# Making sparks FLY!



## Richardvonmann (Feb 3, 2013)

So after four weekends, and a few hours during the weeks, I finally got my latest project in operation, still needs paint, and a few small bugs worked out, and the electrical hooked up right. This project wasn't without its troubles, trying to build something that doesn't cost more than one already manufactured, and sourcing parts and machining parts that I couldn't find, let me learn some new things, like the neighbour a few doors down that donated the worm gear drive, that turns out to be another hobby machinist with a whole shop of some awesome tools!


Anyhow, I sharpened four blades already, and finished the tooth set on one,since I was running out of daylight fast, turned the lights on over the mill, installed sharpened blade, threw a log on the log bed (with the help of the tractor) and I think it actually cuts better than it did when I got it new!

So pictures do say a thousand words, but a video I think is even better yet!
And instead of listening to a grinder, I threw in some better sound.

Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmvL011DTpA


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## Tony Wells (Feb 3, 2013)

Kind of reminds me of some of the introductory footage of the old show "Twin Peaks" where there was an automated circular saw sharpener that followed the tooth profile as the blade rotated. Pretty slick job.


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## Philco (Feb 3, 2013)

Great job Richard, I've always been fascinated by machines that can do a repedative job & never miss a beat but more impressive is the men that design & make the machines. A job well done! 
Phil


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## Ray C (Feb 3, 2013)

That's cool.  Very nice!


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## Richardvonmann (Feb 3, 2013)

Well, I really can't take credit for something that has already been invented by someone else, I just wanted to show that when you need something, instead of going to the store and just buying it, try making it yourself! That doesn't always work for everything, but in this case 2 grand was a little out of my price range for something that does a very simple task, the hard part of that task is getting every tooth shaped the same, something you can not do by hand and a grinder, you can come close, but no where near what a machine can do.

In my neck of the woods, my blades cost me 25 bucks a piece new, they are 144 inches long, with a standard 7/8 inch tooth spacing. To have them sharpened at the same supplier is 8 dollars a piece, which doesn't sound like much, but when you add up the fuel to drive down and drop off the blades, and times that by two, cause it isn't sharpen while you wait. Eight blades sharpened is 64 bucks, another 60 bucks for fuel, an that gets them sharpened thing starts costing lots of money!

They last me between 2 to 4 hours cutting time, depending on what I am cutting.
Eight blades new, lasted me 5 months, so it will be sometime before I need new blades considering you should get at least 5 sharpenings out of a blade.


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## joe_m (Feb 4, 2013)

Your design looks a lot like my foley belsaw sharpener. Even if you "borrowed" the plans, it's still pretty high on the gizmosity scale and takes a lot of tweaking to get it just right. Good job.
Joe


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## dmosser (Feb 21, 2013)

You sir must have the patience of a saint!  

VERY NICE !:worship:


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## spikec (Feb 21, 2013)

Nicely done. How did you figure out the gearing (or other) for the automatic feed?


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## Richardvonmann (Feb 22, 2013)

spikec said:


> Nicely done. How did you figure out the gearing (or other) for the automatic feed?



The auto feed is easy, 7/8 inch tooth spacing, so that is just a matter of a little math to figure out where to put the post on the cam, as for speed and worm gear reduction(I think the worm gear I have is 63:1 or visa versa?), mainly you need torque, and the speed is controlled by a variable speed drill, now the cam isn't that hard to figure out, a small hole where the top of the bearing will ride, some lay out ink, a scratch awl, and some hand turning and you have a basic cam from the grinding wheel as it rides on the tooth of a piece of blade. From there you fine tune it with a hand grinder and some time.

I think for a worm gear a 100:1 would work or even higher, I don't think it really matters that much as long as it has enough to turn the cam and push a blade through a vise that is spring controlled with a nut.


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## spikec (Feb 23, 2013)

Brilliant!


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## bedwards (Feb 23, 2013)

Tool cool!


Bedwards


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## dogbed (Aug 12, 2013)

Great work!


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## Ian Bee (Aug 12, 2013)

What is the soundtrack - score?


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## genec (Aug 12, 2013)

super job.:man:


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## Bill Gruby (Aug 12, 2013)

Incredible. Very nicely done.

 "Billy G"


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## Walt (Aug 12, 2013)

I'm most impressed. Great work!

