EZYlock thoughts

[Ken S]

I just installed the EZYlock shaft upgrade on my T7.  It is very much a Tormek product.  It is well designed and nicely manufactured.  A real quality job. 

Installation took about ten minutes.  My T7 once again purrs like a kitten, and it certainly is a snap to change wheels.  I think I have it installed properly.  I'm really not sure.  Neither the kit nor the most recent edition of the handbook have either a diagram or description of changing the shaft.  The new shaft design seems to have entered the thought process at Tormek, but not the handbook or instruction process. 

Very nice product.  It deserves better instructions for those of us who have only average mechanical ability.

Ken

 

[ionut]

Hi Ken,

I got mine not long after it was released so it was long ago when I mounted it but it was really straight forward if I remember correctly it goes only in one way and the instructions seemed to be sufficient, I don't have anymore the small note that came in the package but I believe the Tormek site has the same instructions probably more up to date.
It is great having it, with 4 stones it's a breeze to change them when I need to.
BTW for who doesn't have it I tried the same principle to lock the old nut on a different machine, by twisting the grinding wheel while holding on the honing wheel and it worked very well without using a hammer. The only difference is the rotation direction which has to be done in opposite direction compared with the ezylock.

Ionut

[Ken S]

Hi, Ionut.

Very clever of you to try twisting the stone with the original shaft.  I did not think of trying that.

The instructions tell how to change stones, not the shaft.  Yes, it is very straight forward to change.  Maybe all children learn how to change grinding shafts in Sweden as part of the Sloyd knife program.  I had no problem doing it; but it would have been nice to have had a diagram to follow.

Before installing the new shaft, I had planned to use only the original wheel.  Changing wheels seems like a nuisance.  I was more interested in the finer Japanese wheel, but thought my water stones would do the job more quickly.  I had not even considered the black wheel. 

The new shaft opens up more possibilities.  Changing wheels takes only seconds.  It speaks well for the Tormek that the most recent units come equipped with both the EZYlock and the improved water trough as standard equipment.

Ken

ps My "new" square edge jig is presently maneuvering through the postal system.