


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## macrls

It's not homemade, but I invested $49.50 on a Lee Valley/Veritas tool rest and love it.  Very versatile, fully adjustable, well made.  It has a horizontal groove for sliding jigs left and right, and I've made a few jigs to make it easier to sharpen lathe tools, (I'm not skilled at freehand grinding).  With mounting holes in front of both wheels on my grinder and wing nuts on the bolts holding the tool rest, I can move it from the coarse to fine wheel easily.


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## bpratl

macrls said:


> It's not homemade, but I invested $49.50 on a Lee Valley/Veritas tool rest and love it.  Very versatile, fully adjustable, well made.  It has a horizontal groove for sliding jigs left and right, and I've made a few jigs to make it easier to sharpen lathe tools, (I'm not skilled at freehand grinding).  With mounting holes in front of both wheels on my grinder and wing nuts on the bolts holding the tool rest, I can move it from the coarse to fine wheel easily.



Thanks, good find and I am ready to order one.
Bob


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## Ozwelder

You are right about the tool rests.
Most recently manufactured bench grinders seem to be  fitted with those postage stamp sized pressed metal abomination tool rests with the tensile strength of dried peanut paste.
I  opted for a larger working  surface than most using 65 x 65 x 6  (2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 1/4") angle iron screwed to a piece of slotted 25 x 6 flat bar (1"x 1"x 1/4" )
 which bolts to the inner section of the wheel guard.

This permits horizontal adjustment for wheel diameter and angular adjustment on the single bolt pivot.

As most of my applications are for hand grinding of twist drills and HSS lathe tools, the combination suits me perfectly. All work was completed with hand tools and a drill press and linisher.

No pics until I go into the shed tomorrow morning.
Edit 
As promised - pic of tool rest


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## Rick Leslie

Found the link for Lee Valley:

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?c=&p=45938&cat=1,43072


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## zman

Ok, this is kind of crude, but I wasn't feeling well lately, and wanted to get something up before too long. But this gives a basic idea. I plan on notching out for the wheels to get a more "wrap-around" effect, and adding a third leg on the back with an angle gauge.









*As far as the table my grinders are on, I came up with that because of the limited area in my shop. It uses two beefy bearings to smoothly spin the table, and set screws on T handles to hold it in position while in use.*


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## Dunc1

Have a look at these
http://www.homews.co.uk/page146.html   basic tool grinding rest
or here for an advanced version
http://www.homews.co.uk/page145.html 

Another one here (Popular Mechanics, Aug 1953, p 191):
http://books.google.ca/books?id=8Ns...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false


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## randyjaco

I made this one about 10 years ago. The grinder came with a really lousy rest. I wanted a rest that would be rigid and adjust with the diameter of the wheel. It is a little complex and was one of my first projects with my first mill. I have never found a rest that I liked better.

Randy


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## blacksmithden

I'm following this thread closely. I've got a lathe...a knee mill....an 8 foot long welding bench with a 1/4" plate top...and the crappiest little 6 inch grinder you could ever hope to never own. LOL. I got it on sale, brand new, for 25 bucks....I guess it works, but I'm looking for something a lot better before I start taking the trouble to make any kind of a custom rest.


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## lotechman

I used a chunk of one inch plate.  The mass does more than anything else to provide a steady platform.  I also machines a slot to take .25 inch keystock in case I want to have a sliding guide.


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## Rick Leslie

Here's a quickie of my rough grinding table. I copied the design, with a few liberties from Machinist's Workshop, so I can't take any credit. It's basically a tilting, keyed X-Y table with a tool holder on it.

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You still have to rough in the bit by hand, but this gives a much better finish and is repeatable. I hope you can make sense of my fuzzy photos.


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## Splat

Rick Leslie said:


> Here's a quickie of my rough grinding table. I copied the design, with a few liberties from Machinist's Workshop, so I can't take any credit. It's basically a tilting, keyed X-Y table with a tool holder on it.  You still have to rough in the bit by hand, but this gives a much better finish and is repeatable. I hope you can make sense of my fuzzy photos.



Thanks but try again Rick. I'm not seeing the attachments and get nothing when I click on them.


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