Walt


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## jgedde (Aug 17, 2013)

That gizmo is wild!  I love it!

Makes me wonder if I can rig my chainsaw sharpener as a bandsaw blade sharpener.  Albeit without your very cool auto feed!

You win the MacGyver award in my book!

John


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## Tony Wells (Aug 18, 2013)

joelaycheck said:


> Here it is Tony:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7d0Lm_31BE



Yup....that's what I was remembering. Guess lots of sawmill towns had sharp-shops to keep things going.


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## Richardvonmann (Nov 14, 2013)

jgedde said:


> That gizmo is wild!  I love it!
> 
> Makes me wonder if I can rig my chainsaw sharpener as a bandsaw blade sharpener.  Albeit without your very cool auto feed!
> 
> ...



Well, you can use the motor, one special note about grinding disc's, I have now discovered that a harder disc is the way to go, as it lasts a whole lot longer, and in the long run it is cheaper.
If I was going to use a chainsaw sharpener, and didn't want to rig up another motor for a drive? Then I would just go with a hand crank system, which if you think about it, it would probably be easier to build!
The different parts of a bandsaw blade pretty much dictates that you do at least a face of tooth and gullet grind.
I'm running about a 10 degree face of tooth grind as I cut both cedar and fir, cedar being soft and fir being a hardwood and for some reason it works for what I'm doing. I have also gone from using .035 blades to .042 thickness blades and the sharpener still works as it should.


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## f350ca (Nov 15, 2013)

Nicely done Richard. This is something thats on my list of things that need built. 
Greg


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## buffdan (Nov 15, 2013)

Very clever!
Mesmerizing to watch.


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## xalky (Nov 15, 2013)

Nice job...I get off on this kind of stuff. I love automation and the ingenuity it takes to make it happen. Great stuff!

Marcel


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## Gary Max (Nov 15, 2013)

That is very cool-------- now all I need to do is talk you into moving south and becoming my neighbor----- I could just stop by and use your machine.


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## Arkie (Nov 15, 2013)

One of my projects for this winter is to make a sharpener.  I’ve been gathering parts and drawing doodles of the mechanism.  I’m thinking about making it for a cbn wheel as I think that will simplify the cam timing.  The cbn wheel operates in a straight up and down motion as it does the whole profile at once. 

In any case I’m looking at your video for ideas.  You did an excellent job and I appreciate you making an great video.


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## Richardvonmann (Nov 17, 2013)

Arkie said:


> One of my projects for this winter is to make a sharpener.  I’ve been gathering parts and drawing doodles of the mechanism.  I’m thinking about making it for a cbn wheel as I think that will simplify the cam timing.  The cbn wheel operates in a straight up and down motion as it does the whole profile at once.
> 
> In any case I’m looking at your video for ideas.  You did an excellent job and I appreciate you making an great video.



I would have done it with a CBN wheel too if I could afford what they cost! The last time I checked they were 280 bucks each, so grinding wheels seemed like the cheaper way to go, I know a person that sharpens bandsaw blades for a living and he uses them, mind you he also has all professionally built machines that cost thousands of dollars each. For the amount of blades I go through, 8 in one year, and sharpened roughly 7 to 8 times each, the extra cost didn't make sense. Once disadvantage with CBN wheels is your stuck with that profile of blade, which is a good thing and also a bad thing, good that the blade profile is sharpened the same all the time, bad that your kind of stuck with not being able to change the tooth face angle for different species of wood.

Its a trade off with one half, dozen of the other sort of thing.


And thank you everyone for your kind words.


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## endmill (Nov 18, 2013)

GREAT JOB!


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## itsme_Bernie (Nov 18, 2013)

That thing is WICKED!!!  What a fantastic contraption!!! 
That must be fun to watch!  ...  It was for me..


Bernie


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## Getaway (Nov 19, 2013)

Nice job !!!!!!  I love watching things like that run.


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## 283v8 (Nov 25, 2013)

Nice Job.
I hope to get to that level of invent-osity some day:lmao:


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## Richardvonmann (Nov 26, 2013)

283v8 said:


> Nice Job.
> I hope to get to that level of invent-osity some day:lmao:



If you can dream it, You can build it!

And then spend the next hundred or so years perfecting it!
:roflmao:


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## melsdad (Dec 2, 2013)

That is really cool!!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


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