Messages

Thank You Gord for taking time to reply & for the excellent advice.
I apologize for how long it took for me to post this Thanks. I wished to wait to reply until I (finally) had time to use the Tormek again.

Honestly, I now don't know why I was having stone hitting trouble every time I set up a 60 degree scissor.
After reading your post and viewing the video that you linked, I was able to test set-up with several pair of scissors. Each one was 60 degrees and the jig and support plate cleared the stone every time.

Often, I do have much trouble conceptualizing angles due to dyslexia, so maybe each of the earlier attempts were on 'bad' days. (Actually, no day is a bad day as long as we woke up breathing!)

The video you linked really helped me see the set up process and I like his plan to add 10 degrees and register the Angle Master against the Support Plate. That made it much easier to view the registration. I searched around and viewed many of Mr. Farris' videos. They are very helpful as I learn the Tormke system.

Thank You Again for helping out. I hope you enjoy this day!
Paul

Thank You Stevebot for your advice!

I suppose some of my frustration was trying to use the jig to sharpen 60 degree scissors, noting that the Tormek Grinding Handbook  Edition 9.7 says "A common edge angle is 60 degrees.". My jig must be a newer design than the one that was available when the Edition 9.7 was written.

With some thought, I suppose I can make a suitable jig for the less-than-90-degree scissors we own. (All of them.)
Hand grinding good scissors is not an option for someone with my diminished eye sight. It won't go well, but the end result will surely be amusing!

The tools you mentioned are quite interesting. For the small amount of scissors I sharpen, the dedicated scissor sharpener would sit idle, but I've always wanted a good quality vertical belt sander. The Viel looks to be of very good construction & would find much use around the shop. Time to start saving...

Thanks Again!
Paul

Hi All!
I've never tried scissors on the Tormek until today and I'm stumped. I seem to be missing the concept of the scissor jig.

Following the instructions in the Tormek Grinding Handbook, I set the scissor in the jig with 3mm of blade protruding. At the scissor angle of 60 degrees, the back of the jig will hit the stone. I tried many scissors of varying blade widths. The widest is about 20mm and the smallest about 10mm.

I have to let about 13mm of blade past the edge of the jig (versus 3mm in the handbook).
Example photos are attached.

In the first attached photo, the blade is 22mm wide where the cutting edge begins, so they aren't small scissors. The blue line is where the actual cutting edge starts.

In the second photo (pink handle), the scissors can not be in the jig at their 40 degree angle without the back of the jig hitting the stone. The blade on that pair is 12mm wide. Actually, at almost any angle with only a frighteningly small part of the blade clamped, the jig will hit the stone.

I can only conclude that I am not understanding the instructions. I'm certain the Tormek Scissor Jig can hold scissors much smaller than the ones I am trying to work with. Do any of you know what I'm doing wrong and what part of the concept I am missing? I sure appreciate your help, advice & guidance!

Paul

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Courrierdog.

I probably sharpened my first chisel somewhere over 50 years ago when my Father gave me a set of chisels, a honing stone and a bunch of linoleum blocks to carve (and keep busily out of his hair).

I probably successfully sharpened my first chisel last fall when I got my Tormek up and running.
What a difference that system makes!

Yesterday I had to part off, on my tool room lathe, a very thin & soft PVC cylinder. The parting tool bit only managed to cause the work to thread itself off the mounting. This tool bit was brand new & factory 'sharp'.  (I could have used a slotting saw or handsaw, but where's the challenge?)

About 3 minutes on the Tormek and the (8% cobalt) parting bit sliced through the material and was downright cheerful about it!
This Tormek system allows me to work as tough I actually knew what I was doing in the shop.

Enjoy Today!
Paul

Thank You very much, Jeff.
After reading your words, I tried some 8% bits and wow! They certainly sharpened nicely. The more I use the Tormek, the more I like it. Practicing is actually fun.
Paul

Before I mess up my stone, I thought a quick post here may be extremely prudent.

I have an older SuperGrind 2000 (Square cabinet, no serial number). The stone is not marked with a part number. The label says "SuperGrind" and it is the light grey stone. I would believe it is the original stone to the tool. It looks similar to the current SG-250.

I would like to sharpen some high speed steel tool bits. Some have 8% cobalt and some have 13% cobalt. I was wondering it these would damage the stone in any way.

Could I please also sneak in a question about Titanium Nitride coated tools, too? For those, I am guessing I can not sharpen them with this stone as the TIM coating is actually a hard ceramic.

