Square edge

[wbrent]

Hey folks. Pretty new to the Tormek. Using it to re establish the primary bevel on my hand plane blades and chisels. Using the SE 77 and original grinding wheel. First thing I've learned is that it takes forever to grind a new bevel. Also the angle finder thingy is not real accurate. But my biggest problem is after all that time and effort I have an edge that is not square. Can you help me trouble shoot. The se77 has a small lip that supposedly makes the blade square. But are we to rely on that?

[RickKrung]

...snip...But my biggest problem is after all that time and effort I have an edge that is not square. Can you help me trouble shoot. The se77 has a small lip that supposedly makes the blade square. But are we to rely on that?

Welcome to the forum.  You've come to the right place. 

Put in the time to do some reading in the extensive history of posts, in this subforum, but also maybe in the General forum.  This has been discussed, repeatedly and extensively, so all the answers you might receive now have already been said/posted. 

There are others here with a lot more experience with the jig than me, but I'm going to express what I think I know. 

If you mean the supposed centering lines on the side of the casting (see image below), next to the adjusting screws, NO!  This is just my opinion, and I've stated it here before, while the casting are fairly "precision", they are still just that, castings.  And those marks are very broad, so are not really reliable for indicating centered position for grinding blades. They should be considered a general reference at best. 
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More importantly, there are several factors affecting squareness of the resulting bevel.  Differential pressure applied to one side or the of the blade during grinding is one.  Plane blades, being as wide as they are, are especially susceptible to pressure.  Clamping the blade in the jig against the inside edge, probably as described in the instructions is not particularly reliable (in part due to it being a casting...).  Squareness of the blade in the jig should be verified using a small precision square held against the front surface of the jig.   

The SE-77 is quite an improvement over the earlier version, due to addition of the adjusting screws.  I think the primary purpose is to allow for cambering the blade edge, but they serve well for adjusting the blade to achieve a square/perpendicular bevel.  It takes a lot of fiddling to get them set properly and that setting routine must be repeated for each plane blade put into the jig.   

Use of the black marker is extremely helpful in revealing where grinding is occuring and making small, frequent adjustments to work your way to what you want. 

Good luck, and please do take the time to ready what others have to say about all this, in the timeline of posts. 

Rick

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Brent. Chisels and plane irons are my favorite tools to sharpen! A few tips will get you up and running.

First, make sure your grinding wheel is true and dressed. Spend some time studying the Tormek online classes to to make sure you understand the stone grader Make sure your grinding wheel feels coarse. Using a grinding wheel which is "sorta coarse" will lengthen your grinding time considerably.

Using the angle notches in the Anglemaster, see how close your bevel angles are to what you want.Resharpening to the same angle should be quick. 25° is the standard angle. If your tools are far off that mark, consider correcting the angle over several sharpenings.

You will want a black Sharpie marker and a small square.The black marker will tell where you are grinding on the bevel. Used in combination with the small square, it will also tell you if you are grinding square. I recommend spinning the grinding wheel by hand (power off) and then checking with the square. Get your setting right before completing the sharpening. Why waste time grinding out of square? 

With experience,this checking will take little time, certainly less than regrinding to correct out of square grinding. Develop a light touch with the two small adjustment knobs.

For what it's worth, I don't grind secondary micro bevels. They go back to the bench stone days when sharpening by hand was labor intensive. Let the electric motor of the Tormek do the heavy lifting. As you start to feel your tool starting to cut a bit slower, touch up the sharpness. One of the forum oldtimers says,"the fastest reload is a second gun". If you have a second sharp chisel at the ready, you are back in business.

Please keep us posted.

Ken

[John Hancock Sr]

For fear of repeating what Ken has already said let me add to this discussion by briefly telling you my technique.

I have bought myself an 80G CBN for this this purpose., to establish a new bevel or repair severe damage.

Second, high hardness steels are problematic with the SG wheel so I have bought diamond to sharpen those. An SB would also be good for high hardness steels.

As for out of square, as Ken says, I also use a small double square in my case to check for square as I go finely adjusting the screws to get it perfect. TBH slightly out of square is not really a big deal for most chisels and irons, but it is nice to get it just right.