Bench grinder tool rest, anyone got a good homemade design

[The Bear]

Hi

I have bought a bench grinder but it's got no tool rests. Anyone got any good designs for home made rests. I'm thinking this sort of thing, but home made

http://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-veri ... prod22615/

I seem to remember seeing one on here years ago but can't find it now. Please post yours so I have a few ideas


Thanks

Mark

 

[RogerP]

Some years ago I more-or-less copied the Veritas one. Used odds and bobs of metal drilled and tapped etc. It works fine - that's why it's so "used" looking now

 

[The Bear]

Thanks Roger

Does the top part tilt and lock?

Mark

 

[RogerP]

Yes - this view doesn't show but it swivels and locks with an allen screw, same for the bottom of the uprights which also swivel and lock. The bit with the two wing-nuts clamps the plane iron or chisel and moves back and forth in the channel.

 

[The Bear]

Thanks for sharing roger

I'm probably going to need to make this mainly from wood

Anyone else got a design they can share?

Mark

 

[Steve Maskery]

I think most tool rest are poorly designed. They may do one kind of sharpening well, e.g. chisels, but I've yet to see a good Universal tool rest.

Problems arise especially when grinding skew chisels or wider blades like plan irons.

The system I have (sorry, no pics) is a wooden ledge mounted at spindle height along the front of the grinder, and a set of wedges for different preset angles. These ride along the ledge, presenting the blade at the appropriate angle. The wedges have to be made properly, of course, but they are quite adaptable for different blades.

I can take no credit for it, it was an article in The Woodworker in about 1473.

S

 

[jimi43]

I built a very simple prototype for my grinder which was made out of MDF and a bit of rod...a cheap Axminster multi-tool rest and an old honing guide...

The angle of bevel is set by moving the tool in and out of the honing guide and the bar allows level passes to be made to create an even bevel.

You can transfer to a proper honing guide....

...or just create a secondary bevel by hand.

For larger chisels and plane irons I bought a multi-angle jig from Axminster and then splashed out on a Veritas clamp..they work like this...

In my opinion...both are worth the money invested...they create great results.....

Cheers

Jim

 

[RogerP]

My contraption does the primary angle on chisels and plane irons just fine.The sliding clamp is good for up to 3½". Not sure about skews as I've never tried.

 

[The Bear]

Steve

Your idea sounds interesting, is there anywhere on line I con see the article that you are aware of as I'm struggling a bit to visualise it

Jimi

Also like your idea. Is there an advantage of doing narrow chisels on version1? Why not do them all on version2?


I should probably make it clear I need to be able to do chisels of variety of widths and plane irons up to no7 size. If this requires 2 solutions then so be it. I don't own any skew chisels at the moment

Mark

 

[Steve Maskery]

Sorry, no. And as all my workshop is packed away at the mo, I can't get at it to take pics either. But it works well as the angles are repeatable. One of the bugbears of grinding is that if you get the angles a tad wrong and have to regrind, you end up wasting a lot of steel as well as time.
If you want to talk it over, my phone number is on my website.
Cheers
Steve

 

[jimi43]

Steve

Your idea sounds interesting, is there anywhere on line I con see the article that you are aware of as I'm struggling a bit to visualise it

Jimi

Also like your idea. Is there an advantage of doing narrow chisels on version1? Why not do them all on version2?


I should probably make it clear I need to be able to do chisels of variety of widths and plane irons up to no7 size. If this requires 2 solutions then so be it. I don't own any skew chisels at the moment

Mark

Version II was more of a progression and a typical "just window shopping" visit to Axminster which always results in my spending £80 for some reason!

To be honest they both work equally as well. I need to extend the bar/support mechanism of Version I such that both coarse and fine wheels are accessible in one pass. But that's for this summer....

Jim

 

[DTR]

I didn't realise tool rests could be so extensive. Mine's just an old heavy duty angle bracket. I set the rest to the correct angle using a ply offcut with a 25° angle cut on the end. The bearing surface is a little small, I need to get hold of something to extend the rest with.

 

[The Bear]

Dave, are you able to take a photo and post? Simple can be best sometimes.

Anyone else built one like Steve M's? Can you post a pic of the finished rest or indeed the plans? Steve has kindly offered to talk it through on the phone but a pic paints a thousand words...


Mark

 

[DTR]

Dave, are you able to take a photo and post? Simple can be best sometimes.

I can't get to the shed right now, but it looks very much like the rest in the photo here. I'm not sure where the idea for the 25° angle guide came from but that was probably Schwarz.

 

[jimi43]

Chris is right that you don't need fancy grinders or water-cooled this and that but if you want one (and I do) then so what!

His hand cranked grinder has a wheel that probably cost twice what I paid for my Creusen...and this is why it works so well as I said before. Upgrading a hand grinder with a nice wheel is a great option. Turns them into a superb machine.

In fact..the same applies to machine grinders. It's the wheel that makes the difference....how it whizzes around is, to some extent, irrelevant.

You can also use the L shaped rest using your finger as a fence but I prefer a jig. It's a matter of choice...there is no right or wrong way of doing it as long as you are comfortable with it.

Jim

 

[The Bear]

The second hand grinder arrived earlier. Turning the wheels by hand there is noticeable wobble looking from the front. When at full speed this disappears. Clearly I need to take the guards off and make sure the spindle is true. Assuming it is, is there a problem? Would the wheels need dressing or is this normal?

Clearly I have never owned one, doing everything the very slow way previously

Mark

 

[DTR]

If it's not a wonky spindle, it could be an eccentric bush between the wheel and spindle. A dial test indicator would be a good way of checking either.

Jim, can you recommend a good wheel please? I have a crummy cheap one on my hand grinder. If you're only using the grinder on a primary bevel does a good wheel really make a difference? Thanks

 

[jimi43]

I'm with Chris Schwarz on the Norton wheels. The supercool range Norton 3X from Classic Hand Tool is the one I've seen and would like to get but I have a fine one from a bootfair...I think it is just aluminium oxide but it is far better than the one that was on the grinder when I bought it!

That is not the normal position of the rest by the way...I was just using a dressing block on it.

It's very hard and fine...but it does take metal off quite fast and cool!

Cheers

Jimi

 

[DTR]

Thanks Jim. Is that a Metabo? It looks identical to mine

Crikey, those Norton wheels aren't cheap :shock:

 

[The Bear]

Eccentric bush, whats that?

Mark