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I was wondering if anybody has tried replicating the Stuart Batty 40/40 grind using the Tormek.  If anybody has successfully accomplished this what are the jig settings used?

Many Tormek users place small super magnets in the water tray to collect metal filings which helps to keep the stone clean.  However cleaning the fine metal powder from the magnet is a messy and somewhat tough job because of the high strength of the magnets.  I use a slightly different approach in which I use one of the larger 3/4 inch super magnets glued to the bottom of the tray near the back edge as shown in the photo.  I used a product called "Goop" which does a good job of adhering to the plastic.  Other adhesives like epoxy and super glue have poor adhesion to the plastic.  After the Goop dried, I applied a thick coating of Goop over the magnet for two reasons.

• To make it easier to remove any metal particles from the outside
• To prevent the tray from grabbing the lower frame of the Tormek when the tray is removed to dump the water

After the second application of Goop cured, I used my belt sander to flatten it to about 3/32 inch thick (this can be seen in the inset to the picture).  This step isn't necessary, but it helps the water tray to sit more level without rocking when I lower it to get the stone out of the water, but don't plan to dump the water.

I am not certain whether I am correctly using the scale on the SVD-185 turning tool fixture -- I am referring to the scale that is numbered from 0 through 5 and has geartooth-like markings.  The trouble is that I can't tell from the instructions whether the numbers correspond to the valleys of the notches or to the peaks since the numbers are not clearly aligned with either ... they just sort of fall about midways between them.  After a lot of looking at pictures and head scratching, I finally decided to use the valleys of the markings and to make it more visible, put a red mark in the bottom of each valley.

I know that it would not make a lot of difference if I just picked one convention and stuck with it that would make my results repeatable.  However, when turning at the shop of any of my friends who also use Tormek's, I hate to change their fixture setting when one of us is off by half of a setting.  It also can be a source of confusion if one person wants to duplicate the grind of another on his bowl gouge, but can't get it to look quite right because of the "peak vs. valley" controversy.

Maybe the new fixtures have markings that are clearer to interpret, but my SVD-185 is somewhere between 7 and 10 years old and, like me, getting somewhat senile.