Sharpening a Pizza Wheel on the Tormek?

[kuhnikuehnast]

Hi there!
Has anybody ever tried to sharpen a pizza wheel on the Tormek? And if yes, how did you get it? Either the wheel turns in almost the same speed as the tormek, or the sharpening gets unevenly...

Please help! :-)

greetings from Germany kuhni

[grepper]

Welcome to the forum. 

I've done it with both removable and non-removable cutter wheels.

I did it by finding some more or less stable way of resting the wheel so the blade was perpendicular to the grindstone and then turning the wheel by hand, pulling the cutter away from the stone after each partial rotation of the cutter wheel so as not to continue grinding in one spot while readjusting my hand to further turn the wheel.

It worked pretty well, but the bevel was not absolutely perfect with slight variations in the bevel width.  That said, I was able to get them plenty sharp enough to cut pizza.   It is, after all, just a pizza cutter.

Now... I'm sure if you really cared enough it would be possible to make a jig by putting a bolt through the scissors or tool rest to more securely hold the cutter wheel.  You could probably even conjure up a motorized version with a drill or something similar.

Of course they make machines designed for circular blades and if you were doing them commercially that would be the way to go.

My perfection threshold for a home pizza cutter was not nearly so exalted as to buy a machine or to bother creating a jig, and the humble method I described worked well enough for me.  It is, after all, just a pizza cutter.

[SharpenADullWitt]

The pizza cutters I have used, have been more the machete style.  I do know someone that created one that looks like a bicycle years ago.  Anyway, is the blade removable I would think would be the key thing.  I am thinking the turning cutter attachment, for the 185 or 186 jig would work on those.  For a non removable one, I would think Tormek itself might be of some help.

[RichColvin]

If the wheel is removable, how about spinning it at an even rate using a drill ?  That is how I was taught to sharpen a TIG probe for welding.  Here's an example (around 1 minute in) :  https://youtu.be/b9OQYysry1I

This should make the edge consistent.

[WolfY]

Yes I did a round knife used on kebab cutter. Used drill with parts of SVD-185 and a bolt through it. Got good result but don't like this job to do