Angle master wear

[Ken SOS]

HI,

I been noticing that my angle master is wearing pretty quickly. I'm concerned that I am not getting correct angles anymore. I am purchasing a new one, but would like to know if anyone has a similar problem and if so what they did to correct it?

On an aside note. My T-7 seems to need to be worked in every morning. If i don't for example take the stone grader and press down on the stone and release slowly and repeat about 6-8 times. When i sharpen a blade the wheel will stop with almost no pressure.

On a second side note, I am getting an intermittent squeal.  Any ideas where i need to be oiling?

Thanks -Ken

[Chiltop]

Hi Ken,

With regards to the wheel stopping on the machine this has happened to me before and I figured out that it was a condensation issue on the rubber friction wheel in the mornings so just take the honing wheel off and set the machine running and use some blueroll to dry the friction wheel this normally sorts out the issue for me. This may also solve the squeal!!

I have also had the problem with the angle master and I have used some 2 part putty cement to rebuild the corner once the putty is on press it against a flat object on the 2 sides to recreate the corner, then once dry carefully press on the flat side of the spinning stone to make it smooth.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Chris

[pk]

hi, I too am having probs with wheels stopping on my 1200. I have taken apart and wiped clean the flywheel, even gave it a light sand to rough it up. It does turn but when you put any pressure on the sharpening stone wheel it just stops. Is the flywheel worn beyond repair? can you get replacement parts for this? Help!

[Ken SOS]

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. I love my Tormek and was worried something might have been wrong where i might have to send it off..

Nice tip about the putty, Did you happen to notice it was also happening on the wheel size angle as well.

Thanks again -Ken

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Ken.

Your posting surprised me.  I have seen many postings about the grinding wheel "stalling" or things like the blade angle being out of square.  I don't recall any previous problems with the angle master wearing.  I admit my Tormek does not get a lot of use.  However, I would be surprised if yours gets more use than Jeff gave his when he was an on the road demonstrator.....which makes me think your technique may be a factor in the wear.

I assume you are not using your angle master when the wheel is moving.

Are you using your anglemaster in good light?

If you are indeed using your Tormek enough to be putting a lot of wear on your anglemaster, I suggest you devise a system where you do not need to check your angles.  By this I mean that you standardize your grinding wheel distance and blade projection.  I use the TTS-100 settings.  "A" works well for chisels and "B" works for plane blades where I add some camber.  Once you set the grinding wheel to support bar distance, you only have to use the angle master once to set a particular bevel angle.  I use the TTS-100 projection slots.  I put a blank piece of white label maker tape into the slot and mark the distance, noting the angle.

For the next sharpening session, I merely check the wheel to support distance with the TTS-100 and set the projection distance of the blade to match the mark on the tape.

This can be done just as easily (as shown in the handbook) with a block of wood.  Mark a line on the block of wood for the blade projection distance (which is not shown in the handbook), and everything should match.

I still think something is wrong with your angle measuring technique.  I don't mean to be critical; I am just puzzled.

Good sharpening, and do keep us posted.

"the other" Ken

[jeffs55]

I did not know that you use the anglemaster with the wheel turning. I don't.

[Ken S]

Jeff, using the italics for "not" was too subtle.  I should have used bold.  No, I don't use the anglemaster "on the fly".

Ken

[Chiltop]

Hi Ken,

Yes I did notice wear on the wheel size as well, I have used the putty on this as well and is a bit more tricky to get it perfect. Once the putty was on I carefully rolled it along a metal rule to try to recreate the perfect curve. When I up graded to the T7 I drew around the new angle master parts so that next time I can use the template to see if I have got it right. 

I use the angle master nearly every time I sharpen something because I mainly sharpen knives and with every blade being different it need to re-measure the angle every time!! Unfortunately it's just wear and tear, on thing I might try is to wrap tin foil around the parts to see if this helps slow down the wear on the 2 angle finding parts.

[Rhino]

That's a very interesting idea.  Or place a piece of paper on the wheel when you do it.  I might give it a try.  I was always taught to treat measuring equipment with much gentleness and respect.

[RobinW]

I have noticed that the piece of my angle master, which contacts the bottom of the blade to be sharpened, lost its straight edge which contacts the blade. When looking against the light it showed a rough edge against the blade so I lightly dressed it up. I was a bit disappointed when I noticed it a few months, and also didn't understand how or why it would have worn.

I haven't checked for wear on the wheel contacting part. I'll do that in the next day or two.

[Ken SOS]

Hi other Ken.
Yes I think trying to use an angle master on the fly would be quite dangerous not to mention I can think of any purpose it would serve. I'm not sure i understand your alternative suggestion. I do knives of all sizes. I may do 40-80 a day. I think the problem is the soft plastic of the wm-200 and the wheels grit eating it up when you are lining up a knife.

Re Chiltop, Good idea. I just ordered a new one so I will do an outline for future reference.

[Herman Trivilino]

The piece of the Angle Master that touches the grindstone, called the Angle setter, can get worn away, especially by a newbie. 

http://tormek.com/media/103679/wm-200-breakdown.pdf

This happened to me, and it does affect the accuracy.  The Angle setter is sold separately and can be replaced.  You can even use this piece as a poor man's upgrade.  The older Angle Master went down to only 15^o, but the newer one goes down to 10^o.  I have the older Angle Master, but when I replaced the Angle setter I can now go down to 10^o, although there is no "10^o" mark on my older Angle Master, I can still eyeball where it would be if it were there.

[Ken S]

Machinists use "Jo blocks" (also called "Swede Blocks" or "hoke blocks").  These are hardened small steel blocks ground and polished to very precise limits.  They are manufactured to tolerances within millionths of an inch, and used to regularly used for setups to measure ten thousandths of an inch.  They are also very expensive.

To preserve the integrity of the set, each set comes with a pair of wear blocks.  The wear blocks are used on the outside of a stack of blocks and take any wear of contacting rougher surfaces.  The theory is it is less expensive to limit the wear to two easily replacable, standard size blocks.

With the plastic measuring surface of the anglemaster, carefully inserting a piece of paper between the plastic piece and the wheel should allow the paper to become the "wear block".

For sharpening different size knives, I think Ton's system is a major step forward.

Ken

[muellerbob]

Can I purchase just the black plastic pieces for the angle master, they remove very easily.  Mine are getting wear  down on them, and no I don't use it with the machine running.  thanks  Bob

[Herman Trivilino]

Can I purchase just the black plastic pieces for the angle master, they remove very easily.  Mine are getting wear  down on them, and no I don't use it with the machine running.  thanks  Bob

Welcome to the forum.  If you're in the USA you can get those parts here:

http://sharptoolsusa.com/parts.finder.php?target=parts&parent=30