New owner of used 2000, couple of questions

[Kavik]

Thanks for another fine tip Ken. I didn't realize that could be bought separate from the kit, but I found it and added it to my Amazon wishlist

[Ken S]

Knowledge is power. You won't be disappointed.

Ken

[Joesloyd]

How about using an impact wrench to get that nut off?

[Ken S]

Joe,

I would give penetrating oil a few days a try first. That was also the recommendation from Sweden the last time this issue surfaced.

The ideal long term solution is a replacement EZYlock stainless steel shaft. Not only is it stainless steel, the EZYlock feature is very convenient.

Ken

[RichColvin]

I made that upgrade.  Very worthwhile investment!

Rich

[RichColvin]

It's gonna take a bit more practice combining the motion of rotating the jig while at the same time keeping the tool moving across the surface to keep from wearing grooves

Ha !  Good luck.  I've been using a Tormek for 15 years and still do that when I sharpen a lot on gouges.

As Ken says, the grindstone is an item that just has to be replaced. 

Rich.

[Ken S]

Rich,

I think gouges are particularly hard on keeping a wheel true. If I was turning, I would keep the truing tool close at hand for light cuts. Keep the wheel true.

I do not notice grooves when I take very light half number cuts and advance the cutter very slowly, at least 120 seconds across.

In my statement about grinding wheels being consumable, I compared them to brake shoes on a car. Both wear down over a very long period. I have 100,000 miles on my original brakes. (I drive carefully like most seniors.) I doubt most Tormek users wear out their first grinding wheel. I would rather increase the wear on my grinding wheel slightly and improve the trueness greatly.

Ken

[Kavik]

Yeah, my gut tells me an impact gun isn't a wise idea around a fragile sharpening stone

Ha !  Good luck.  I've been using a Tormek for 15 years and still do that when I sharpen a lot on gouges.

Lol thanks for sharing that Rich, good to know it wasn't entirely down to just being a sloppy beginner 

I would rather increase the wear on my grinding wheel slightly and improve the trueness greatly.

Yup, I'm perfectly comfortable with that mindset

[Herman Trivilino]

I would rather increase the wear on my grinding wheel slightly and improve the trueness greatly.

When a grindstone first begins to go out of round, it actually saves wear on it if you true it up right away. If you wait, it will get further out of round. This is easy to think about if you imagine an egg-shaped grindstone. A tool will rise twice per rotation and rise twice per rotation. When it's at its lowest point it will begin to dig in harder as it starts to rise, removing material from that quadrant of the circle, but when it gets to the highest point it stop digging in so much. It just gets more and more out of round faster the more it's out of round!

You will then have an unusable grindstone until you true it up, and when you do true it up you will remove lats of material.

Keep your grindstone round. It will last longer.

Your comment about the driver habits of seniors reminds me of the stories I heard about my grandfather's driving when I was a youngster. He drove around town with one foot on the gas, the other on the brakes. The brake lights were always on and the brakes were always wearing out.

[Ken S]

I think of frequent truing in terms of a bar graph. The horizontal axis is time. The vertical axis is the precision of grinding. The graph begins at the top left corner, with a freshly trued wheel. The line moves to the right as we use the grinding wheel. It also starts moving downward as the wheel gradually, through use, starts to become untrue. The downward slope increases as the wheel continues to wear.

At a certain point, we retrue the wheel, and the line continues moving to the right, but returns to the top of the chart.The cycle repeats. Those with more math skill than I have can calculate the average level of grinding precision throughout the cycles.

If we restart the graph, again with a freshly trued grinding wheel, the line will again begin the same downward slope. This time we retrue the wheel more frequently, with very light cuts. This time, the graph will continue moving to the right, as before. The difference is that the vertical reading will reset to 100%. When the efficiency over the entire time period is calculated, the average cutting precision will be considerably higher.

I have become a believer in frequent, light retruing. I do not believe this frequent light truing will cause any more .wheel wear than waiting until major truing is necessary.

Once learned well, retruing is very fast and controlled. Light cuts!

Ken

[Kavik]

Well, i got bored with work today and instead decided to dig into my tormek some more (work at home day  )
And, surprisingly enough, I managed to remove the wheels without too much fanfare!
Bearings are sold, no slop whatsoever.
Only issues were the obvious rust which had built up on the threads on the water side and slightly distorted the washers on either side of the wheel  (i didn't post about this before because I was pretty sure I knew the cause and didn't want you all wasting your time writing up suggestions, but the wheel did have just the slightest side to side wobble originally)
Spent a few minutes flattening the washers with a diamond plate and cleaning up the threads with a brass wire brush, as well as brushing the surface on the wheel where the washers mate up to it

Greased up the shaft and reassembled everything, and she's now running dead straight 

On my way to go pick up my son, but will true up the wheel again when I get home and then should be golden.
(Yes, I'm still planning to get the stainless shaft kit, but this will do me for the time being)

[cbwx34]

This is one thing I like about the Tormek... mine is over a decade old... I've been a bit 'neglectful' in maintenance... yet it has never caused me any issues.  (I am better now).   Everytime I fire it up... it's good to go.

[Ken S]

Good points, gentlemen.

Upgrading the shaft on my first T7 was a learning experience for me. First, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the EZYlock shaft. There was no reason to expect anything except first-rate quality, but it was satisfaction to have my beliefs verified.

It was also interesting to see how many of the parts looked like off the shelf metric hardware. In my opinion, this is smart engineering. Use standard parts where posdible and put the quality cost where it really counts.

The Tormek has always seemed like a fairly simple machine to me. Well engineered and manufactured, but simple and rugged. Look at the number of venerable old SuperGrinds still in regular service. What is especially impressive is that most of them have not been babied. The Leica camera company had a sales slogen, "quality is remembered long after price is forgotten."

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

(Yes, I'm still planning to get the stainless shaft kit, but this will do me for the time being)

As long as you're diligent about emptying the water trough between uses, and you're not interested in the tool-free grindstone removal feature, and you're careful to keep the main shaft clean and lubricated, I see no need to upgrade. The only reason I did was because I bent mine trying to remove a rusted-on grindstone. I was simply negligent in keeping the main shaft clean and lubricated, and emptying the water trough.

Keep in mind, though, that I'm always reluctant to upgrade. I modified my Universal Support to add a home-made micro adjust and still get by with the older style truing tool. It's probably overly frugal of me to not get the new truing tool, but I get by because I'm not a professional sharpener, just a hobbyist.

[Kavik]

Hmmm, am interesting opinion to consider Herman, I'll keep it in mind, thanks