Thread: a cat amongst the pigeons

Honestly - how bad can it be?

I'm with Stu! I've seen several clones/rip offs/ licensed copies of the Tormek principle now (McJing has another couple of 'brands' too) and I can't help but admire the cleverness of the original design even though this 'cleverness' has made it so copyable. The Tormek for instance has non-metallic bearings and this works because the speed is ... well ... low and it doesn't rely on this for accuracy. By dressing the wheel to be parallel to the tool bar this makes any other alignment issue a non-event on any of the brands almost regardless of quality. I WAS going to volunteer to buy one of McJings 'bastardised sons of Tormek' and keep the forum advised but I ended up getting an unignorable deal on a JET.

I'd give it a go, as Stu said ..... how bad can it be?

fletty

alright I'm most of the way there..thats kida what I was thinking, it looks so simple could it possibly be that simple?.I'll pick one up when I'm in Melbourne and let you know how it goes...figure its worth a $139 gamble..by the way whats Mcjings? might have to google it....
cheers
Matt

I have one of the triton wetstone sharpeners and whilst I have to say it has it's limitations, unless you are sharpening every day or woodworking professionally then the outlay for the Tormek is just not worth the extra $$. As was said before, they all work on the same principle and do the job of a grinder just fine. The only caveat is that, if they don't come with the extras, you may have to buy some tools for keeping the stone flat (a diamond dressing tool or carborundum stone) and these are Tormek products (don't know if Jet or others make them) so will set you back a large proportion of the original outlay.

Another tip: Don't rely on the tool holding jig to hold the blade square to the stone as poor engineering as well as differential pressure when tightening the clamps can result in light skewing on the bevel when sharpening. Worth going slow and checking with a square edge anyway. The only pain is that you can't use a square with the blade held in the blade holding clamp.

fair call, i'm only a weekend shed guy so the outlay on a Tormek would just be insane ( though I 'd have the sharpest tools in town). I notice that the Tormek seems to have variable speeds? is that important for a few chisels and teh occasional plane blade?
What sort of dressing tool would you need to keep the stone in good nick? are they pricey?

This is the tool i was thinking of
Truing tool
As you can see it's not cheap.


But having said that I have to state that I don't use the wetstone grinder as a sharpener. I use it for two things, hollow grinding bevel side of the blade and then final honing of the flat microbevel (that I form on japanese waterstones) on the leather wheel using honing compound to get a razor edge. In other words I don't use it like Tormek advise you use their machines. i.e. to go from chipped/blunt to razor sharp on the one device. Used in this way getting a perfectly flat face on the grinding stone that is parallel to the clamping bar is not critical but very flat waterstones to get a straight edge on the microbevel are more important. That's where I put my money, into the japanese stones. Don't know why you would want variable speed on the tormek as they rotate at slow speed anyway and with water present overheating is no concern.
I just bought one of these stone graders which additionally flatten the stone to a usable surface.

Originally Posted by surfmat

.....by the way whats Mcjings? might have to google it....
cheers
Matt

Hi Matt,
McJings is a Sydney shop, importer and seller-at-wood-shows who have a fantastic selection of (usually Chinese) wood and metalwork tools and accessories. I don't buy my 'good' tools there BUT for castors, jig bits, accessories etc etc they are unbeatable. Going into the shop is like entering Alladin's Cave!

I don't think that the Tormek has variable speed (or at least my now retired "little' Tormek didn't) BUT the JET does. The logic is that as the wheel diameter decreases the lineal speed does as well and the variable speed control lets you keep increasing the rotation speed to maintain the lineal speed. This all seems very logical for laboratory experiments BUT the folly of it all comes to notice when, in the instructions and DVD, it says to wind the speed up when removing a lot of metal!

fletty

thanks guys, this has been a real eye opener,these forums never cease to amaze me with the depth of knowledge and willingness to share it.
cheers
Matt

I was in Masters this morning and thought I would grab one as they were cheap.

Words can not describe how crap this thing is. The whole case is made out of thin plastic and flexes.

The holes where you insert the tool rest are drilled off centre in the plastic and don't have any bushes. The motor was not secured properly inside the case and there was heaps or run-out in the wheels. To top it all off it the grinding wheel was chipped to buggery.

Interestingly it came with a tag tied to it stating something like - "please do not return to store if there is a problem instead go to their website".

I returned it straight away.

Cheers

Col

I guess that shows there are levels of cheap. There's cheap and servicable (with limitations) and then there's so cheap and nasty it's almost useless and not worth the materials it's made with. I guess the retail for the Triton wetstone was about double the price of the one being discussed so, in theory, it should function somewhat better.

Originally Posted by pampelmuse

I guess that shows there are levels of cheap. There's cheap and servicable (with limitations) and then there's so cheap and nasty it's almost useless and not worth the materials it's made with. I guess the retail for the Triton wetstone was about double the price of the one being discussed so, in theory, it should function somewhat better.

Spot on, it isn't worth the materials. I see that machineryhouse is having a sale in 2 weeks, with the Sheppach Tiger 2000 advertised for $169, a much better prospect one would think for only $30 more.

Col

might have to keep an eye out for that sale I reckon....

Originally Posted by surfmat

might have to keep an eye out for that sale I reckon....

I'll be ordering a few things, and they say that they will do rain checks too, which is good.

Col

Tiger 2500 at something like $270 on sale.

Was tempted but with this Chinese version you have to go down and insist on checking a unit.

Couldn't be fagged. There are good enough alternatives.