Beauty Tools

[Exact Blade]

Tormek engineers should consider jigs for salon and beauty tools.
A cuticle jaw nipper jig would be a good place to start.  A machine set up specific for that runs about $1200.  I'm sure a jig can be a great alternative to a separate system.

[jeffs55]

Some problems with that that I see are the initial cost of the Tormek and then the jig. I imagine it to be in the $500 range easily. Am I dreaming at that? I do not know the current cost of a bare bones Tormek T7. Then, you have to train an operator and hope that after training they keep working for you. If the owner is the operator then he is going to divide the cost of having his cuticle trimmers sharpened into the cost of the Tormek. At what point will amortization occur and how long will he be in business? Once again, I do not know the cost of this sharpening service but a quick Google search reveals this: Cuticle Nipper Sharpening (Regular Price) - $5.00 each and add a massive $15 for return shipping. So going and coming is going to be $25 per nipper. It will take you more than 20 sharpenings to amortize. This is going to require a forward thinking business person for sure. The above info was found here:
http://shearintegrity.com/category/Nipper-Sharpening.html

[Ken S]

I don't know anything about sharpening beauty tools. If it would be possible to do the work well with a Tormek I believe that either Tormek or a third party machine shop would be willing to undertake the project, if someone was willing to cover the costs. I have no idea how much of a market there would be for such a jig. If the market was at least several thousand units, the cost would probably be "reasonable", perhaps several hundred dollars. For a small production run, with all the design and set up costs, each unit would probably cost several thousand dollars.

A case in point is the DBS-22 jig for sharpening drill bits. It is a very well designed and manufactured jig. It is very versatile and is one of the most expensive of the Tormek jigs. For what the jig offers, I believe the price is reasonable. The price would be lower if almost everyone purchased one.

We had a similar situation on this forum several years ago. Robin C Bailey wanted a larger universal support to be able to sharpen Chinese cleavers. He had one made up at a local machine shop and offered to have more made up for sale on the forum. If he had ten orders,  I believe the cost would have been 30 pounds per unit. There was only one taker (me), so the project was abandoned. Too bad. I doubt there would be sufficient market to warrant Tormek investing the design and manufacturing cost.

I have some experience purchasing a stripped down T7. When my T7 was stolen Jeff Farris referred me to Advanced Machinery. They were willing to sell a stripped down unit. For any dealer to be willing to do this, they much have sufficient volume in sales to be able to absorb the retained parts and sell them as accessories. I don't remember the price. At the time it seemed fair to me. It was not much lower than the price of a standard T7; it was low enough that I decided to purchase the stripped down unit.

Even if Tormek offered a jig for specialized salon sharpening, I doubt it would be any less expensive than a set up designed especially for that work. I would be inclined to use the Tormek for the many areas where it excels and leave the specialized areas to the tools especially designed for that work.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

Some problems with that that I see are the initial cost of the Tormek and then the jig. I imagine it to be in the $500 range easily. Am I dreaming at that? I do not know the current cost of a bare bones Tormek T7. Then, you have to train an operator and hope that after training they keep working for you. If the owner is the operator then he is going to divide the cost of having his cuticle trimmers sharpened into the cost of the Tormek.

But what if that sharpening service is already an established business using a Tormek?

[jeffs55]

Some problems with that that I see are the initial cost of the Tormek and then the jig. I imagine it to be in the $500 range easily. Am I dreaming at that? I do not know the current cost of a bare bones Tormek T7. Then, you have to train an operator and hope that after training they keep working for you. If the owner is the operator then he is going to divide the cost of having his cuticle trimmers sharpened into the cost of the Tormek.

But what if that sharpening service is already an established business using a Tormek?

The man asked and or suggested that Tormek create a jig to sharpen cuticle trimmers. Maybe someone is using a Tormek to do this but they did not buy an off the shelf jig to do so. It could only be a prototype unless you are privy to a source for that jig. I felt that he was implying that he was in the market for that type jig, hence my cost breakdown analysis for him. Maybe this man has a Tormek and is simply in need of the jig. He still has the same initial problems concerning cost and amortization calculations. His initial cost becomes a lot lower and he can then decide if it is worth it. Also, that unreasonable shipping I charge I referred to is for the first pound. I bet you could get 10 or more cuticle trimmers in a box for that pound and then save some bucks on the shipping. The cost to sharpen four or more dropped 50 cents each also. No matter who owns the Tormek, someone has to pay.

[grepper]

Ever try to sharpen little itty-bitty cutters like that?  You've got to be very careful not to remove much steel, and even more careful to get the angle exactly correct, straight and perfectly even.  If you don't the cutters won't precisely meet and there will be space between the blades.  The first time I sharpened a much larger wire cutters I had that happen and I had to fight with them for a while until I got them back to perfectly mating blades.  It was a pain!

The Tormek seems pretty big and clunky for those teeny-weeny little things, and they would either have to open all the way or be able to be dissembled to try it anyway.    The commercial sharpeners use a thin disk to get in between the blades.  Unless they were really bashed in or damaged, I would think that very little sharpening would be required.  I'm not sure the Tormek is the appropriate tool for that job. Then again, I could always be wrong.

[Herman Trivilino]

I think that with a proper jig it may be possible to do it on the Tormek. In the same way that drill bits can now be sharpened thanks to the proper jig. One problem, though, is that there may not be a market for such a jig.