Removing burrs from parallels

[mmcmdl]

Before I went out and bought $300 stones , I'd buy new parallels . Stones are great to have but mostly used by toolmakers . For parallels these aren't a necessity . Go for the DRO ! You'll get more use from it .

 

[WobblyHand]

I'd be hitting the "buy now" button immediately for that price. Where did you buy those out of curiosity? That's the price of two "normal" stones from what I can find: Norton stones on Amazon

Precision Ground Flat Stones, Diamond Ground Tool Room Stones -Ground on 2 sides | eBay

Two professional quality precision ground flat stones - new aluminum oxide stones, diamond wheel ground on a precision surface grinder. Compare the before and after grinding photos. The sides and ends are left as received.

www.ebay.com

These are S2S, so only ground on the top and bottom surfaces, not on all faces. They are now $89.99. On Dec 28, 2021, when I bought them, they were $64.99.

Precision Ground Flat Stones, Diamond Ground Tool Room Stones | eBay

Compare the before and after grinding photos. Sold only as a pair. You will receive one pair of stones with instructions. Lathe saddle, surface grinder chuck, vise, parallels, magnetic hold-downs, etc. not included.

www.ebay.com

These seem to be ground on at least 4 faces, maybe more, based on the pictures. The same stone as above in size, but $139.99 due to the additional surfaces being ground.

 

[jrgilman95]

Precision Ground Flat Stones, Diamond Ground Tool Room Stones -Ground on 2 sides | eBay

Two professional quality precision ground flat stones - new aluminum oxide stones, diamond wheel ground on a precision surface grinder. Compare the before and after grinding photos. The sides and ends are left as received.

www.ebay.com

These are S2S, so only ground on the top and bottom surfaces, not on all faces. They are now $89.99. On Dec 28, 2021, when I bought them, they were $64.99.

Precision Ground Flat Stones, Diamond Ground Tool Room Stones | eBay

Compare the before and after grinding photos. Sold only as a pair. You will receive one pair of stones with instructions. Lathe saddle, surface grinder chuck, vise, parallels, magnetic hold-downs, etc. not included.

www.ebay.com

These seem to be ground on at least 4 faces, maybe more, based on the pictures. The same stone as above in size, but $139.99 due to the additional surfaces being ground.

Bought the two sided set just now . I was looking at those earlier, but was a little afraid of buying from an ebay listing nobody had mentioned anywhere else.

 

[WobblyHand]

Enabling is what we do here.

 

[bemader]

It's been a while and the company provided the smaller stones I used so I don't know how much they cost but I remember cleaning them up on a surface grinder sometimes but often we just used a flat plate and diamond lapping compound to flatten the surface of the stone. I'm not even sure if DIAMOND compound is necessary. Valve grinding compound might work.

 

[Jake M]

Was looking at the 6" stones from Kinetic Precision: https://www.kineticprecision.com/purchase/precision-ground-flat-stones-pdnwh

They have 4" stones, but my parallels are 6" and I was concerned about creating a low spot.

edit: 26acre also had a similar price point: https://www.26acremaker.com/

There is absolutely no need, the ground stones do NOT act like regular stones. You won't take away ANYTHING past "flat".

These are an amazing tool, but they're certainly limited use, and for small burrs.

Short of that, "Dead Files" are invaluable. They do the same kinds (taking ONLY high spots, you can make several out of a cheap file. They're a good accessory for your ground stone collection too, as they'll take bigger bites, to get you close. Ground stones are SLOW to remove larger raised areas. Homebrewed recommended a diamond file to "deaden" the file, I used paper (800? grit, somewhere thereabouts) on a granite plate (pretty flat but NOT surface plate). Same result, but the hardened file makes short lived paper. (Very effective, just short lived).

Precision ground flat stones?

I did a bad thing.... I'm on the outside looking in right now, with youtube knowledge only, and as I'm sure you all know.... That is what it is. I'm thinking that a flat stone is probably what I need, but I'm hoping someone can tell me that they've done this, or that I'm way off the mark...

www.hobby-machinist.com

That would probably be a final solution (no stones needed, just the files) to keep a set of "beater parallels" in plenty good condition for jobs where you know you shouldn't be using a valuable and/or precision tool... It's hard to go back and forth between "beater" and "precision", and decent to excellent parallels are not terribly expensive. ("grades" being in line with your equipment of course, no need to have three orders of magnitude better than the equipment you're using it on).

 

[RaisedByWolves]

You're only stoning the burrs and not the entire parallel . Use a small stone and you'll be fine .

Yeah, Im really curious as to the thought process here.

OP, just how bad are these burrs?

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Before I went out and bought $300 stones , I'd buy new parallels . Stones are great to have but mostly used by toolmakers . For parallels these aren't a necessity . Go for the DRO ! You'll get more use from it .

If I showed a pic of the parallels I use daily, ones that I made during my apprenticeship 35yrs ago mind you, people would probably faint.

Any parallel within .0005 is doing its job just fine and its going to take some effort to take .0005 off of your tool. If you need a more precise relationship between your machine and your part, parallels and the inherent problems....Err... inherent with them should be taken out of the equation.

 

[woodchucker]

There is no need for precision ground stones. Just knock the burrs off with a fine stone, just a few swipes on the edge, and be done with it.
Clearly everyone thinks that because Robin needed it, everyone needs it. got news for everyone, while they are nice, for years no one used them and still we went to the moon, and past the edge of our galaxy.

I'm going to be told I'm wrong, but I've got flame retardant underwear for the flame throwers.

 

[Eddyde]

Agreed, any fine stone will work for deburring, no need for precision ground.