OWC-1

[Ken S]

I recently purchased a Tormek OWC-1. (OneWay Convertor) The intended purpose of this accessory is to allow the use of Tormek jigs with dry grinders equipped with OneWay's Wolverine sharpening system for dry grinders. It combines the versatility of the Tormek jigs with the positioning capabilities of the Wolverine system and Oneway's effective truing tool for dry grinders.

The OWC-1 is a bracket which, when combined with a Tormek BGM-100, mounts on the arm of the Wolverine system. I intend to use this combination as a flexible positioning system with the Tormek. At this point, I have no specific use for this set up, nor do I have a well formulated plan. I do not even have the Wolverine system at present. I have been thinking about this project for quite a while, and found a very good deal on the OWC-1.

The set up will involve some dry grinder thinking. I doubt it will ever become my standard operating procedure with the Tormek. For day to day work, compared with the regular Tormek set up, it is clumsy. I envision using it for special purposes, perhaps involving the side of the wheel. It will require some sort of wooden base for the Tormek. Mounting the track which holds the Wolverine arm may not be in the traditional orientation.

I can see the set up possibly being used to keep a second universal support in position with the leather honing wheel when using the main universal support in the horizontal, grinding away position.

The set up might allow the side of the wheel to be trued with the TT-50.

Even if my Tormek oriented ideas fail, I can use the rig to do heavier grinding with my dry grinder. If I reset my mental memory back to 2008, before I purchased my Tormek, the hot, dusty, spark filled environment might not seem so bad, and it does remove metal quickly.

I welcome thoughts.

Ken

[RichColvin]

Ken,

I have a BGM-100 on my 8" bench grinder, & use it very rarely.  Its purpose is for the the initial shaping of new lathe tools (especially the bowl gouge) where a decent amount of metal needs to be taken away.  My reasoning is that it is cheaper than all the wear on the Tormek stone.

It works well, and I have no regrets.  But, I only use it for shaping.  The Tormek is used for sharpening. 

Kind regards,
Rich

[SharpenADullWitt]

I don't quite read you as clearly as I think you intended.
So your planning on using this system, with the Tormek, instead of using Tormek jigs with a bench grinder?
I am unaware of the Wolverines truing system.  I have seen it used with white wheels and with the OWC, with CBN wheels, on dry grinders, so you can transfer your setup, to a Tormek or just repeat it with the Wolverine on the dry grinder.

[Ken S]

I must not have written as  clearly as I thought.

I plan to use the Tormek machine, Tormek universal support, and Tormek jigs. The difference is I plan to mount the universal support in a BGM-100 mounted to the OWC-1 attached to the Wolverine arm. This should give me more flexible placing of the universal support.

This may end up on the relatively small "good idea" pile or the larger "not such a great idea" pile. If I did not have the latter, I would not have the former.

Ken

[Elden]

I have no comment in regard to your actual Wolverine, BGM set-up. But I do have a comment in regard to dry grinding. I regularly do dry grinding chainsaw chain. My son runs a tree service and I do his chains as well as a few for others. Dry grinding is very efficient and does not have to result in burnt edges. I have in bygone years used other equipment very effectively. I still sharpen drill bits with a dry grinder. Yes, I have a box of drill bits purchased from an auction that obviously had been the previous owner's junk bits. I sure wouldn't have wanted to taken them from that badly battered condition all the way with the DBS-22. I do hope to go over them with the DBS-22 sometime. However, they cut very well now.

[Ken S]

Elden,

As an old telephone man, we had an expression for how to strip wire with cutting pliers, "dikes and experience". "Dikes" was the slang term for diagonal cutting pliers. "Experience" was knowing how hard to squeeze the pliers so that the insulation was cut but not the copper wire.

You definitely have experience with dry grinding. I have had my dry grinder for over forty years, however, I have not used it enough to get past the experience hurdle. I usually chose the slower path of using bench stones. Over the years, I have learned enough that I could return to grinding with improved results if the need arose. By using my Tormek with the Norton 3X stones and occasionally a belt grinder, I have not felt the need to return to my dry grinder for the little bit of home shop heavier grinding that I do.

If I was in your situation and keeping a family tree service sharpened, I would do like you have and get the experience. I can definitely appreciate the speed of dry grinding when working on very nasty drill bits.

Several years ago I restored two splitting wedges for a friend. Both wedges had decades of abuse from not grinding off the mushrooming of the head from hammer blows (a safety issue). I knew this was beyond the Tormek. It was also beyond my standard dry grinder wheels. (I would still be at it with either the Tormek of the regular dry grinder wheels.) That was my introduction to the Norton 46 grit 3X wheel. It did the job.

You make an excellent point, Elden. While the Tormek excels at many things, there are some jobs better suited for other choices. Realizing this will lower our frustration level.

Ken