Volume sharpening attachment for Tormek

[wootz]

Sharpening speed 1-2 min per knife.
Changeable Angle Guides to grind the edge at 20, 24, 30 or 38 degrees included.
An additional set of 5 dps angle guides is used to thin a worn blade.

Sharpening Technique
Pressing the blade against the angle guide, pull the blade from the handle to the tip with a light downwards pressure to contact the grinding wheel.
(Unlike with a stone wheel, pressure should be low for CBN/diamonds to grind effectively.)
Repeat on the opposite side of the wheel, alternating sides till the edge is apexed, then continue on the fine wheel with the same angle setting.

Learning is quick, I had the 3rd knife sharpened under 2 min.

More photos, detailed description and production drawings on our website http://knifegrinders.com.au/05Equipment_volume.htm

We do not sell these attachments.
We share a solution for volume sharpening on Tormek that has been proven to work, and work well.

We take an opportunity to thank Richard Kruger (RickKrung) for his invaluable help through this project, which took us almost 4 months from a vague idea to the working solution.

[SharpenADullWitt]

That is similar to how the local knife shop, has their much larger stone.  I think our T2 converted platform, on the new side bar, could do the same from one side of the wheel.

[cbwx34]

Sharpening speed 1-2 min per knife.
Changeable Angle Guides to grind the edge at 20, 24, 30 or 38 degrees included.
An additional set of 5 dps angle guides is used to thin a worn blade.

Sharpening Technique
Pressing the blade against the angle guide, pull the blade from the handle to the tip with a light downwards pressure to contact the grinding wheel.
(Unlike with a stone wheel, pressure should be low for CBN/diamonds to grind effectively.)
Repeat on the opposite side of the wheel, alternating sides till the edge is apexed, then continue on the extra-fine wheel with the same angle setting.

Learning is quick, I had the 3rd knife sharpened under 2 min.

More photos and detailed description on our website http://knifegrinders.com.au/05Equipment_volume.htm

We do not sell these attachments.
We share a solution for volume sharpening on Tormek, that has proved to work, and work well.

We take an opportunity to thank Richard Kruger (RickKrung) for his invaluable help through this project, which took us almost 4 months from a vague idea to the working solution.

Looks good!  (And yeah... Rick's the man for this stuff). 

I can't believe I'm asking this, but how does a sharpened knife score on the BESS scale?

[Grizz]

man-o-man, you guys are really on the job. you both are a credit to society ! a big thumbs UP.

[Ken S]

¡Wow! Once again, I am amazed. Great work; I can hardly wait for future developments......

Ken

[RickKrung]

It was a pleasure working with Wootz on this project.  It did take a while, but a lot of that was lead time with the CNC machine shop that we had make the angle blocks.  Some of it was design work up front getting the specs to the shop. 

Rick

[RickKrung]

Its a great idea for anyone doing volume sharpening that needs speed as well as accuracy and repeatability. 

It does bring to mind a question about the new Tormek diamond wheels.  Do they have abrasive on both sides of the wheel?  I've not looked at anything from Tormek about the new wheels and have not heard anyone mention anything about abrasive being on the inside of the wheel. 

Without it, it seems to me the two-sided angle guides will not work.  Unless one uses only the outside block and pulls the knive through from the front and back, which I wonder how well that could work, requiring clearance from the wheel for the handle and hand, let alone potential differences in grind characteristics given the different directions. 

Rick

[Ken S]

Great question, Rick.

How about having the outer face of the grinding wheel facing (parallel to) your body and drawing the bevels through from opposite directions? (that would also require only one set of blocks for each angle.

Ken

[cbwx34]

It does bring to mind a question about the new Tormek diamond wheels.  Do they have abrasive on both sides of the wheel?  I've not looked at anything from Tormek about the new wheels and have not heard anyone mention anything about abrasive being on the inside of the wheel. 

Good question.  There's a 1 min. video on Instagram...

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf5fUxEBppb/

... that briefly shows the inside of the wheel, (if you blink you'll miss it... it's right after they show a knife in the Small Knife Jig being sharpened), and it doesn't look like it.

Everything I've seen and read, looks like the outside only.    (But of course the final version could change).



Edit to add:  I grabbed a quick screenshot...

[wootz]

Would be a pity if so, I thought of using them in addition to the Tormek-compatible Tornado CBN wheels we currently use.

After the coarse wheel the rough bevels on the knife scratch the angle guides mercilessly.
First I tried to protect them with the Plasti Dip spray, as suggested by Y-Not, but the rubber layer won't last - you still can see black remnants of it on the guides.
So i resorted to a cloth tape (the white wrap over the angle guides on the photo) - it works, but looks aren't as neat.

Edge sharpness is within 70-90 BESS, shaving. It depends on how well you deburr not rounding the edge, not the sharpening attachment as such.
To avoid clamping the knife, we deburr on a slotted felt wheel run on a half-speed grinder, using a static horizontal platform similar to Herman's, cut to the preset angle. So far I've made 2 of such platforms, for 24 and 30 degrees edge, fixing them on our  support for paper wheels with the help of SK12 linear shaft supports that I bought from Aliexpress as advised by puffin.

All together, this setup allows to sharpen a knife within 2 min from start to finish.

For thinning worn blades volume sharpeners use grit #60-80, while I do it on #200, though maybe eventually will have to buy a Tormek-compatible wheel of that extra-coarse grit if I see that it takes too long on the #200 - the lowest I have at the moment.

[Fernando]

just great, I can only say "congratulations" for that great job.

[WolfY]

Wow, nice thinking. Great idea. Haven't been active here for long time 
As was mentioned above the "only" problem is when changing direction of knife with the CBN wheel. Would work greatwith the SG/SB/SJ-250 as I see it.
I had long ago almost same thoughts but with the desire of new wheel with 40~45dgrs sharpening angle. I even thought of modifying a SG-250 wheel for the purpose and bending the US for that. But no tools or time for it. That way it would be possible to sharpen on both directions and having a straight bevel. the other benefit would be that the handle is away from the leather wheel.

[Ken S]

Wolfy,

Glad to see you post again! I trust your Tormek business is going well.

I really like your bench idea. Is it working well for you?

best,

Ken

[Sharpco]

Great job!

I think the biggest advantage of this is that it enables blade thinning.

And it can also be used to sharpen the entire bevel of a sashimi knife.

[Grizz]

I can only guess at this point, but I think the new diamond wheels will have grit on both sides, at least I hope they do.