Home made grinding jig

[tony]

I plan to make my own jig for grinding my woodturning tools , but im having a problem trying to find some steel hollow square sections that will slide inside each other with a neat fit . Does anyone out there know of somewhere i could buy these & what they would cost , all advice welcome , cheers Tony

 

[Robbo3]

Not what you were asking for but it may be an alternative, or it can be adapted, King Heiple's Shop-Built Jig.
- http://www.finewoodworking.com/pages/w00115.asp

 

[CHJ]

As Robo suggests, don't get too locked into locating specific steel stock. (time,money etc.)
Hardwood guides and beam can be just as effective as a tool support.

Here's another wooden version & the UKW thread link

 

[CraigyCraigo]

It would be very heavy duty but a 25 SHS would fit inside a 30 x 2/2.5 SHS (Square hollow section) i'd try it though as dependant on the spec and also the manufacturer they could fit or could not fit because they like to be at the top and bottom of specs to save cash........ if you went with 25 SHS and a 30 x 2, it should work

 

[tony]

Thanks for all the advice so far , im sure i can make something from it all , Tony

 

[graduate_owner]

I made myself one of these jigs using square box section steel. I used 25mm tubing with 20mm sliding inside (I think those were the sizes, I can check if you're interested). I needed to skim the inner box section slightly to get it to slide smoothly - easy when you have a milling machine as I do. An angle grinder would probably do the job, although more slowly and not so accurately. A bit of welding (angle section to hold the tool, and to weld on a nut to secure both box sections together). It was quite easy really, works very well when fixed to the stand of my lathe, and saved me some bucks.

Next job is to make an attachment to allow grinding of fingernail gouges - again I don't foresee any difficulties in making this.

I like making items such as these, because it's satisfying and saves me money. I can't make something like a chuck so I have to spend out, I've ordered one from Axminster, but when it comes easy stuff, well there's no competition between making and buying.

I shall try posting some pics when the jig is finished.

K

 

[tony]

Thanks K, yes i would be interested to see some pics when you get it finished , cheers T

 

[graduate_owner]

Hi Tony,
yes I shall post some pics if I can, but I have not been successful in doing so as yet. It can't be that difficult, but I must have been doing something wrong up till now. Will keep trying.

I appreciate that pictures make things so much easier to understand, however it really is no more than two square section tubes and 3 bits of welding - 1: for the nut to clamp the two tubes together to set the distance from the wheel, 2: for the angle iron on the inner tubing to hold the tool in place via it's handle, and 3: some angle iron to fix the outer section to the bench / lathe stand or whatever the grinding wheel is fixed to.
The only issue is getting the inner tubing to slide in the outer. You may need to check this when you buy, so perhaps buying by post may not be the best idea. As I said, I had to mill the inner section slightly to get it to slide easily, but an angle grinder would probably do the job with care.

K