Thanks for your ideas!
Paul

Thanks Herman!
I guess I'll practice a bit more with the Truing Tool.
After some practice using your tips it certainly was easier did a very nice job of truing and, surprisingly, I had no ridges on the stone as I've read about. (About 2 minutes per pass) I started at each edge & worked toward center to avoid chips on the edges.

To stop existing rust from spreading, I use plain, old lanolin (wool wax) without dyes or perfumes. One brand is Fluid Film, but generic lanolin will work, too. It was used as a rust preventative on WWII ships' ballast tanks. I shot the stuff inside my 14 year old truck's rocker panels and haven't had any rust return. It grabs the steel and seals water and air out. When it dries, you can polish it so it isn't sticky. I do that on my wife's car's polished aluminum wheels to keep brake dust from sticking.  I don't know if it will work its way under loose paint flakes or if they have to be scraped off. On the upside, if your scraper get dull...

Please note that sometimes I sell the brand name stuff on eBay, so this posting could be considered partial. I apologize for that, but wanted to present this idea to stop the rust on your Tormek. I sell it when I buy a case for a project & have left overs. To be honest, generic food-grade lanolin is sometimes cheaper. Same stuff- No fancy brush can & no aerosol cans.

Downsides? It is a bit tough to remove when painting time comes. The best remover I've found for it is dishwashing soap & hot water followed by a wipe with rubbing alcohol. And I don't know if if is harmful to eat, but dogs love the smell. I keep my buddy away. She tries like crazy to get at it. Must smell like sheep.

Paul

I was amazed at how it gave a mirror finish to some high speed steel lathe bits I honed after sharpening with the Tormek. Even after sharpening & honing with my old compound and a hand strop, the finish did not approach that provided by the Tormek compound. The chips slide right off the chip breaker and the cuts are very peaceful!

Thanks for your reply, Herman!

The only thing I didn't like about the truing tool was how loose it fits the universal support's arm. The rectangular 'arm' cocks sideways a bit & gets stuck while sliding. This may be my technique. If I can't learn to control it, I could always open the holes and insert 12mm bushings similar to the motor mount bushings in order to help it slide smoothly. Or, wait until the new model truing tool is in the budget.

I do have plenty of rough shape chisels to sharpen on the freshly trued stone! Interestingly, I just stumbled on a very helpful video of Mr. Farris at a trade show sharpening a chisel that he hit with an ax blade. Studying his technique helped me quite a bit.

I wonder why your paint is peeling in chunks?
Small chance, but is there, perhaps, chlorine in the air from pool chemicals or laundry? That can lift paint.

If you decide to repaint with an off the shelf aerosol spray paint, there is one you may like. I've had great success with it for many projects. It is Duplicolor Engine Enamel With Ceramic. The stuff dries hard like a rock. I have it in the bed of my work truck, with Self Etching primer under it. It refuses to be gouged off, even after a few loads of broken concrete.  But I don't know if it comes in an appropriate color or sheen for your  Tormek.

I've read other posts about people with paint & label problems.  If I knew how, I'd get permission to duplicate the labels & I'd give them away at cost. These are the type of machine that people want to keep pristine forever. (Says a guy whose newest machine other than the Tormek is from the 50's.)

Thanks Again for your reply & Enjoy Today!
Paul

I know we are miles off topic of Tormek, but maybe your idea will help people save their scratched safety glasses and be happy to wear them. They are very critical when working with any tool. I speak from experience. I have permanent eye damage from being too cool to wear them about 30 years ago. One stupid move....

I used alcohol only because my window cleaner was frozen solid. Interestingly, so was my new jug of washer fluid. I tired some cheapie safety glasses this morning with Tormek compound & plain water, water and with glycerine and thawed out window cleaner. (Guess I'm bored.) They all worked great. I even tried it on some old, scratched prescription bifocals & an acrylic showcase. Great results.

Time to order more Tormek Honing Compound!

Enjoy Today!
Paul

I'm new to Tormek, but read your post just in time to test your headlight hypothesis on the taillight lenses on my truck! Mine are (were) so oxidized & scratched up from 14 years of Michigan winter road salt they were nearly white. While changing a bulb today, I took one lens inside to warm up and tried your safety glasses trick. The Tormek honing compound & rubbing alcohol worked great! (Window cleaner's in the garage- Frozen solid)

Now, on to those 6 pair of scratched up safety glasses...
Enjoy Today!
Paul

I certainly know very little about sharpening tools the Tormek way (so far), but do have a comment about hard water and grinding stones to share. Please forgive me if this is not applicable to sharpening with the Tormek system, but it may be helpful when deciding about using distilled water.

