HSS Tool Holders -Question

Belts are usually considered suboptimal for sharpening HSS lathe cutting tools. Great for roughing but not so great for finishing. If you look at a tool finished on a belt there is almost certainly a slight rundown edge where the belt piles up in front of the tool leaving it looking almost as if it was used on cast iron and not adequately resharpened. Even if you use the wheel you get a hollow grind with an eroded edge. Granted better sanders do a better job so it is possible that some do a perfect job.

Many people do find that roughing on a belt sander is easier to keep everything square and then finishing on the grinder is easier with the shape already made.

Not trying to say it's wrong. You having knife making equipment puts you on the high end of belt sanders. I just wanted to mention my opinion so that perhaps someone struggling to grind tools won't think their 4x36 belt is the silver bullet and still be disappointed in their ability. Easy test is a good hone then magnification.

Steve
 
FarFar

I have been using my belt sander to sharpen HSS since 1984
I have done this for so long, that to me its the easyest, and fastest way for me. Yes you can do the same with carbide as well. Ive allways done this, and like it better. When I do touch up on the grinder wheel, its not on the front of the wheel. To me it tends to cut the radius of the wheel and not flat. So, when I do use the grinder, its on the side on the wheel so its flat.

When shapening tool bits with the belt sander, if the cutting edge is the trailing edge, not the leading edge, you would find it cuts nice and clean , with out rounding over the edges. Way back in the late 70s I worked in a large machine shop, and thats were I picked up this habit. I use 40 grit for roughing, a well worn belt I might add, not a new one. And either 120 or 180 for finishing. Most of the time, like 95 per cent of the time, I dont need to touch the cutter on the grinder.

Right or wrong, that is how I do it.
I suppose that from being in a shop that used belt sanders to sharpen tooling, I just didnt know it right from wrong. For me, I will continue to re sharpen with belt sanders, it works for me.

Try it, you might like it :whistle: And yes Niels, I still like the tool, and still use it often. The design of yours is a proven winner in my eyes, and wouldnt change it, but may copy any of your new designs ;)
Back when I was lookin at these tool holders, I looked at many, and your design was what I thought was the best out there. And, I still do:biggrin:
 
Hello Paul

Thank You for the kind words and the very clear describtion of belt grinding the wrong way to avoid round edge .
It had never occured to me on its own.
I have some carbide sticks 5 by 5 mm and would like to try Your sharpening method,ie beltsander and a little diamond filing.Can You please show me a source of belts that will work on tungsten carbide?E bay is fine?

Kind regards

Niels
 
Thanks to everyone for your input. I have Googled for info and reviews of the Wimberley tool holder and found a few bits of info. The claim is that the Wimberley tool is easier to grind and takes less time to grind than the tangential tool. I don't have any experience with either one so don't see the projected savings in time for the Wimberley. I gather that some of you are like myself and don't see a great advantage to the Wimberley design which still requires grinding multple faces on the HSS tool while the tangential only requires one face to be ground. It still might be an interesting tool to try. If anyone tries one give it a review.

I know, I should learn to grind tool bits by the book then this would not be an issue but then I would still want to grind less not more since I am lazy and don't like burned fingers.

Thanks, Benny
 
clevinski said:
Farfar, I'm not sure how directly relevant it is, but the belt sander is great for fine sharpening and polishing. Though I haven't tried to sharpen cutting tools with it (yet!), I have a one-inch belt sander that I routinely use to sharpen knives, going through a series of grits from 80 down to 9 micron. Then I switch to leather belts, one with a 1 micron compound and the second with a 0.5 micron compound. It works great for knives, and the finish after the last leather belt is like glass. I was reading something about polishing mini-lathe gibs and thought the belt sander (with the leather belts only!) might be the way to go...

Charlie
Click to expand...

Hello Charlie

Since childhood I have wondered what the leatherbelts hanging in the hair cut shops did.
Now I know off couse: Sharpening the razor knives
What kind of grinding materials would have been used?

Niels
 
FarFar said:
Hello Charlie

Since childhood I have wondered what the leatherbelts hanging in the hair cut shops did.
Now I know off couse: Sharpening the razor knives
What kind of grinding materials would have been used?

Niels
Click to expand...

Grinding material for razor strops? For my razor I just use it "dry" on the leather and have a linen strop for finishing it.

-Ron
 
I made a tangential a while back and really like the way it cuts. There are a lot of ways to do it and you get to make up your own, as long as you make it rigid.

I made mine to fit my QCTP and left as much mass as I could to help keep vibration down.
P7020016b.jpgP7020014b.jpgP7020017b.jpg

The clamping bolt is a 1/4-20 carriage bolt with the head thinned out to make room at the chuck. It's pretty easy to set it up at one angle that will do both turning and facing operations with no further adjustment.

P7020016b.jpg P7020014b.jpg P7020017b.jpg
 
Wow Hawkeye that is pretty much exactly what I was planning for my 2nd version. I have a piece of 2" round in the mill squaring it off. For the same idea in holders. I have maybe .1" left to fly cut on the last side and then I'll have a piece of square stock to make it with. I'm thinking a wheel stud (with most the splines ground down) and a nut to secure the bit. Hardened and tough and not wanting to spin yet not much head in the way.

I made one with dovetails for the QCTP but I didn't like it and it seemed pretty limited. By the time you get it cut down to where the tool needs to be there isn't as much meat left as I would like.

I'm also toying with the idea of drilling a 5/16" blind hole on the opposite side from the bit for making cutters from carbide endmill shanks. Of course the hole would have the prerequisite angles and a smaller through hole. If that doesn't work out no harm done. It'd be nice to get another use from them. Who knows perhaps grinding an angle on a round tool will make a nice shear type finishing tool. If not making the end square is no problem.

Steve
 
Steve, I like the idea of the wheel stud. Carriage bolts are pretty soft, although I haven't had any trouble with mine.
 
I couldn't find any small wheel studs. I even tried a motorcycle shop (4 wheelers) so I just went with 5/16" carriage bolt. The flange on the wheel studs is smaller than I remember and the knurled srction larger in OD also.

It's coming along fine and all I have left to do is mill the notch so it'll fit the AXA tool holders, clean up the ends, and parkerize it.

Steve
 
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