Carbide

[J.O_Donnell]

As a young man one of my first jobs was at a carbide sharpening shop. Industrial scale, hydraulic actuated, conical and flat diamond wheels. My chore was angle finding, notating and machine operation, some brazing to replace chips on expensive saw blades, then shaped to match existing so they could run through the machines without crashing. A missing chip is a terrible thing.

I now work as a floor coverer. I am resilient floor cove and weld specialty. We use carbide and diamond for concrete milling, the costs of carbide chips are in the hundreds, diamonds are thousands. Steel blades are still required for shaving welded vinyl and because we have carborundum and quartz impregnated non slip surfaces, my steel blades need constant maintenance. My carbide chips also need similar maintenance.

The carbide is used on buffer machines to scrape residual adhesive. This power scraper is good for 8000sf and then the carbide has a rounded dull edge and no longer as effective. Since I already need to get the T4 and  SVD-185 Gouge Jig to sharpen our steel X acto round gouges, our planer blades, and perhaps our groover blades I figured I would ask the following serious question.

The side of the wet stone is a perfect surface to attach diamond sandpaper, or tungsten grit so that carbide can also be tooled. At this time, my only option is diamond sandpaper for its large flat surface or a tungsten cup wheel, actually unsuitable because of the reduced contact area. What would it take to get a Tormek fixture for carbide sharpening? They are adept at jigs and fixtures, it seems a natural evolution to an already brilliant design.

I need a large flat surface, I have 24 chips to sharpen and since each has a hole in the center I plan to thru-bolt 12 chips at a time and machine the outer perimeter. The side of the wheel permits this. The edge of the wheel would force me to tool one side at a time, and the results might be unequal.

Thanks in advance, Jim

[jeffs55]

The words of a certain song come to mind," to dream the impossible dream". But hey, I am not nearly so versed in Tormek applications as some of the senior members. Perhaps one of them can come through for you and I hope they do. Also, since no one on here has successfully addressed flattening of the side of the stone; I do not see a possibility of maintaining a  flat surface for this application. I envision you sharpening more than one carbide insert at a time so it seems to me that the side of the stone must be flat along its entire side. Any deviation would render some of the inserts useless. How would you even mount a "jig" that held 12 inserts in the same plane and where would you get such a jig to begin with? Not having much sense when it comes to this kind of thing, I am thinking that the jig itself would cost a substantial amount and would not amortize itself until way in the future. Of course, I may not even be thinking of the tool that you need. I only have my ideas in mind. I will be curious to everyone elses response and hope someone can come through for you.

[grepper]

If you are talking about jig design, it might be helpful to come up with some rough drawings of what you have in mind.    Folks here have come up with some ingenious jigs and mods for the Tormek.  It's not clear what exactly you have in mind.  But it sounds interesting.

That being said, it may end up being something you may need to design and make yourself or have made.

I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to achieve, but there is this type of idea:
http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=2519.0

There is the BGM100 for using the control bar on a bench grinder that can be mounted anyway you could figure out:
https://www.google.com/search?q=tormek+bgm+100&lr=&hl=en&as_qdr=all&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwipjKrI55_KAhXEgj4KHZjbDgYQsAQIPQ&biw=1024&bih=561

Of course there is stuff like:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/181811972839?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82

and

http://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-T21513-Diamond-Grinding-Length/dp/B006SJF65Q/ref=sr_1_8?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1452447832&sr=1-8&refinements=p_n_feature_eight_browse-bin%3A4539398011

Is any of that helpful at all or possibly provide some ideas?

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Jim (J O_Donnell).

I don't think your dream is impossible. In fact, I think it has possibilities. I believe truing the side of the grinding wheel is not a big deal. The topic Grepper linked with my idea for a side platform, when combined with a Norton abrasive grinding stick should make truing the side of the wheel doable.

In all the photos grepper posted, I did  not notice even one showing the BGM-100 configured for the side of the grinding wheel instead of the edge. Why not?

You have to have a mental attitude which is not afraid to fail. I have two so-so small knife jigs made from cutting a platform jig. They are among my "also ran" ideas. The present kenjig is not my first attempt.

According to Tormek, the SB-250 is capable of sharpening, but not reshaping carbide. If I was in your shoes, I would acquire one. Other options would include a CBN wheel, if you could find find one with a bore adaptable to 12mm and designed for flat work. Since there is no SB-200 blackstone presently made for the T4, you might have to look elsewhere for a grinding wheel designed for carbide.

You might have to do or pay someone to do some machining.

If you believe in your idea, I would encourage you to pursue it. If it works well you are ahead. If it does not work, welcome to the club.

Do keep us posted. I have been very pleased with the team efforts on the forum.

Ken

[J.O_Donnell]

Here is a link to the paper
Check out this item I found on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=350098155360&alt=web

This is the cup wheel (similar)
http://www.erniestools.com/pearl-abrasive-t-27-tungsten-carbide-diamond-sharpening-wheel-4-1-2-x-5-8-11-shw045h/

I just learned of the Grizzly, thank you. The link to this forum shows a nice side rest for using the side of the stone. I realized after I posted that I could always consider mounting that paper disc to the angle grinder, I might need RPM that doesn't happen on the Tormek. Although I have cut a lot of carbide, it was all high rpm. Never done it at 120.

But it might be enough. Carbide cuts like butter with the right tools. I have not ordered any diamond paper, either so I have more questions than answers.

Here is a clear picture of a single chip. It has 8 sharp edges, that can be flipped around until you are left with 8 dull edges...
http://www.prosol.ca/Product/Hexpin_Carbide_Chip/393

Thank you guys for your replies. I will acquire one, for certain. I am excited about it.

[grepper]

So I take it that what you want to do is to line up a bunch of those ¾" x ¼" chips on possibly a rod or something similar and sharpen a bunch at one time by pressing them all against the side of the wheel at the same time?

Am I understanding this correctly now?

[Jan]

For testing Tormek performance for carbide chips sharpening you can also use the Scissors Jig SVX-150. The maximum height of the chip is 1/4".



Jan

[Ken S]

Good thought, Jan. Another use for the scissors jig.

Ken