About 30 or more years ago, I was visiting my father, a very old-school German engineer, in his hobby lapidary & gem cutting shop. I noticed his elaborate water feed system for the grinding and cutting tools was fed with fresh well water.

His water had so much calcium it one could see it floating in a freshly drawn glass. So much that it would routinely clog the well's pressure switch. Interestingly he, as well as my mother, never suffered from osteoporosis even though neither one drank milk nor ate supplements.

I inquired about the calcium floaties and the stones. His explanation was that, even though we call calcium filled water 'hard', calcium actually acts as a lubricant in this situation. He said it also would help carry away the stone debris  (and prevent it from being re-deposited on the workpiece or in the stone's pores, if one were to recirculate the cooling water).

He also stressed to always run any stone & let it absorb as much water as it could before introducing work. He said if you recirculate, never reuse the same water between sessions not to let any stone sit unused in a water bath. (His system did not recirculate except for the saw. It sent the water to the garden, laundry or other grey-water use after it passed the stones or diamond wheels.)

In the world of tool sharpening, I wonder if these lubricating properties would be beneficial or detrimental. I also don't know if the excess calcium would clog the Tormek stone. I use Detroit water, so it is very calcium free from the tap, but I've always followed his stone care advice for all of my grinders.

Just some thoughts to pass along...
Paul

I finally have my New To Me Tormek SuperGrind 2000 up and running. All the rust is gone, it's been cleaned to new condition, rewired properly, re-assembled, waxed and polished. Ready For Work!

I was able to purchase an old style truing tool for a very pleasant price and trued the stone. The stone had to have 0.004" removed until it was true. That small amount made quite difference. This unit now runs very smoothly.

After using it for just a few hours, I see why people who use the Tormek system are so enthusiastic about these tools.  The cabinet steel and all other components are far and away superior to the other brand units I've seen. The thoughtfully designed, accurately machined and rock-solid materials go a long way toward making this a very precise tool. I also noticed that every upgrade to the machine or to a jig or accessory since mine was built will prove helpful along the way. (As the budget allows...)
I did add the Angle Master and the Horizontal Base. Those are very helpful, indeed. The next purchase will be the Universal Support with Micro Adjust. Designs for some jigs to grind 3/8" and 1/2" lathe tooling are bouncing around in my mind, too.

I sharpened some long neglected chisels and am truly amazed how easy the Tormek is to set accurately and use.
The edges on my chisels are so nice even I can now work with wood!

The only 'critical-only-to-me' thing I have left to do (other than buy more jigs and upgrades as I go along) is to try to find some replacement decals for the old style 2000 (pre-serial number square cabinet model). Mine are in very poor shape from the previous owner.

Thanks again to everyone for helping me by sharing knowledge, experience and ideas for getting this machine up and going!
Paul

Rethinking it, I guess I should wait until I can budget for the Tormek one.
Paul

If you guys get the photos to upload, it would be great to see your jigs!
I, too, plan to use the Tormek for HSS lathe tooling (along with my wood tools, of course).
Why not have the best possible edge & finish on those too? I'd love to have the extreme control that the Tormek provides while sharpening those tools. I'll bet they cut beautifully.

I'd imagine putting chip breakers in would still be done on the bench grinder, sparing the Tormek's stone from the trauma. But it would be great to have a mirror finish on the HSS cutting edge.

Thanks,
Paul

PS: I was also lost on the photo thing. It wasn't too bad once I learned (here) about photobucket.
I opened an account (free) at photobucket.
They walked my computer-ignorant self through their uploading process.  (Pretty much drag & drop)

On my Mac (Hopefully WIndows & Linux are the same) here's the play-by-play:

(I don't know how to re-size, but the link that Robin W posted explains it very nicely.)

At photobucket-
Right-click on one of your newly uploaded photos and choose "Copy URL". Don't choose "Copy Photo"

Click in the typing box on this discussion baoard where you want your photo.

Now click the box above this typing box that is in the lower row, left side.
    Hovering over it produced a pop-up bubble saying "Insert Image"  The icon is too small for me to see what it is.

After clicking it, in the typing box, these show up where you last clicked in this typing box [IMG] [IMG]

Right click in between them & chose "Paste"

There was the photo.

Maybe this is the long way, but it was the best I found. Hope it helps.