help with tru-grind

[jaspr]

frustration plus!

I spent all morning setting up the new lathe (my first!).

I've spent all afternoon installing a new grinding wheel on the grinder and redesigning my grinder stand to accept another new purchase - a tru-grind sharpening jig.

Did I mention the chisels and gouges - also new - sitting on the bench waiting to be sharpened.

What happened to put me in such a grumpy mood?

I followed the tru-grind/grinder set up instructions perfectly. Grinder axle 150-160mm above bench and jig centred under the wheel - just like the instructions say. I had to remove the packer that was under my grinder and by sitting it flush on the bench the axle centre is now a perfect 155mm above the bench just like the instructions called for.

Only problem is that the jig doesn't fit under the grinder wheel housing. To get it under there (even with minimal clearance to the wheel housing) I will have to raise the grinder at least another 35m butting the axle centre at 190mm above the bench surface. And the jig is designed for 150-160mm.

I really don't want to operate a grinding wheel with no housing. I can't find any evidence on the web of others having this problem.

I've had the supplier on redial now since 4pm, but can't get through. Guess they have knocked off.

I can see my planned day off tomorrow spent using the new lathe going down the drain.

I even thought of ringing Woodcut in NZ but they are 2 hours ahead of us.

aaaghhh!

Any suggestions?

signed - desperate turner

[jaspr]

I just managed to get through to the (very helpful) supplier who says it will still work if I lift it that much.

I'd still be interested in hearing from anyone who has had the same problem. I hope I can still get all the angles I need to grind properly.

Now I'm off to dismantle the whole thing and put a (shorter) spacer under the grinder!

One day I'll get to work some wood!

[RETIRED]

What make of grinder? A pic would help.

[INVENTOR]

To make you feel better, you are not alone. Setting up takes time and what you described is what happens. NO real answers and it makes it doubly difficult when you are new to it. Ideally you need a nice shaped set of tools first that you can fit to the jig and do a dry run so you can confirm that you have all the correct heights etc. Chicken or the egg? Don't remove that guard, take a deep breath and take time to get it right.

[Jim Carroll]

Jaspr just had another thought, is there a lot of clearance between the grinding wheel and the guard.

If so you could cut a slot out of the lower part of the guard for the base of the jig to go through, this will still cover the grinding wheel for safety sake and you would not have to raise the grinder so much.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

FWIW, they're quite right when they say it'll still work with the grinder axle at a higher position.

However, you won't be able to just "jot down the numbers" for any given profile to use on someone else's "correctly" set up tru-grind. Nor can you use their numbers to repeat their grinds on your setup.

In reality swapping numbers doesn't really work; there's almost always a need to "eyeball adjust" both the wing & nose bevels before hitting the on switch. But that's a good habit to get into anyway...

[jaspr]

Thanks guys

What I've done for now is lift the grinder up, but not by the full amount. The jig base is in the right position, but I can't push the sliding part back in all the way. I'm hoping I won't need to.

The grinder is a slow speed (1475rpm) white bodied 8" grinder from Carbatec of a few years ago (model MD3220HD/S).

Now that I've got the grinder (heavy b*gger) sitting above the jig base I can see that there is actually plenty of clearance under the wheel housing, except at the back. What fouls it most is the exhaust shute that angles down towards the back. And the vertical bit that the slider slides in (hard to explain) is touching the bottom of the wheel housing at the back.

So I've split the difference by lifting it only 18mm (a piece of form ply) so its now a tad under 170mm high, but I can't zero the slide mount. But I think this won't matter. If it does matter (as I learn to use it properly), I'll cut the exhaust shute off.

Thanks for your patience Jim - and for picking that phone up when all you wanted to do was go home at the end of the week!

(oh - and don't anyone do the maths, i was out by 5mm in the first post - i'll blame it on failing eyesight:-)

I'm off to grind ....

[Ozartisan]

Hey jaspr
Happy to help with these sorts of problems, and not far from you.
Feel free to give me a call
Cheers
Peter (Ozartisan)

PS - Only just found your thread - been flat out with turning workshops last few days.