JigSteps - Android App

[andrevde]

Hi all

I wanted to open with a bit of history, since I know Vadim (and his apps/book/knowledge) meant a great deal to people here. I was one of his customers myself — I'd bought and relied on his grinding-angle calculators for Tormek, and his FVB that I bought. After he passed in 2022 and the tools stopped being maintained, one of the apps stopped working properly, and I ended up building my own replacement just to keep going. That grew into something considerably bigger than I'd originally set out to make (I had a few eureka moments along the way!), and it's become an Android app I'm calling JigSteps.

Where Vadim's tools handled one grind step at a time, and one app per equipment type/position, JigSteps walks through a full multi-stage sharpening sequence (steps) as the user chooses — coarse through to polishing/honing — recalculating exact support heights and angles at every stage, on any valid machine/equipment setup. The blade/jig is kept unchanged throughout. It's based on the Tormek T-8 and is compatible with any wheel-type grinder, plus flat/belt setups (I even built-in the Tormek SE-77 jig). It relies on the user creating a library of all equipment they use for jig sharpening, so the geometry lends itself to any similar machine. Once this is done, it is very easy to create the steps intended for the item being sharpened. Lots of clear diagrams are included to explain what is measured, and where the calculated output is measured (it is not the same as Vadim and others have used - I think it's better!).

The app is heading into closed testing on Google Play before public launch (this is a fairly recent requirement as  I understand it), and I'm looking for around 15 people to try it out on the and give honest feedback. It's a real install through the actual Play Store (nothing sideloaded or emailed), and the only ask is a 14-day window of actually using it (Google Play monitors this).

For those that are selected for beta testing, as a thank you for helping me get this into production you'll get a free copy of the full release version.

The app will have free support for life (other than major upgrades), is a pay-once app that you actually own (no subscription), and has no link to any server other than the Play store. I'm finalising price but I'm likely to be around the $14.95 (USD) mark.

The app has a companion website with a full guide and equipment setup info, at https://jigsteps.app — that's also where anyone interested in testing can get in touch directly.

If this proves useful, I'll look at creating an IOS version for the Apple fans.


Thanks for your interest!
Andre