Making sparks FLY!

[Richardvonmann]

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

 

[Tony Wells]

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.

 

[Philco]

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

 

[Ray C]

That's cool. Very nice!

 

[Richardvonmann]

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.

 

[joe_m]

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

 

[dmosser]

You sir must have the patience of a saint!

VERY NICE !:worship:

 

[spikec]

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

 

[Richardvonmann]

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.

 

[spikec]

Brilliant!