Grinder and platform

Tags: #<Tag:0x00007fa495d08d38>
#1

Greetings,
I have built a platform which is functional and suitable for tool maintenence.
With a platform larger than a postage stamp a grinder is an indespensible tool in a workshop setting, how else would you maintain tools…on a water stone?
Our tools get damaged, we now have an effective, speedy way of reshaping and grinding primary bevels on virtually every tool in the woodshop.
A decent grinder also makes it possible to try stuff out, if you don’t like it you can simply change it back.
I recently changed the profiles on a couple of skew chisels which were not getting a lot of use. Now they are better suited to my needs and I use them regularly. I simply would not have been able to do this without my own grinder.
My blades take seconds to raise a burr because I grind the primary bevel when it gets too big. The time savings are real.

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Proper tool maintenence saves time. Woodworkers who understand sharpening spend the least ammount of time doing it and get the best rewards from their limited input.
I was reading the Chris Schwarz book on stick chairs recently. Grinding is mentioned very briefly. It goes something like this, " If you are a woodworker and you have tools, you need a grinder…duh! "
Using my own grinder I have made custom scraper blades, spur point drill bits, radiused plane blades, I sharpen all my turning tools and maintain all my bench blades, the options are endless.
The space grinder offers limited access to the wheel so I have done the best I could with what I had. Presently the base needs to be clamped down to negate vibration, I will add some rubber feet later to see if it dampens the vibration. I may fine tune the height of the platform in the future.
I suggest giving it a try, I am happy to demonstrate. I know a great deal about grinding woodworking tools because I do it regularly.
Grinding requires basic hand eye co-ordination.
Contrary to popular belief grinding with a platform is not really freehand grinding and it is not difficult to accomplish, so long as you check progress to ensure you are achieving the correct grind, it is totally intuitive. The platform is a jig, directly comparable with using a honong guide. One imparts motion, sets an angle and references a tool. If you want more material removed from the toe of the tool you tap the toe of the platform and visa versa.
Above all, using the grinder is fast, efficient and fun.
It would be beneficial to purchase a coarse grit ceramic wheel (46 grit) and a fine ceramic wheel (100 grit) as they are faster and they grind cooler than most other affordable options. Ceramic wheels would be good for metalwork and woodwork applications and they last a long time with a reduced tendency to load. A 40 pound expense seems like a small price to pay for such an indespensible tool.
The grinder is in the welding area at the moment.
I will definitely be using the grinder. If you have any questions please ask.
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#2

Thanks Giles. I’ve not tried it yet. Happy to have it in the metal area. It’s essential for sharpening drills, bits, tungsten electrodes a well as making and shaping bespoke HSS tools for the machine tools among other things. A brilliant edition. I think we should put at least one polishing wheel on the other grinder that already has a wire brush - great for deburring and general finishing.

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#3

Thank you, Giles.
Would love to learn how best to use it. I have a set of chisels that are 25° single bevel, but I want them to be 30-25 double bevel to save time on sharpening. I took the pleasure of trying also to flatten the back, but 4 hours of hand grinding on the diamond 300 grit and grinding stone has not achieved that yet. So glad to have a grinding wheel and jig suitable for large material removal.

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#4

Yes, a polishing wheel would be a good re-purposing for the Ferm as the motor is running at low speed.
The housing can be turned around which will in effect reverse the spin direction of the wheel.
Polishing wheels spin up usually.
Sounds like a great idea.

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#5

Currently we have a few buffering wheels and compounds for the drill press, bottom shelf of the drill press stand - woodshop.

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#6

This is excellent. I have a harlequin half set of moulders and some pitted smoothing plane irons to take care of, this will let me crack through them. Top work as always Giles

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#7

Glad some people get it.
Let me know when you are about if you want me to bring the Shaker boxes down.
Thanks

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#9

I am replacing the wheels with some decent quality wheels I have spare.
If you use the tool in this configuration with soft chalk like wheels accuracy is very difficult.
The right hand wheel is not good at all. I think I will be able to replace the wheels this weekend. I believe I have the correct size reducers for the 1/2 inch arbors.

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#10

PLEASE DON’T USE THE GRINDER.
I took it apart last night and I discovered the wheels don’t fit on the arbors. They are too wide.
It requires 16mm wheels which are an odd size. The choices are limited for replacement wheels, all my spares are 19mm.
I have found a white 80 grit and a regular vitreous 36 grit, in 16mm.
The 36 grit is 12 pounds, the 80 grit white wheel is 30 pounds. I couldn’t find any 16mm ceramic wheels which will fit this machine. We will need to spend some money. We could just get two standard wheels for 25 pounds or we could get a standard wheel and a white wheel for 40 pounds or, we could actually buy an eight inch grinder from screwfix for 55 pounds. The titan 8 inch model looks like it was made in the same factory as my own 6 inch grinder, it offers much greater access to the wheels. Those are the options. Spend 25 pounds ( standard) spend 40 pounds ( slightly better), or get a new grinder with 3/4 inch x 8 inch wheels for 55 pounds.
So there you go.
I reground a plane blade, I subsequently used the plane as did another member and it makes a huge difference to the function and makes resharpening a breeze. Spending a little money would be worthwhile.

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#11

Wait till @mbg gets back from his trip in Spain and we will talk about it,
My main concern is this should only be used for repairing chipped/ damaged blades and not an alternative to sharpening with the wet stones.
Otherwise we will end up very quickly with a load of short stubby chisels.
But I agree as a tool for the @woodtechs to repair damaged blades quickly it will be invaluable.

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#12

Is there a way to put a couple of horizontal grooves in the platform to accept a fence so that the tool being sharpened is always presented at a 90deg angle to the wheel?

#13

Would there be a benefit in matching the grinder wheel size to the Tormek so that the shape of the ground hollow matches, making it possible to move from one grinder to the other?

#14

Just a general note - noone apart from woodlathe techs or pre-approved members can use the bench grinder for woodlathe tools. Talk to us first. Thanks!

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#15

Good catch Giles. As for which way to jump, I guess it’s cost / convenience / usefulness over time.

Regardless, metal needs a decent grinder. Lots of operations in metalwork require making the tools to get the job done. A grinder is essential for this. So there’s a good argument that it’s needed.

#16

While the is probably a great idea in principle. It would make it far less useful for metal tool making. These require a plethora of different grind angles…

#17

Doesn’t metal have 2-3x bench grinders? Or are none of them decent?

#18

There is a benefit in doing that but it really doesn’t make a great deal of difference in practice because the Tormek will simply sharpen the edge and the heel, very quickly the slight hollow will disappear. It doesn’t affect the function of the tool.

#19

Not really. With the current setup, we’re only grinding on the tormek - sharpening happens with the jig. That isn’t the only correct way to do it, but we use the jig for sharpening on the popular tools for consistency as it requires less training to get a good result. The purpose of grinding a primary is really to make sharpening a secondary bevel (the cutty bit) faster. It should only be done infrequently, or when there’s a big nick in the blade that has to be ground through. My opinion is if you’re at the point where it needs regrinding, the small amount of difference in hollowness doesn’t really matter

#20

Agreed.

#21

Well I used to have a groove but I never used it a single time.
A simple jig can be made with two bits of wood and two bolts, it can reference off the back of the platform. I just don’t see why general members will need to be regrinding primary bevels or repairs on space tools.
Because this is fast woodtecs and lathetecs and a few other people perhaps will be able to get stuff done as and when needed.
I imagined a grinder is something which can be used by people who are cleared to use it for space tools and for general use on personal tools metal work and woodprojects.

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