Sharpening/grinding bench.

[Groggy]

After years of getting around to it, it is finally underway. The recent grinding of D2 steel has reinforced the need to have a proper grinding and sharpening station, and, since I have a smallish shop, I need it to be mobile to shift it out of the way.

Pic #1 shows the RHS of the unit with the LV rest in place. Notice it is clamped to some sailing track (thanks Bruce :2tsup: ) to allow the rest to travel across to the other wheel.


Pic #2 shows the LHS and the hang rail for water and a towel. The angle iron behind the grinder will be used to hold a divider up to stop sparks from travelling into the buffer wheels which will be mounted behind the grinder.

Pic #3 blue max ready to go, it takes about 30 seconds to transfer from right to left wheels.

Pic #4 All the machines in the shop are set to 900mm. The height of the cabinet in the picture is also 900mm. The 35mm top sits on that. This way, the extension overhang can be wheeled over to a convenient place (workbench, tablesaw or jointer) and rested or clamped on the surface (overlapping).

The cabinet with the toolboxes will house drawers eventually and the extension is for waterstone use. One day there may be a folding leg to support the extension in a stand alone mode.

(Thanks to Kiwibrucee for the help today, great to have mates that help out when you run out of supplies :D )

[munruben]

Thats absolutely fantastic, in fact, just what I need at the moment to sharpen a plane iron. Seriously that is awesome Groggy. :2tsup::2tsup: I will come back an have another look tomorrow when I am not so tired. :)

[jmk89]

Nice work, Groggy. Another thing goes onto the "To do" list!!!!


What kind of container is the water going to go in to hang from the rail?
What material have you used for the work surface?
And what are you going to use for the divider?

[Simomatra]

Good stuff groggy I sure a lot of us can benefit from this post

[Big Shed]

Looking good Groggy, must look into one of those BlueMax wheels for my grinder.

Who sells those?

[jisk]

Nice grinding bench, Groggy. A grinder is on my christmas list, so I'm hoping that I'll be having to make something similar shortly ;)

[Groggy]

What kind of container is the water going to go in to hang from the rail?
What material have you used for the work surface?
And what are you going to use for the divider?

1. probably a milk bottle with the top cut away.
2. the work surface is a sink cutout I got for $2 from a cabinetmaker
3. The divider might be aluminium but I think just wood so the sparks can be caught rather than deflected back at me.


Looking good Groggy, must look into one of those BlueMax wheels for my grinder.

Who sells those?I'm pretty sure that Carrolls (http://www.cws.au.com) sell them.


I should have mentioned earlier that this is not for heavy grinding, I do that with a hand grinder and the Triton Superjaws outside. Doing the bevel on blades and similar tasks are what this is aimed at.

[Pops]

Hi Groggy,

Nicely done. That blue max is a monster. The sailing track is a great idea, always square, always secure. Ripper! :)

Matching the height to overlap your other benches is also pretty nifty, very organised.

What are the grit sizes you are running for the two wheels? Drop us a review after you have had some time to play with it all. Interested to hear your views, as always.

Cheers
Pops

[Groggy]

Not much time to do anything today, mow lawns then visit family etc.

Pic #1 Slots to let it adjust position with new or different wheels.
Pic #2 Bolts *just* go through so as not to interfere with drawers. The timber is to show the difference in colour after oiling.

Pic #3 The sampler of oil given to me by Tim at DJs BBQ and used on this piece.
Pic #4 The outrigger table clamped in position.
Pic #5 Getting ready for the spark deflector board. A simple angle iron sandwich should do it. The hardboard under the cutoff machine was to stop marks on the new top (don't want it damaged just yet).

[Groggy]

Bit more progress today. Made the backsplash board to stop the metal from getting into the buffs (they will be covered by a towel when not in use to keep them clean). The backsplash is a piece of melamine sandwiched at the base between two offcuts of angle iron. The backsplash also serves to lift the power cords out of the way and route them to the rear of the unit.

Pic #1 - putting the buffers on
Pic #2 - Routing the grinder cable so the sparks do not hit it.
Pic #3 - Tip. Before attaching the grinder remove the baseplate and use it for a template for drilling.
Pic #4 - Insert the bolts while the grinder is still on its side, it's easier.
Pic #5 - Grinding on the Blue Max is not easy with the Veritas wheel as the grinder wheel detent is designed for a smaller wheel, therefore the rest must stay further away and this makes it harder to get the angle you want. The solution is to grind the Veritas rest out to fit the blue max wheel.
Pic #6 - The wheels are square when ground parallel to the sail track, a pleasing result.
Pic #7 - The white wheel is square too.
Pic #8 - The blade after running across both wheels. The bevels are pretty close.
Pic #9 - The power leads are routed out of the way.
Pic #10 - The leads will be tied neatly away eventually (I ran out of clips :doh: )
Pic #11 - Stowed away it overhangs the tablesaw and uses minimal space; I can't wait to get the drawers in.

[Groggy]

With any luck I might get to make some drawers tomorrow (xmas day) what do you think my chances are :- .

[jmk89]

Groggy

Any reason why you routed the cables around like that - rather than drilling a hole in the top for the plug to go through?

[DJ’s Timber]

Nice one Greg :2tsup:, did you think of putting another piece on top of the splashback, angle forward towards the grinder to stop the sparks rolling over the top of it?

[Groggy]

Groggy

Any reason why you routed the cables around like that - rather than drilling a hole in the top for the plug to go through?It allows me to reposition the buffs later without having large holes all over the place and I didn't want to cut the plugs off and rewire them through a smaller hole. Besides, as the Russians say, I'm strong like fox and smart like tractor :doh:.

Nice one Greg :2tsup:, did you think of putting another piece on top of the splashback, angle forward towards the grinder to stop the sparks rolling over the top of it?No, but it doesn't seem too bad. Todays grinding wasn't a problem and, as I think I said earlier, if I need to hog off large volumes of metal I will use the superjaws and angle grinder. I am not keen on large volumes of sparks in my small shop. They usually wind up damaging things (I've even singed the dawg :B ).

[Pops]

Hi Groggy,

Nice one. Looks very profesional now.

Is the spark deflector board removable? Can you just slide it in the angle iron sandwich? If there is enough free flex to slid it forward a few inches it would give you more room for using the right hand polish wheel when needed. Just a thought.

The dawg's face seems to confirm your comment about the sparks singing things, he looks very concerned. :)

Cheers
Pops

[Groggy]

Thanks for the feedback and comments, a few of them have me thinking of changes already.
Is the spark deflector board removable? Can you just slide it in the angle iron sandwich? If there is enough free flex to slid it forward a few inches it would give you more room for using the right hand polish wheel when needed. Just a thought. There are only a few self tappers holding the deflector in place so it can be moved if required. The RH wheel sits marginally forward of the deflector so a long object can be applied to its face.

[prozac]

Nice shots. What's the dog for?

prozac

[Groggy]

Nice shots. What's the dog for?Not sure what's up with the dog, she likes to get close when I have the camera out :shrug:

[wheelinround]

Looking great Groggy:2tsup:

Is there much flex/strain on the overhang bit maybe some angle iron for support

[Groggy]

Looking great Groggy:2tsup:

Is there much flex/strain on the overhang bit maybe some angle iron for supportI'm working on the drawers at the moment (just need to put the faces on) and will look at that when I'm done (correction, AFTER SWMBOs shelves are made :- ).

[munruben]

Terrific job and great pics. A pictures worth a thousand words.:2tsup::2tsup: