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Topics - kennyk

#1
As Ken S suggested,  a copy/paste/update of my post regarding the SE-76 in the reverse configuration. 

As I've been working through my pile of blades,  ( currently I still have a pile of roughly 60 blades to go...)  using the machine in my reverse configuration,   it has struck me that a revised version of the SE-76 specifically for this configuration would be a definite improvement.
 
By reverse configuration I mean  rotating the SE-76 180degrees and mounting the blade to the new 'left' side of the jig.   (I hesitate to use the words 'upside down' to avoid confusion of turning the jig or the tool over... )
 
My reasoning is from mounting a chisel in towards the far side of the jig - as far as possible from the registration edge,  I realised that in this position the chisel was midway between the mounting holes for fitting to the USB.  To my mind this eliminates, or reduces the likelyhood of inducing a turning moment or cantilever effect on the jig.

Further, as the blade is lower down and almost horizontal, I find it more comfortable, and the third benefit is that I can accurately see where the grinding is taking place and adjust my grinding pressure focus.   

If only there was a registration edge on the other side of the jig as well...  (hint hint!)   

However to get round this using a square to set the blade in the SE-76 every time does reduce the number of skews I am getting -  occasionally the blade does move in the jig.  (addendum here: ) Also the back edge of the jig isn't completely flat so sometimes I think a chisel  blade is square when it isn't. Another discovery on some blades is that the two sides of some plane blades aren't parallel so a square blade on one side isn't square against the other, but I digress.


I think I prefer this configuration, at least at the moment.   With the back of the blade almost horizontal I can see the burr appearing as a fine silver line against the stone and with this visual aid I find i very easy to control the grind.   Since I'm usally doing a run of the same type of blade, some of the chisels are a lot shorter due to a long and much abused life and it is a lot quicker to reach for the SVS-32 and switch to that for one blade without having to re-configure the machine.  I find peering over the machine a bit uncomfortable as well. 

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has tried sharpening chisels and plane blades in this configuration and what their results are, compared to the 'normal' method.
#2
After numerous attempts to sharpen over a dozen 1/4" Bevel Edge chisels,  it is now my considered opinion that the SE-76 jig is fundamentally flawed.

my experience has been that it is far easier to incorrectly mount the chisel  so that the back edge is not flush to the top of the jig than it is to mount it correctly.
Secondly, even with the knobs tightened it is very  easy to twist the chisel in the jig as well, as well as skewing it.

I have managed to get one chisel with a completely square edge, and that was more by luck.
If you can't guess,  I'm fairly fed up with my whole Tormek experience so far.  At this cost level the thing should work out of the box without all these issues.  Yes, the T-7 can get a razor sharp edge very fast, but I've had very poor success rate with getting the edge parallel.

The problem, in my experience, seems to stem from the instructions being far to vague to be meaningful.  There are far too many steps in the setup of the system where it is very easy to get the setup wrong and be completely unaware that it IS wrong.  And by the time I've got a skewed edge, it can be caused by a number of factors.  In my view, the videos on the accompanying DVD aren't much help - they concentrate too much on 'look how shiny a bevel we can get'.  What is needed are in-depth tutorials to point out the common user errors, rather than what is effectively Sales Pitch.

Sorry if this comes across as negative, but in addition to the 200 chisels, I've got somewhere in the region of 120 No 4 and No 5 Bench Plane blades to do as well and I can't afford to be wasting time trying to figure out why I'm getting consistently bad results.
#3
General Tormek Questions / Freehand Honing?
July 16, 2014, 11:17:08 AM
As I've got a LOT of chisels to sharpen (and plane irons),  I'm finding it a drag to constantly remove the universal support to use the leather honing wheel.  Ideally I'd get another support and set it for the correct angle for honing.  However I've been practising doing the final honing freehand and seem to be getting  better at it.  Is this something many of you do?

As I've got somewhere in the region of 200 chisels of various sizes to sharpen, I'm coming up with ways to speed up my setup.  For example  I've marked the leg of the support without the micro-adjust with a fine sharpie to give me the correct height when using the shortest stop on the TTS-100 for mounting my chisels in the SE-76.  With this I don't need to use the anglemaster to check my angle.  I still use the sharpie on the bevel when I'm doing a chisel I've not done before on the tormek to give me an idea of what the previous angle was.  However I'm looking for a consistent 25 (ish) degree angle across all the chisels anyway and this seems to be the easiest way to achieve this without having to micro adjust every single time.
#4
General Tormek Questions / Corner Chisel?
June 16, 2014, 02:26:55 PM
Hi All

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to use a Tormek to sharpen a 90 degree corner chisel?   
#5
Hi all, just registered here.

I've recently taken delivery of a T-7 in a school for sharpening all the chisels, plane blades etc.   However I'm having issues with it when using the SE-76.  I simply cannot get a straight bevel on my own Clifton Plane iron (the Plane is a No.7 Jointer) .  when looking at the blade front on (bevel towards me), the right hand side is always shorter  than the left.  I've tried a number of times to true the stone but that hasn't made any difference to the results.    the difference along the length is over 1mm ( around 1/32").

My observations so far: 
1.  there is play on the universal support leg that does NOT have the micro adjust, meaning that it is possible to knock the support out of parallel to the stone when adjusting the height after trueing the stone. I've tried truing after setting the support in all three possible 'positions' - first locking with pressure on the micro-adjust leg, then locking with pressure on the other leg, and finally with pressure on both legs, but all yield the same result.  which would you recommend as being the most consistent for acceptable results?

2.  with a 2" square on the front edge of the SE-76, the protruding blade is not square to the front edge of the jig.  is this critical or a red herring?

I re-ground a primary bevel using an ageing Viceroy Sharpedge flatstone grinder (just fitted with a new wheel) and even with play in the tool-holder due to wear on the height adjustment thread, I'm getting more accurate bevels, although there is a slight skew the other way.  So midway through the process it's hard to determine how bad the skew is going to be, as the edge looks convex.

I'm now starting to lose patience with the thing as I've got somewhere in the region of 200 chisels and 100 plane blades to sharpen for the various classrooms in the department!

Can anyone point me in the right direction?