oops,...I missed that

[Ken S]

I finally purchased a DVD and measured shop drawing of Norm Abram's Sharpening Station for the Tormek.  It seems a well designed cabinet for the Tormek and accessories.  (Jeff, does it have enough drawer space for the new extra wheels?)

Watching Jeff's demonstration, I had forgotten that the angle master is supposed to contact the wheel at two points, not just on the rounded part.  As I may not be the only dummy to overlook this, I am posting it.

Ken

[Jeff Farris]

Ken,

It has plenty of drawer space.

One note, I'm not sure why Norm put some of the drawers opening from one side and some opening from the other. I would find myself running around in circles going through the drawers. I just made them all open on one side. Simplifies construction a little bit, too.

[Ken S]

Jeff,

Thanks for the comments.  I had noticed the same thing about the drawer placement.  I like the idea of having them all in the same direction.  As I recall from your videos, you also chose not to mount the metal working vise on the top.  i can see the value of the dual function for the station, but I would prefer to keep the Tormek station unifunctional and simple.

Ken 

[Herman Trivilino]

One note, I'm not sure why Norm put some of the drawers opening from one side and some opening from the other. I would find myself running around in circles going through the drawers. I just made them all open on one side. Simplifies construction a little bit, too.

Maybe for balance?  If you had a lot of heavy stuff in the drawers and opened too many of them, could it cause the station the tip over?

[Ken S]

Good thought, Herman.  However, (with the advantage of having Norm's measured drawing, I believe he may have thought that having backing boards over part of both the front and back might make the carcase more rigid and less prone to racking.  Or, he may have planned to use different areas of the top for different functions.  Both are just guesses.

I plan to put the heaviest things in the lower drawers to lower the center of gravity.  The heaviest accessories would be the SG-250 and SJ-250 grinding wheels.  (I presently have only the SG wheel, however, it seems prudent to allow space for at least one extra wheel.  Who knows what the Tormek engineers will offer in the future for extra wheels.  By using full extension slides for the drawers, the wheels could be placed for balance.

I would place the smaller (and lighter) accessories in the upper drawers.  i am thinking I would like to allow space in the bottom for the Tormek unit itself, should I ever want to store it for a longer term or move the cabinet.  In that case it would seem prudent to remove the wheel.

Ken

[Jeff Farris]

Maybe for balance?  If you had a lot of heavy stuff in the drawers and opened too many of them, could it cause the station the tip over?

If you open all the drawers at once, you deserve the mess you make. 

Couldn't resist that, but you may be right. I think it was more on the order of one set of drawers for one function and one for another. I wanted mine all for the Tormek, so I put them all on one side.

[Ken S]

One of my photographic instructors published a quarterly newsletter.  In one issue he detailed the construction of his new darkroom.  Years later, I wrote to him asking what he had or might wish to change in his darkroom.  In the last newsletter he answered the question with some of the tweaks he had made or wished could be made over the years.

Most good ideas yield to improvements with use.  It's too bad Norm doesn't include a sheet with "it seemed like a good idea at the time, however" and "Yes, this was a solid idea." thoughts.  Jeff, after much use, are there any tweaks you have made or wish you had made with your sharpening station?

Has the pull out stool been useful, or would a separate stool be more useful?

How about the height and size of the station itself?

Thanks,

Ken