What tools to buy?

[Erik Brewster]

The big trick to sharpening carbide is to use a diamond wheel. I suspect the knife grinder will spin fast (1800 / 3600 rpm). The 8" grinder is slower and could be made to work, if you can get a diamond wheel on it.

The slow speed isn't strictly needed for diamond on carbide, but things will be cool and easy to control if the speed is low.

The 8" grinder looks like it might be tough to hold the scraper at the right angle with that guide, but it might work. A good guide doesn't need to be expensive, some scrap wood and time can do the job.

Erik

 

[astjp2]

So if I do the Ebay option for a diamond lap and get a grinder from grizzly to put it on, what RPM should I be lookin for in a grinder similar to those posted above? Tim

 

[Richard King]

Did you see this post bill added a super cheap way to sharpen the blades. My Glendo runs about 300 RPM.

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/14987-My-cheapo-Glendo-substitute?p=115819#post115819


The advantage of the Glendo is your blade doesn't get hot like the 3450 RPM machines get. If you can make one of those Grizzly grinders to accept a face wheel and if you can make a tilt table that is adjustable. It should work. If you have a lathe, you could make a adjustable blade rest that would set on the compound.

 

[astjp2]

I saw that posting, I need to have a sharpener at home and my lathe is at my shop. That is why I am trying to make something work. Tim

 

[Richard King]

For years in my Dad's shop we used a regular double end grinder with a 6 x 3/4 x 1 1/4 flat faced 300 grit diamond wheel mounted on one side. We welded an extension on the tool rest that was on the side. The blade would get hot, so we had to be careful and free handed the angle. If you have a double end grinder I see a wheel on Ebay like it is selling for $100.00. Mell and Tadd have home built grinders in the archives too.

 

[astjp2]

For years in my Dad's shop we used a regular double end grinder with a 6 x 3/4 x 1 1/4 flat faced 300 grit diamond wheel mounted on one side. We welded an extension on the tool rest that was on the side. The blade would get hot, so we had to be careful and free handed the angle. If you have a double end grinder I see a wheel on Ebay like it is selling for $100.00. Mell and Tadd have home built grinders in the archives too.

I finally received the new carbide tip, radius gauge and scraper handle from Anderson, I like the fit of the new handle better than the original. I spent some time radiusing the new tip, now I just need to get it lapped for a nice sharp finish. It is not easy to make a good round contour but I have it pretty close and hope that lapping will finish truing it up. Tim

 

[Richard King]

My friend Peter tried to hand lap the blades and raved about how great it worked until he sharped his blade on my glendo.....ha ha..

 

[Showoff]

I cheated and found a metric / inch conversion chart on Google for the radius....LOL. As my trip to Taiwan draws nearer to attend my 30th year class reunion with all my students I have taught over the years I clicked on my pictures. If you see I have students from not only Taiwan, but there are pictures of my GA class we had last spring. Tommy Brooks is the handsome devil with the mustache, Jim Johnson or Gearco is the standing next to him. The group of guys are from Bushe Precision in Milwaukee. I can remember so many people who stood out. But these hobbyist classes seem to be more rewarding as of late. Thank You to my friends who I have helped.

As I come nearer to my retirement I have so many fond memories of these classes. It was a real adventure, heck must have been in 1980 or so when I taught my first class at GM / Detroit Diesel Allison in Indianapolis when I was 30 years old and teaching Journeymen Machine Rebuilders in their 60's. One memory that stands out is when I taught a class at Galmeyer and Livingston in Grand Rapid, MI where they built surface grinders. The Grandson of the original owner, Charlie Galmeyer had me come in with the cooperation with DAPRA who sells the Power Scrapers..and teach 3 apprentices and 3 of their oldest Journeymen how to use the BIAX Scraper. The first day the old farts were in there little world of "Those BIAX scrapers are for roughing" attitude and the young guys were scraping 20 points.

That was 8 more points then the old farts (my age now) lol...had been hand scraping for years...yes 12 points. I say you can get 20 points by accident using the checkerboard techinique I was taught and now teach. On day 2 Charlie came out and looked things over and said the the lead Journeyman, whats happening ? It was obvious the young guy who didn't have the attitude and an open mind were making monkeys out of the obstinate older guys who didn't want to at least give it a chance. After lunch that day, those 3 older guys came over and said "Rich show us again"....that broke the ice....as I had pretty much stopped teaching them as they had a smart remark every time I tried to show them something so I ignored them prior to that.

It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but it can be done. After we finished the practice bars we broke up into 2 man teams and they scraped the machine with my tricks of the trade tips. I also learned from them. I have been always open to new ideas over the years and find new and faster methods so our company could make more money. Thats why My dad bought the first BIAX, why I now use Turcite / Rulon / Moglice. The last day at G&L as I was loading up my tools I heard a Yell "Rich" and I turned around and there stood the old lead Journeyman with his Anderson hand scraper...he was standing next to the trash barrel and he tossed his hand scraper in it. Rich
Link to the pic's. http://www.hobby-machinist.com/album.php?albumid=216

Rich,

love that story..... I can see him and the trash can.

my only question is why would you retire ?

if you ever want a vacation to fl. Your always welcome.

all the best john.





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[astjp2]

Scraping QCTP

SO if I get a decent quality QCTP, should I look at scraping the base and the compound rest? If so, how many PPI would I need? Also what is the difference between a BXA type 1 tool holder and a BXA type 2? Tim

 

[Erik Brewster]

Re: Scraping QCTP

SO if I get a decent quality QCTP, should I look at scraping the base and the compound rest? If so, how many PPI would I need?

I think you should. Scraping will guarantee you have flat surfaces, and that will eliminate rocking due to bad surfaces. I would say 10 ppi would be plenty. You will want to make sure you get some significant (50%) spotting coverage. You can get that fairly easily by wet stoning after you scrape it flat.

I think the type 2 holder has a v groove to hold a round bit. The v is not so wide that you can't use flat tools, but it can be inconvenient when mounting small tools -- they may not be as wide as the v.