cutter/griders again

[kayz1]

Hi Gang some advice if you could please, I need to buy a cutter/grinder to do my lathe tools and end mills. Reason: I could not grind ( free hand ) to save my life, I have tried time and time again but to no avail. I am petrified of the big open stone breaking up and hitting me in the face ( again ) SO!
I have looked on the net and all I can find is the Hemmingway Kit or the Warco cutter/grinder.
The Hemmingway as a kit of parts, to do lathe cutters and end mills is around £590 :>( then I have
to make it, could a novice like me make it?
The Warco thing is a factory job but that too is not cheap at around £700 with all the bits to do both
jobs….

I have also seen on the net from China the same thing as the Warco machine but a lot cheaper, but
then I would get hit for postage-import duty and Vat plus whatever the PO charge these days to do the paperwork or whatever it is they rip you off for…

So any help you could give a novice would be very much appreciated  .
Regards.  Lyn.

[John Rudd]

Lyn,

This topic crops up time and time again....

Have a look at this: http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=74610


Then have a read of this: http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=34229&p=1


I'm sure there are members that advocate the use of something else..........

[kayz1]

Thanks for the links John, just make it harder to decide what to go for!!! Doh! I think i have that workshop book with the HH design.

[John Rudd]

Thanks for the links John, just make it harder to decide what to go for!!! Doh! I think i have that workshop book with the HH design.

Kay,

Personally, I think its a case of weigh up the pro's and cons of either a kit built machine which costs a lot of money and quite a lot of time inveted or go for the HH offering where outlay is minimal.

I'm actually in the middle of building the HH unit purely based on; I dont have the funds to buy the kit based unit nor do I have the desire to spend lots of time fabricating.....

[loply]

£700, or even £500, would surely buy you enough carbide inserts to last a life time, then you can spend money making things instead of making things to grind your tools to make things?

There's an insert for just about everything. End mills? Replace them.

I can't see that a hobbyist is going to dull enough end mills to make it economical to equip himself with a good resharpening jig. A £20 cobbled-together mist cooler will extend your end mill life significantly.

[raynerd]

I can't see that a hobbyist is going to dull enough end mills to make it economical to equip himself with a good resharpening jig.

?

Loply, is there not something about learning to use a CG that is also attractive? As well as the added benefits of being able to sharpen accurate and complex tool profiles that are not common or even available. As well as the other options provided by a cutter grinder - even light surface grinding I believe on the quorn and a few other machines.

Don`t get me wrong, my intention over the next year is to make the Harold Hall device as I agree that a cutter grinder is too expensive and extravagant for me right now but I do believe a cutter grinder will one day by in my workshop if I find one at the right price.

Chris

[DavidA]

Loply,

You seem to  have bought into the throw-away ethic.

Just an observation.

Dave.

[mattinker]

I didn't even try to justify buying my Clarkson MKI, I've bought up quite a lot of second hand tooling over the years, mostly HSS. Between the milling tools I've broken (wrong way rapid crashes when learning) and the second hand stuff that just needs freshening up, I won't have to buy much tooling! Making the tooling for the Clarkson is fun too, it only had centres when I bought it. I've built a universal vice, an MT3 tool holder and a drill sharpening tool (which I can sharpen a 50mm bit on). The next tool for it will be a small bit sharpening tool, theoretically down to 0.5 mm.

If I remember correctly, I paid £120 plus shipping to France, €60 (a special deal!). It doesn't cost much to make the tooling, there is plenty of information on the web .

Regards, Matthew

[Fergus OMore]

I have deleted my 'maths' version of grinding angles on tools- because of seemingly lack of interest.
As for buying tools, I also live in Newcastle upon Tyne/Newcastle upon Tyne!
I bid for a Clarkson Mark1 some where in South Durham and won at £100. It had centres and nothing else. as an old man, I couldn't even lift the pedestal but came out with a free electro magnetic chuck. I swopped gears for a radius attachment etc. The 'wheels' were sensibly brand new- bought locally. Those in Newcastle 'could' have bid because I'd limited my bid- because I had made a Quorn.

I'd already seen an ad nationally for a mill drilll which was around the corner- five minutes away.  The mill was 'rubbish' but I came out with all the castings and motor etc for a little Kennet grinder- for £85 and for something more- a set of Myford imperial collets and holder!
The guy would not get any more for his old Myford because he would -have to throw them in.
I came out with -half a Pultra lathe but that is another story!

So I 'd bought a few Stent castings from Blackgates after dumping my daughter in Leeds Dental School. I had a bit of meehanite for all of 3 quid but needed a motor to drive it all. Another ad nationally revealed a local Stent was at Sunderland( a few miles away) and it went into my car for all of £100 which was a thord the price of a motor. Well, the Stent was scrap because it has all steel and fabricated. Except that it works-beautifully- and is actually more refined than the Clarkson or the Kennet.

So it is no use complaining about prices or even missed opportunities. On Friday, I paid more than the total amount involved- just for a couple of tyres( tires)

Next, I was fiddling with a £3 bit of Meehanite and a base casting and not much more for a 'long wheel base ' Stent grinder. The motors are far from cheap and

[Meldonmech]

 Hi  Fergus,

                  What amazing bargains you have aquired, you will certainly have an interesting new year, I built the Stent many moons ago. I added several additional features, the most useful was a rotating and tilting  work piece head, which is bored no,2 morse taper and the nose threaded to take Myford collets. 
                  Sharpened many milling cutters over years, and done a small amount of surface grinding. 
 I finished the Quorn last year, and had to mod. some  items,to make it work.  The best mod. was adding a Stent type device to accurately raise and lower the wheel head.
                                                         If you need any help re pics, drawings, sizes etc. feel free to PM me.
                                                                             Cheers David

[Fergus OMore]

The Stent is an admirable 'beast' as it is one of the few T&C's that attracts the least possible grinding dust. The worst was the Worden which I dumped. It was either it-or me- and I won!

I was having a brief moment some time back with Arnold Throp on the SMEE stand at Harrogate and he was using the little Kennet for the rank and file( ouch) lathe tools in preference to his Quorn.
Might I now go on to the Clarkson, please? I have a GHT Versatile Dividing Head which goes onto the Stent but, I bought a Vertex Dividing Head and Tailstock for the Mill/Drill. At least that was the theory So with the Myford, I bought a set of cheap(ish) collets to add to the Myford set. The Myfords are fine but if the stock metal is undersize- Oh, dear!!!!!!!!
You get the gist? Right oh! The Vertex came with-- a Myford nose and spare faceplate. So I can use all my Myford stuff on the mill  but the Myford ER collets take-- the worn milling cutters- but on the Clarkson. It gets a wee bit cleverer than that because the face plate is cast iron. On the Myford, I have used it as a diamond lap- with a series of paste grades.

I'm getting there

Norm