.Finally Pulled the Trigger on a Dapra Biax 7EL Scraper

Quote["Congrats. Were You one of Richards prior students as well? Happy machine rebuilding. Bob] Quote

Yes Sir, i was one of "the chosen ones" like you :rofl:
about a year and a half ago, i took the class.
The absolute best money i have ever spent in my life.
not cheap but well worth it.
i'd consider a week course to be the best week of my life, seriously!!!
i had a really good experience.
i'll be honest i was not as good with hand scraping as i was with one of Richard's Biax's
once i got hold of that thing, i easily got the hang of what the machine was doing.
i started to wield the biax like an extension of myself , then the class ended and the joy of scraping subsided.
i searched, not daily, but weekly most assured. i have seen them come and go.
i even almost pushed the go button 6 months ago for an even scarier proposition, but got into it with the seller over a $15 lower offer bid. i offered to pay full boat for shipping but wanted a discount for an unknown running condition tool with a cut cord and no carbide to boot!
lucky that happened, for me anyway.
it eventually lead me to today,
Hopefully others will share the taste of sweet nectar that is BIAX!!! :jester:
 
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Ulma Doctor said:
Thank you astjp2!
i have a DC motor and PWM controller.
i'm thinking the variable speed would be a nice feature :))
Click to expand...

The first Biax I had was a constant speed model, and I used it with an autotransformer for speed control; this worked fine, without reservation, but later on, I was given a variable speed model that a deceased friend had bought, along with the flaker, so I sold the old one to one of my classmates at Richard's class in Oakland Ca.
 
<resurrecting old thread>
Did you ever get it setup for variable speed Doc?

(I have got to quit clicking on posts down in the 'Similar Threads' section...)
 
Don't feel bad, I left a "like" on one of the earlier post before I realized this thread is almost a year old!
 
You are going to like the powerscraper!
My right shoulder won't tolerate hand scraping very long. The powerscraper has made all the differnce.
Note: I'm still very much a novice, and still believe that we need to pay our dues with the hand tools.
Congrats on the Biax!!

Daryl
MN
 
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Congratulations!
The easiest sharpener to build is: take any old single phase motor from 1/4 HP up. 4 pole (1440/1700rpm depending where you live) is preferable. Slower is of little advantage but faster is a nuisance. Find a cast iron disk you can fit to the shaft. I used an old solid CI pulley and machined off the partially broken V-belt rim. Fit it up on the shaft as accurately and solidly as possible. If you have a large enough lathe, put the ENTIRE motor including the disk between centres and true up the CI disk perfectly - on all surfaces, so you get as little as possible vibration from any imbalance. The motor body will of course not spin because of the bearings in it. Just stop it spinning accidentally by tying it up.
You then put a small sealed ball bearing on a short handle of some sort to roll-embed diamond paste on the face of the CI disk.
The best size diamond paste/grease is around 10 micron. Just smear a small amount on the CI plate and spread it with your fingers.
Then start the motor and push the ball bearing on the handle aganst the spinning disk with paste, l;etting it spin on its circumference. That pushes the grit into the CI, making it a sort of lap for tungsten carbide.
A 5 deg (sloping up topward the wheel) tool rest completes the set-up. Put the toolrest on the side of the disk which moves UP (opposite normal grinder operations).
You may be surprised how fast it sharpens the scraper bits, but I wouldn't try to reshape the radius much, for example. But you can certainly put the two angles on a square ground end of a new scraper with it easily.
You will feel when the embedded diamonds have lost their cutting edges. You then just replace it with your bearing tool.
I'm still on my first 5ml syringe of the cheap diamond paste after a lot of scraping and sharpening over several years now.
Cheers,
Joe
 
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middle.road said:
<resurrecting old thread>
Did you ever get it setup for variable speed Doc?

(I have got to quit clicking on posts down in the 'Similar Threads' section...)
Click to expand...

Yes, i used a router speed control box from HF as a test for a 6 hour day of scraping- on and off for blueing up and right back to it.
it worked beautifully, the biax accepted the router speed control like it was meant to be there.
i didn't turn the speed below 50% for fear of overheating due to low fan speed,
the motor didn't run hot at all at 50% speed:D
 
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