Rotation direction of sharpening wheel

[Sheptonphil]

Hi

I have only been turning for six months and use a Schepacch 2500 wet sharpening system.

i use it withn the wheel rotating away from me, but have now been told that the stones work more efficiently coming towards me. Without getting into a heated sharpening debate, is there anything inherently wrong the way I am using it as I am now used to this way round. I use it for all my turning tools and do no dry grinding.

Phil

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Not at all. In fact when you grind tools with the wheel towards you, its a far more aggressive grind. You will remove more steel and denude your gouges faster. Also with light hand pressure, grinding away from you leaves a finer edge, tool stays sharp longer and gives a better finish....less sanding.

The advantage to grinding towards the blade is speed. So if you have more shaping than sharpening to do then its a good idea.

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Phil

I believe that the wet systems like you have, tend to run away from you. The standard grinders with white wheels that us poor turners use :wink: run toward the tool.

HTH

Richard

 

[CHJ]

Stones running toward the tool automatically force the tool against the tool rest, stones running away from the tool do not and can lift the tool off the rest and in worst case scenario and operator inattention result in the tool lifting and being carried into the stone guard system, not a significant risk with slow wet grinders.

 

[chipmunk]

....and the sparks would fly upwards too with a high speed grinder running the wrong way.

Another reason why a wet grinder is best running away from the edge is that the water on the wheel is parted by the back of the tool and so does not end up hiding the cutting edge.

Jon

 

[Silverbirch]

I've experimented with the Tormek for sharpening turning tools, but like Chas has said, the rotation of the wheel away from the user tends to lift the tool up off the platform, even at the slow speeds of a wet grinder. You can change position to have the wheel rotating towards you, but, on the Tormek at least, this involves holding the tool at an awkward angle at the top of the wheel. A reverse function on the motor, which some brands might have,would solve both of these problems.

Ian

 

[tekno.mage]

I use my wet sharpening system both ways as I have the platform mounted on the top bar and use the bottom bar for the gouge jig. Can't say I've noticed much difference bewteen the sharpening results either way round - and both work just fine.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

There's an awful lot of nonsense talked about Tormek's...really.

I've owned one for years and frankly, they're bullet proof for the job they're asked to do. Its true that grinding away from you creates the possibility for the edge to lift....but its mild to say the least and easily controlled with good technique. Equally, one of the reasons they have a support bar operable in two positions is so that you can avoid this. For example, scrapers are best sharpened with wheel turning into the tool (like dry grinders) because the wheel pushes them into the jig and the bevel remains single faceted and easy to hold. But gouges, when jigged are easy to sharpen with wheel away because they're jigged in such a way that they couldn't life even if you wanted them to.

Its about appropriate settings for the job....I use both positions...and a bench grinder for shaping because the tormek is rubbish at massive steel removal but brilliant at fine sharpening.

My experience with sharpening is that a) there are many different ways of achieving an easily good enough finish (without getting all anal about it) and b) every one of these methods require the operator to develop some proper, old fashioned apprentice type skill to make them work.

People frequently seem to buy a wet stone system and think the jigs will do it for them.....not my experience. Of course they help with repeatability and consistency but theres a lot of nuance and skill to be developed to mitigate dozens of other little foibles (just like the tool lifting problem). All can be overcome with persistence and patience.

 

[Silverbirch]

There's an awful lot of nonsense talked about Tormek's...really.

One man's nonsense is another man's reality :wink:

To return to the original post, if it's working for you, stick with it!

Ian

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

There's an awful lot of nonsense talked about Tormek's...really.

One man's nonsense is another man's reality :wink:

To return to the original post, if it's working for you, stick with it!

Ian

I entirely agree the op should continue to use the method which works for them. My point about the word "nonsense" is simply that some folk give up pretty quick on a method if it doesn't give instant gratification. And really what I'm saying is that with sharpening I've found actually quite a lot of perseverance on the part of the operator is needed to develop the skill. I've been a long time member of the Tormek forum and its always the same for new Tormek owners (I'm sure also for all wet grinders), they get their knickers in a twist over this and that because they've not put the time in to learn how the system behaves. They round over the edge on the honing wheel by bringing up the angle too steep, they fall off the support bar because they've not jigged the tool properly. There are many traps on the road to proficient sharpening and its as well to dip in to a forum like this...get some advice and try again. So no offence is intended by the word nonsense...its just highlighting the need to develop skill in favour of throwing the towel in. I'm sure any long time machinists on this forum would advocate the need for an apprenticeship in sharpening being a worthwhile investment in learning.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Many thanks to you all for the comments.

It's good to know on here anyone can ask a question without being made to look stupid just for asking.

Consensus is O.K. to run as I am, so will continue to do so as I have now got it to a point where I can replicate the sharpen each time, and as often as I need to, with a very small amount of errors. I just wish the support arm went across the wet wheel and honing wheel to save swapping it across each time, a design flaw I feel, but apart from that I am really pleased the ease at which I can work with nice sharp tools.

Phil

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

agreed...same with the Tormek....bit of a faff to have to rejig etc

 

[Silverbirch]

Hi Bob,

Just to clarify my original point - I was simply pointing out a couple of less desirable aspects of Tormek type grinders, based on my experience. I wasn't suggesting that I, or anyone else, should give up on using them as a consequence.

Ian

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

No worries Ian....and you're right of course...they all do have their foibles. The biggest for me was always the inability to reshape quickly ie remove a lot of steel rather than just sharpen which they're very good at. In the end I bought a dry grinder for that part of the process...crude but fast. Once shaped, I switch to the wet grinder for a fine finish.