Axminster Ultimate Edge

[Zeddedhed]

I'm considering getting one of these as an alternative to a bench grinder, mainly for establishing primary bevels on plane irons and chisels, with the odd gouge thrown in.

I have a pathological aversion to traditional grinders having seen the aftermath of an exploding wheel.

I realise that the Axi system is a re-take on the Sorby Pro Edge, but it looks as though it has several improvements.

Any comments?

 

[AJB Temple]

It's very good. Friend of mine has this and I have had a Sorby for a couple of years. His is better. He has the polishing mop gadget, which I don't need as I have a separate polishing station, but the quality of the machine and accessories is good, the variable speed is surprisingly useful. The right hand side guard is equally annoying on both machines. (some people leave them off ...)

 

[katellwood]

I'm considering getting one of these as an alternative to a bench grinder, mainly for establishing primary bevels on plane irons and chisels, with the odd gouge thrown in.

I have a pathological aversion to traditional grinders having seen the aftermath of an exploding wheel.

I realise that the Axi system is a re-take on the Sorby Pro Edge, but it looks as though it has several improvements.

Any comments?

CBN wheels the way to go, I bought a 200mm x 40mm from Axi, excellent

 

[Rorschach]

I am quite tempted by a CBN wheel when I need to replace my current grinding wheel.

 

[sundaytrucker]

Lazy question but do CBN wheels cause sparks?

Since selling my Tormek (regrettably) I have been looking for a new way of doing the primary bevel and keep looking at the Sorby Pro Edge.

 

[AJB Temple]

Remember with CBN wheels that ground metal is not burnt off by sparks but becomes a superfine airborne dust containing iron, chromium, magnesium etc. You really must wear a mask.

 

[Zeddedhed]

I went ahead and got myself one in the end. Lifes too short and all that....

I got it all set up (very quick and easy) and after a bit of fiddling about got a few chisels which could best be described as 'wide screwdrivers' or 'paint can opening devices' and happily discovered that within minutes they could be put back to use as bona-fide woodworking tools.

It's not immediately clear what angle settings will produce the desired bevel angle, and indeed using the recommended 25mm projection in the guide along with the 25 degree setting on the machine gets you to roughly 30 degrees.

I'm not overly bothered by this as it's clearly down to a bit of experimenting to get to the abgle I want. I actually found that I was getting a very good cutting edge at approx 35 degrees from a 180 grit belt straight off the machine with a merest flick over a strop to remove the tiniest of wires.

I put one of my ancient knackered Marples chisels that gets used on site through the whole range of grits, all the way up to the Hermes 2500 and then over to the leather coated chunk of Maple and the finish was truly remarkable. The whole process took less than 4 minutes, including getting some pretty bad dings out of the blade and correcting the angle from about 10 degrees out of square to bang on 90 degrees.

So although it's flippin expensive it does work well. It's well made and engineered to pretty good tolerances from what I can make out.

 

[custard]

Looks like a cracking bit of kit. Good to see an alternative to the Pro Edge, every manufacturer needs some competition to keep them honest!

 

[no idea]

I went ahead and got myself one in the end. Lifes too short and all that....

I got it all set up (very quick and easy) and after a bit of fiddling about got a few chisels which could best be described as 'wide screwdrivers' or 'paint can opening devices' and happily discovered that within minutes they could be put back to use as bona-fide woodworking tools.

It's not immediately clear what angle settings will produce the desired bevel angle, and indeed using the recommended 25mm projection in the guide along with the 25 degree setting on the machine gets you to roughly 30 degrees.

I'm not overly bothered by this as it's clearly down to a bit of experimenting to get to the abgle I want. I actually found that I was getting a very good cutting edge at approx 35 degrees from a 180 grit belt straight off the machine with a merest flick over a strop to remove the tiniest of wires.

I put one of my ancient knackered Marples chisels that gets used on site through the whole range of grits, all the way up to the Hermes 2500 and then over to the leather coated chunk of Maple and the finish was truly remarkable. The whole process took less than 4 minutes, including getting some pretty bad dings out of the blade and correcting the angle from about 10 degrees out of square to bang on 90 degrees.

