Any decent choices I'm overlooking besides Delta's 8" variable speed (1725-3450) bench grinder (Model #GR450). I'd buy this one one blind except the reviews I read were sort of disappointing. I believe I want the slow speed option to help me avoid burning anything up.
Bill
What's a "slow speed" ? Half-speed of the usual fast (same mech, differently wound motor), or else a worm-geared 10" diameter wet wheel?
I'm using a horribly cheap geared wet wheel for HSS lathe tools. Crude, but does the job. So much cheaper than the other alternatives for wood turning. Cabinetry tools I do by hand, or sometimes with an angle grinder (tool held in a vice!) for resurrections and rough shapings.
I've had the 6" model for about a year and a half and it's been working fine for me. The tool rests aren't too bad - at least they have machined surfaces instead of being just stamped steel - and it comes with reasonably decent wheels. It's worth it to me just for the tool-less wheel changing feature alone.
Tom
My "biggest task" for the grinder, is to put a 3" camber on a plane iron. Any thoughts on how you would you approach that sharpening task? I guess I should learn what types of vices may be helpful with this. I hadn't considered using one up to now.
Thanks, Bill
Intuitively, it seems that the way to do this is to:
1) Scribe the right arc on the back of the plane 2) Grind to the arc, or almost to it, at 90 degrees 3) Grind a "crown" (is that the right word?) to the edge by raising the angle of the tool rests.I've read that one should grind "into", rather than "out of" the metal so that the iron can absorb part of the heat. I can't seem to decide in (3) if the angle/crown should vary as one goes around the arc and the best way to accomplish this.
Bill
The wheel is important, too. Coarse, friable bond, white vitrified aluminum oxide cuts fast and cool, because the dull grains fall off under pressure, making the wheel somewhat self-dressing.
Cheap grinders probably need a tool rest upgrade. The Veritas works fine, but you can make your own easily if you're cheap.
Coarse, friable bond, white vitrified aluminum oxide...
I had to go back and write that down slowly!!! : ) Thanks, Bill
The Delta grinder comes with one of those.
Yes, as you may know Lowes seems to be clearing Delta out (and replacing with Porter-Cable goods). I may drive to a few stores and see if I can find the GR450--maybe even at a clearance price. I found out tonight that my closest store has already cleared this model out.
Bill
You want to sharpen tools?
ITEM 2485-0VGA $40 @ H/F.
Lew
I thought a belt-sander would leave one with a concave rather than a convex bevel, no? Might be hard to hone decent micro-bevels after sharpening with it? Admittedly, the price is right.
Best, Bill
Hmm. The belt-sander/sharpener might work pretty well on a high-cambered iron. Decisions...
Bill
I have that grinder, and like it. I use it for putting initial grinds on plane blades, chisels and lathe tool sharpening.
Out of the box you may be initially disappointed though. When I fired mine up the first time, it practically shook everything off the bench. The fix for this was to use the Oneway balancing system to get the wheels balanced properly.
I bought the slow-speed grinder at Woodcraft. Believe me, you do not want this one, it vibrates a lot. I returned it.
I have the 1725 rpm grinder from Woodcraft. 8". Works fine. Comes with 2 white oxide grindng wheels so no need to buy any.
I read your message and took it as a prompt. I went out and found "one left" at my second closest Lowes store--my usual store had already cleared them out. For $118, I don't think it has competition. I didn't like the tool rests on the new Porter-Cable model because they have "fixed positions", also the Delta unit is 5 Amps, instead of 4 Amps for the Porter Cable. I suspect this unit will last me a long while. I will look into the Oneway balancing system if necessary (thanks for the suggestion!).
On the way home I was thinking about how I was going to rationalize my purchase of this tool to you folks... and when I stopped to realize what I was thinking it made me laugh! I hope you don't mind that I splurged a little! ; )
Bill
Japanese 250 grit waterstone. It has quite an appetite 8-)
Failing that, the big wet wheel.
I just don't get these "half speed" white & pink wheel grinders. They're probably great for HSS and turning tools, but for something like a plane iron (thin, narrow angle, a steel that will burn easily, especially if laminated) they're still going to be too fast & too hot.
Especially considering that you can get a usable Tormek clone for a hundred bucks from Grizzly (Harbor Fright seems to have discontinued theirs).
I've got a variable-speed bench grinder but the only time I turn it on is when something needs some serious reshaping. Half-speed and friable wheels were a good solution when the alternatives were either crappy or expensive but that's no longer the case.
As I get older though my approach to sharpening gets more and more pragmatic--I don't even bother getting out the stones for the kitchen knives anymore--the bottom of a coffee mug puts as good an edge on them as I need. I dunno if that's because I've had enough practice that it's easy or that I'm less finicky about having some kind of impractically perfect edge.
I got mine from Lee Valley.
o) Don't use regular light bulbs in the stalk light. Just about any vibration and a regular light bulb will shake the filament apart. Instead get "fan bulbs"; these are designed for ceiling fans and can withstand some vibration.
o) If you get the Oneway balancing system, you'll find that you have to either modify the wheels that come with the grinder, or buy new ones. The Oneway system uses hubs, the grinding wheels are mounted in these hubs, and then the hub/wheel combo is mounted in the grinder. Since the hubs are now sitting on the grinder's shafts, the grinding wheels need to have a larger diameter center hole to fit on the hubs. The wheels that come with the Delta grinder have a plastic insert that is glued in. To get one to fit on a Oneway hub I had to drill that plastic insert out. I don't remember the diameter I had to drill it out to, but I did that with these set of bits from Harbor Freight:
o) You might also need to get some washers to help with the fit of the Oneway hubs, on the grinder's shafts.
o) The finish on the tool rests is a little lumpy/uneven. This is easily fixed by running a file over the rests. You'll feel this when you slide a plane blade back and forth over one.
Once I got mine tweaked and dialed in, it's been great. Having the ability to vary the speed via a dial is especially nice.
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