Messages

Apologies and thanks to anyone who replied to my posts in my absence from the forum.
Stay safe, stay sharp!

I believe the thread is the standard ISO form ie 60 degrees.
NB that this is a double start left hand thread.

Perhaps worth making the point that if used with a conventional high speed grinder lubrication should be dry and minimal.

Ken S:
Thank you for putting me right about the stainless shaft; rather a shame my version of its history was not correct!

I see that Tormek's description for the US-105 is " a square cut Acme style thread" which is interesting since the diameter is to a metric dimension; the corresponding metric thread is the trapezoidal which, amongst other differences, has a 30deg included angle as opposed to 29deg for Acme.
There have been numerous variations on the Acme thread and without knowing what "style" has been adopted it would be difficult or impossible to produce the corresponding internal thread.
The essential "point" of the flat-topped thread is, of course, that it resists damage from the pinch screws and avoids the need for a separately-machined flat along the thread as per the previous generation of supports. I have modified my pinch screws by the addition of a small brass insert in the end which bears on the support.

[...]
Since 2006, all Tormek shafts have been made of stainless steel. What I don't understand is why the clone manufacturers are still using regular steel!

Ken

I have very limited experience of the clone manufacturers' products but you have highlighted a very good reason to avoid their machines!
The world moves on, however, and now we have ACC to save us from our folly (my mistake was in not using my machine for an extended period; as they say, use it or lose it).
The new shaft gave Tormek the opportunity to introduce the excellent EzyLock nut which would not, of course, have fitted the old shaft.

Here in the UK the US-430 is just over £70 from my usual supplier. My support took the best part of 1metre of stainless rod which cost me under £20 delivered.
The Tormek item would need to be made from weldable material since, understandably, welding is the production method. I don't think that corrosion resistance is particularly important in this location - the support is easily wiped dry - but I have never understood why the original wheel spindles were made from non-stainless steel.

I do like your design and the method of construction.  Am I right in thinking that it's made of 303 stainless steel rod?

I will send a question to Tormek to ask about the metal(s) used in the universal support.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll be interested to hear what they say.

octimon:
Thank you.
My rod was in fact grade 316 which I understand is "excellent" for corrosion resistance.

What kind of metal rod did you use?

I assume this question was prompted by my post; I used ordinary 1/2" machinable stainless steel rod.

I don't know what the Tormek item is made of.

It sounds as though your extension will be a great success. Your method clearly worked but I think you may have been rather lucky; modifying an existing support seemed rather daunting to me, hence my decision to make from scratch.

It was helpful to have this detail confirmed.

I, too, wanted an extended support. My existing ones pre-date the M6 thread and I opted to make my own from scratch, fastening the legs to the arm with screws.

Visible on the far side of the machine in my photo is a simple drop link allowing some use of the diamond wheel's face.

Good to know that the Tormek is  exonerated!
I bet you make some sweet mewsik on the Deckel.

The first design criterion for me in building a stand for my Tormek was its height; I toyed with various ideas for a variable-height arrangement but decided on a compromise fixed height which will also allow me to store the stand under the bench, with the machine stowed inside on heavy duty drawer slides.

I thought about the custom liners for drawers but, apart from their cost, felt that they were too inflexible.

I, too, have noticed the tendency to tilt; the amount of this depends on the point angle of the drill but I have only used 118 degrees so far.

To remove as much 32 mm seems at first sight a bit drastic but I assume that those who have done this have experienced no problem; the Tormek wedging arrangement is, of course, very stable.

Looking at my old SG 2000 with this in mind, it occurred to me that the screwed-on horizontal base could be shifted a few mm to the left to achieve something of the same effect.

With a BGM-type arrangement, of course, the support can be as far from the wheel as the user chooses to make it.

I just noticed RickKrung's tip which may make my mod redundant:

"For setting of the primary facet angle using the Angle Setter, I found it most effective to hold the Setter in my right hand up against the wheel and grip the knob with my left hand and support the plate/assembly with the back of my left hand. This allowed me to firmly keep both corners of the setter firmly on the wheel and rotate the plate assembly up to meet the bottom edge of the Setter and lock the angle in place."

cbwx34:

Thank you for your interesting observation which engages areas of technology way beyond my knowledge. Rust seems to occur in unpredictable ways even though one knows it's just natural laws at work.

Incidentally, I tried the idea of filtering the used ACC to remove carbide and other foreign particles and found that it was a very lengthy process, presumably because the paper coffee filter I used became choked.