So although it's flippin expensive it does work well. It's well made and engineered to pretty good tolerances from what I can make out.

I got this too and found that you need to adjust the platen (with a belt fitted if you really want to get it accurate) so that it touches the compound jig bar when set to 0mm. Once done, a 25mm projection on the honing guide will give you the angles as indicated on the compound jig.

 

[no idea]

Looks like a cracking bit of kit. Good to see an alternative to the Pro Edge, every manufacturer needs some competition to keep them honest!

I got the ProEdge but struggled to get the best out of it on chisels and plane irons because of a number of design issues. It's an extremely well build machine but the platen and square edge jig are difficult to use and, with chisels, the reference edge is the front rather than the back which means the preset angle gauge doesn't actually achieve the stated grind angle.

I found the Axminster machine addresses all the flaws I found with the Pro-Edge and is a genuine improvement on the concept rather than a copy. The main things that it gives are variable speed, reversibility, better designed jigs (especially the honing guide and associated micro-bevel gauge when it is finally available) and a much larger platen that can be used effectively.

 

[siggy_7]

Lazy question but do CBN wheels cause sparks?

Since selling my Tormek (regrettably) I have been looking for a new way of doing the primary bevel and keep looking at the Sorby Pro Edge.

CBN = cubic boron nitride. Much harder and longer life wheels than the conventional aluminium oxide that bench grinders come with. Expensive, but likely to last longer than you will!

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

[mpcpba]

I got the ProEdge but struggled to get the best out of it on chisels and plane irons because of a number of design issues. It's an extremely well build machine but the platen and square edge jig are difficult to use and, with chisels, the reference edge is the front rather than the back which means the preset angle gauge doesn't actually achieve the stated grind angle

Could you please explain your interesting point about the pro edge angle setting not giving you the angle you expect? Do the preset angle stop settings (15,45degrees etc ) not actually give you that grind angle? I use one for turning tools and have never doubted (or checked) the angle settings

 

[no idea]

I got the ProEdge but struggled to get the best out of it on chisels and plane irons because of a number of design issues. It's an extremely well build machine but the platen and square edge jig are difficult to use and, with chisels, the reference edge is the front rather than the back which means the preset angle gauge doesn't actually achieve the stated grind angle

Could you please explain your interesting point about the pro edge angle setting not giving you the angle you expect? Do the preset angle stop settings (15,45degrees etc ) not actually give you that grind angle? I use one for turning tools and have never doubted (or checked) the angle settings

The pre-set angles are the included angle between the platform and platen. If a chisel tapers in thickness from the handle to the bevel then the ProEdge will not grind the bevel at the angle indicated because it references off the front face of the chisel rather than the back face.

If a chisel has no taper i.e. the front and back faces are parallel, the grind angle will match the preset angle.

This crude drawing should help

This wasn't a particularly big issue for me because I'm not religious about bevel angles on my chisels. However, it is something that the Ultimate Edge addresses due to the design of the honing jig.

I don't believe this issue should affect turning tools because you are referencing off faces that are parallel with the table (although I'm not a turner so don't have any knowledge of turning tool design).

Edited to add drawing and correct angle references.

 

[woodbloke66]

Remember with CBN wheels that ground metal is not burnt off by sparks but becomes a superfine airborne dust containing iron, chromium, magnesium etc. You really must wear a mask.

I had a Sorby ProEdge and couldn't get on with it for various reasons, one of which was the ground metal dust generated. On the Ax machine the the extraction hose is apparently heat proof so there is obviously a recognised issue with red hot metal swarf being sucked into an extractor, apart from that which doesn't end up in your tubes :shock:
Although clearly much slower, after much 'humming and haahing' I decided to revert back to a Tormek T7 and am expecting any day now (hopefully, fingers crossed) a coarse diamond wheel for it from Ax - Rob