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- Apr 21, 2011
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Just wondering if anyone out there thinks that it is possible to teach yourself way scraping by just reading some books and watching videos,or is scraping one of those things you just need a good teacher? Thanks.
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Self teaching scraping
- Thread starter robert1352
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sidecar580
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I learned from a really good teacher....my dad....
JOHN
JOHN
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- Nov 16, 2012
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- 5,596
I think you can improve your odds by getting Rich King's DVD. I have a copy but have not had time yet to watch it but, the time is soon coming as I wish to improve the vertical ways on my PM 45. My main concern is my hands which are in bad shape from multiple finger and knuckle fractures. One of the wrists isn't doing too great either... 5-10 minutes of hand filing is agonizing... Sigh!
Ray
Ray
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- Jun 19, 2013
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- 156
Link to DVD?
You can teach yourself a lot. I watched a of of videos on youtube as well DVDs by Richard King and Mike Stets, then a bunch of trial and error stuff in the garage. But I definitely learned the most by going to Richard's 3-day scraping class. Aside from being a lot fun it will make you a much better scraper. Richard's DVD (the one I have) is mostly about scraping, while Mike's DVD is mostly about alignment. I think both are available on EBay.
Mel
Mel
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- Nov 16, 2012
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The short answer is no, you can't teach yourself how to scrape; or at least you can't learn how to do it without doing a lot of damage to the parts you start with or developing some very bad habits. With the right instruction, it shouldn't take you long to "get it." The only way to learn anything is by doing it and examining the result. The hard part (for me) was learning how to interpret the ink impressions. In theory you think, all you have to do is use the straight edge to tell me where the high spots are. But after doing it a few times you realize that more often than not you'll get false readings by a ridge on the edge of what you are about to scrape, and without eliminating the ridge you can't get a good reading or make any progress with making the surface level. Having someone show you the telltale signs of a ridge, or that you aren't using enough pressure on your scraper or the angle is wrong, that you aren't using the correct angle for sharpening your scraper, or that you aren't holding the scraper the right way to allow your body weight to be transferred to the tool, are all things a good instructor can address instantly. Take my advice and find out when Richard King is holding his next seminar and sign up. If you really want to learn how to scrape, it will be the best 3 days you've ever spent.
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- Joined
- Nov 21, 2012
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Given the shortened time to competence in scraping by actually being taught by a master, why would you want to be self taught? Scraping is a fairly time consuming exercise and if done wrong, compounds problems rather than solves them. Save yourself a giant pile of frustration and learn from someone who knows what they are doing.
Getting taught how to do it is fine, if you can find the person to teach you and they have the time and patience.
My personal experience is that you can do it but it will take a long time and you will not know what you are doing until it clicks. When it does, as Richard mentioned in his "scraping help" post, you hit 20 spots per inch accidentally.
What you need to ask yourself is: What do I want to achieve? Scraping for scraping's sake is just not worth the effort or pain. Especially manual scraping.
As with most machining it requires equipment so you can't just buy a toolsteel scraper and get to work. I wanted to get a crappy mill true flat, and parallel. To that end I got a bunch of measuring equipment, granite tables, blades, 0.002mm resolution dial gauges and even a Biax. With the help of Richard, Eric and others I think I now can scrape and align good enough for what I need.
If you can grind or mill sections of the machine you want to correct then do it. Anything above 0.10mm is right pain to rectify unless you have all day/week/month.
Otherwise, I do find that scraping is therapeutic. You can see the results of your labor albeit in spots.
My personal experience is that you can do it but it will take a long time and you will not know what you are doing until it clicks. When it does, as Richard mentioned in his "scraping help" post, you hit 20 spots per inch accidentally.
What you need to ask yourself is: What do I want to achieve? Scraping for scraping's sake is just not worth the effort or pain. Especially manual scraping.
As with most machining it requires equipment so you can't just buy a toolsteel scraper and get to work. I wanted to get a crappy mill true flat, and parallel. To that end I got a bunch of measuring equipment, granite tables, blades, 0.002mm resolution dial gauges and even a Biax. With the help of Richard, Eric and others I think I now can scrape and align good enough for what I need.
If you can grind or mill sections of the machine you want to correct then do it. Anything above 0.10mm is right pain to rectify unless you have all day/week/month.
Otherwise, I do find that scraping is therapeutic. You can see the results of your labor albeit in spots.