Tormek Community Forum

I built a Rose Engine lathe for ornamental turning.  I am currently using it to make some shaving brushes.  A prototype of the shaving brush's handle is shown below :


The Rose Engine I've built uses a fly cutter.  These are made from 3/16" diameter rod, and are short.  Two of my cutters are shown below :


The fly cutter is mounted in a cutting frame (yes, I had to make that too).  The cutting frame and fly cutter are shown below :


I've been trying to think of a way to sharpen these.  To date, I've held them in a hand-held drill, and sharpened them by using the drill to rotate the cutter whilst running along the grindstone.  This leaves a lot to be desired in the way of accuracy and cleanliness of the cut.

I was going to build a variation on a goniostat, but this is a bit complicated, and is meant to sharpen the tool on a flat surface.  Adapting it to the Tormek would be difficult.

Today, I came upon this idea.  It is a two-piece jig that I made today on my metal lathe.  The pieces are shown below separated, and together :



The rod is ¾" diameter, hot-rolled steel, and the collar is aluminum.


The calculations used for sharpening the cutter are :


When the cutter is mounted in the jig and held against the wheel, this is how it looks :



The measured angle is exactly as needed, and this works wonderfully.


if you want more details, please contact me.

Rich

No comment on the sharpening part, not even sure of what a Rose Engine is, but I would be interested in a shaving brush.  That first picture is pretty cool.

Bill Boehme recommended (on the AAW forum) that I remake this using parts from the SVD-186 (or the older version, SVD-185).  I have to thank Bill for that recommendation!!   I made this today, and it works amazingly well ... much better than what I'd originally made. 

This approach allows for much better control when sharpening. 


I broke my metric tap (6mm-1.0), so I had to use a screw in the end in lieu of using the Tormek hand screw.  That's why there is a standard screw shown.

This does open up a whole set of ideas for me ...

Rich

Clever, Rich.

I liked your idea of using your old 185 jig as a dedicated jig for sharpening cutters. (That part of the 185 was not modified in the much improved 186.) You have made your good idea even better!

Keep on innovating!

Ken