I did not read any where in this thread what kind of tool holder will be used. A quick change holder or a lantern holder. I have read some want to use a belt sander, bench grinder but no mention of a tool grinder. Then what about the grinding stones on these grinders. And I did not read anything about using a wet stone to polish the edge, a diamond stick to polish, what about a water stone? When I was teaching machining, we used a 2x2 wood stick shaped to the lathe bit we wanted copied. I painted the different surfaces different colors to be able to talk about what we wanted in the way of angles. As one mentioned, one change can cause chatter and more frustration. This all sounds like people want a lot of help but teaching is not easy, just because you hand out aids.
DBQ49er
D, I agree that teaching tool grinding and geometry is not easy but try teaching it by typing the words over the internet. I agree that wooden models used while standing in front of a class is the way to go but I didn't have that luxury. I've tried to help guys grind tools before but only had varying amounts of success. The models we used in this discussion seemed to be the most effective way to get the points across and we have seen multiple examples of fine tools ground by quite a few of our guys here so, given the limitations of the teaching medium and the subject matter, I consider this effort a success.
Grinding tools can be done by wheel or belt and the choice is up to the user. My bias is towards using a belt and I made it clear that this is
my practice. We have had a pretty extensive side discussion about that and some of the guys have built some pretty impressive belt sanders to grind tools with, which is cool. Unfortunately, not many of us hobby types have a tool and cutter grinder in our arsenal, including me, so we'll just have to use what we have.
I also made it clear that I prefer diamond stones to hone with and discussed how they are used for that purpose. I also mentioned oil stones briefly for producing a really fine finish on a tool.
As for tool holders, almost nobody uses lantern tool posts anymore and the tool angles used in this discussion are intended for the more modern quick change tool posts. That is a given in this discussion.
My goal here was to help guys grind a decent lathe tool, not provide an exhaustive course on lathe tools; I've already done that elsewhere and provided references to it. The biggest barrier for most guys, especially new guys, is to wrap their heads around how to physically grind the various angles properly. Teaching how to do that over the net, without being there in person to guide them, is a bigger challenge than it might seem.
I did the best I could with it.
