Thread: Lathe tool rests - buy or make? Where get?

Originally Posted by Sturdee

If the wheel on your grinder is still reasonable I would do it the other way around. Buy the jig and you will get immediate benefits of consistent sharpening and later change the wheel over.

Peter.

Peter. To clarify. Evan has no grinder so is staring from scratch, so no wheel to wear out first.

Originally Posted by

Peter. To clarify. Evan has no grinder so is staring from scratch, so no wheel to wear out first.

Now I'm confused - what is he going to do with a CBN wheel and no grinder? Given that the CBN wheel will cost a similar amount to a grinder, and that different grinders have different shafts, buying the grinder first makes sense, getting the CBN wheel with the correct insert for that grinder later.

He has no grinder but is buying one.

In Australia (most of the world, I think) most grinders come with a standard shaft size depending on wheel size. 6" grinder has a 1/2" shaft. A 8" grinder has a 5/8" shaft. There are some variations but that is the norm.

The CBN wheels come with hole sizes that correspond with the relevant size.

Clear now or more confused?

Thanks for the explanation.

My experience of grinders is a little different to yours though, with nearly each grinder I have looked at having a different shaft - 1/2", 15mm, 16mm, 5/8", 21mm. Some even had stepped shafts to accommodate smaller nuts.

Originally Posted by Colin62

Thanks for the explanation.

My experience of grinders is a little different to yours though, with nearly each grinder I have looked at having a different shaft - 1/2", 15mm, 16mm, 5/8", 21mm. Some even had stepped shafts to accommodate smaller nuts.

Both are right. Casting around and looking at 215 different grinders, there appears to be a 1/2" and 5/8" majority, with some bastard manufacturers trying to create a spares market for themselves with custom sizes.

I have a "Detroit" branded slow speed wet grinder from TotalTools. It attempts to be a low cost schappech or Tormek. I was excited by the find (it was $140 from memory) but this soon turned to severe buyers remorse when I realised it was woefully hopeless. The stone is soft and oblate, the tool rest is not 90 degrees and worse...the shaft is 14.23mm varying to 14.78mm. No.....it's not a clever press fit or taper, it's a shaft that is Fabrique En Chine "round"... Depending on where it's measured on the shaft or where it's rotated. It's aweful. I feel sad even thinking about it.

I went to Bunnings and checked the cheap grinders (all 6") and they were so cheap it made me shiver with fear at turning them on. Checked TotalTools (Sunday) and was advised by the "sales staff" they "might" get 4 more by next Friday if I wanted to check back. Stellar sales effort there.

This country is going to hell. Places like Bunnings are a crime. The crap they foist off is miserable. I will never learn.

has saved my chunk, again. He might have an Old Trusty he can lend to a charitable cause (me!)

One of these is for sale in a store I frequent. Wet and dry, low and high speed, in one unit.

To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee "this is a grinder":

Grinders: Oliver Oilstone Tool Grinder

Hi all,
I always keep some 20mm round bright bar and usually a few bits of 40mm x10mm flat bar the round bar fits my banjo and some times I use this also for the post and rest and sometimes depending on the job the flat bar and weld up what tool rests I need for a particular job. As for sanding disks I use a 200mm face plate with three layers of cross laminated 12mm ply as the disk and as stated before turned and trued up,300mm velcro and away you go I have made a couple of these disks over the years and they always serve me well.
Regards Rod.