Tormek...anything going on??

[Random Orbital Bob]

I cant access the Tormek website and haven't been able to for a while now (at least 24 hours). Can anyone else try it and see if it's just my setup or if there's a problem with their side and if so....given it's been down for a while....anyone know anything?

 

[Markvk]

Cant get on either which is worrying as ive just bought a full t7 setup from axi. Im sure it will just be technical gremlins. You could contact axi, they would know if anything strange was going on.

Mark

 

[LeeElms]

They do appear to have a problem - it's not just you!

 

[harvestbarn]

Was OK over the weekend as watched the video of the improved universal gouge jig SVD186.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

bet it's tekky gremlins which aren't being fixed due to easter bank hol. I've just bought the new SVD 186 and it's absolutely superb. I can now clamp my 1/4" gouges no problem and get a 30 degree bevel on the detail gouge which is one of the limitations of the Sorby PE

 

[shed9]

As far as I understand they are releasing a new unit. It's possible they are revamping the site accordingly.

 

[AJB Temple]

The T8, which supersedes the T7, is about to be released. I posted about this a week or two ago.

 

[Jacob]

Maybe they've gone to the wall as a lot of people seem to think they are garbage?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Maybe they've gone to the wall as a lot of people seem to think they are garbage?

Not everyone thinks they are garbage - I think they are great.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Lons]

Maybe they've gone to the wall as a lot of people seem to think they are garbage?

Hmm.... I wonder how many constitutes "a lot"? :wink:

I don't consider them to be garbage.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Maybe they've gone to the wall as a lot of people seem to think they are garbage?

Hmm.... I wonder how many constitutes "a lot"? :wink:

I don't consider them to be garbage.

One

 

[woodpig]

I've just bought the new SVD 186 and it's absolutely superb. I can now clamp my 1/4" gouges no problem and get a 30 degree bevel on the detail gouge which is one of the limitations of the Sorby PE

Interesting. I wasn't aware of those shortcomings of the 185 and wonder how the new 186 overcomes it. The new 186 looks a bit wider so should accommodate wider tools but my largest bowl gouge easily fits in the 185. The new jig looks quite flimsy compared to the 185 but maybe the pictures don't do it justice. I'll have to wait for the inevitable side by side comparison. At £60 I won't be buying a SVD-186 but as I have a MW Lathe and a Milling machine there is a slim (very slim) chance I might make a similar copy if I can see any advantage. So far the only problem I've had with the 185 is it is prone to get its edges ground off on the belt. Not a problem due to my ham fistedness but something I've seen on some other folks jigs. :lol:

I look forward to a full report on this new fangled device in due course Bob!

 

[woodpig]

http://youtu.be/0FaXuRon3JI

 

[Rorschach]

I certainly don't think them garbage either, though I must say that I recently replaced my t1200 with a the Rutlands t7 clone, I wanted the bigger machine but couldn't justify the cost of a new t7. The rutlands clone is every bit as good as the t7's I have used and a major upgrade to my t1200.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I've just bought the new SVD 186 and it's absolutely superb. I can now clamp my 1/4" gouges no problem and get a 30 degree bevel on the detail gouge which is one of the limitations of the Sorby PE

Interesting. I wasn't aware of those shortcomings of the 185 and wonder how the new 186 overcomes it. The new 186 looks a bit wider so should accommodate wider tools but my largest bowl gouge easily fits in the 185. The new jig looks quite flimsy compared to the 185 but maybe the pictures don't do it justice. I'll have to wait for the inevitable side by side comparison. At £60 I won't be buying a SVD-186 but as I have a MW Lathe and a Milling machine there is a slim (very slim) chance I might make a similar copy if I can see any advantage. So far the only problem I've had with the 185 is it is prone to get its edges ground off on the belt. Not a problem due to my ham fistedness but something I've seen on some other folks jigs. :lol:

I look forward to a full report on this new fangled device in due course Bob!

My issue is very simple, the annoying brass disc and rubber thingummy arrangement that made up the clamp in the old one was fiddly to incapable of gripping a detail gouge ie 1/4". I should say at this point that thoughmy pro edge has almost made the Tormek redundant, it's still the best solution for a really fine edge short of hand honing on bench stones. So I've kept it in my arsenal for gouges. It's pretty much permanently setup with my favourite fingernail grind and that saves me from having to horse around with the proedge by taking off the platform to convert it to elliptical grinding. By now, the smarter of you may have spotted that I'm a good for nuthin' lazy bar steward! And in hot pursuit of that laziness, if I can avoid faff during setup, I tend to. So my setup has simply evolved to a series of specialised niches where each tool is setup to do the job its best at but with minimal setup time. My goal is to spend my time turning and not sharpening. So the 1/4" detail gouge conundrum was due to 2 things: The Tormek was failing to be the solution even though its setup for the grind because the SVD (old) couldn't clamp my tool. That necessitated either guffing around taking the brass thing apart (no chance) or converting the PE to elliptical mode (what I was doing). The SVD (new) will clamp my detail gouge so it solves the problem.

There's a secondary issue as well which is that the PE cant do a 30 degree bevel because of fouling. That means you're stuck with a max of 35 degree on the bevel of your detail gouge and call me Mr Fussy but I find that the 30 degree angle is sufficiently narrow to really access those tight spots whereas the 30 just falls short. So now this new SVD has arrived my detail gouge is not only at the right bevel angle but its quick to grind too...double whammy. That's why I was prepared to shell out the ludicrous amount of money those nice Swedes want for their small amount of metal.

The fact the knuckle settings can now be operated using a tool free knob and slots into a detent system is also new and very convenient because frequently I would find that despite tightening the allen screw with the force of Hercules, the dam thing kept slipping off where I wanted it.

It's also wider apparently because folks wanted to put wider gouges in, presumably, enormous roughing gouges where they grind the wings back a little rather than a straight 45 degree bevel.

So a stupid cost yes....but very nicely designed in response to all the foibles the old one had. It's only pure laziness that allowed me to talk myself into buying one but then it's like I said before, I like turning, not sharpening.

 

[Myfordman]

Useful test site

http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/tormek.com

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Very handy Bob...thanks for that

 

[woodpig]

Bob, I only use the SVD-185 on my belt sander so I can't really appreciate any problems you've had with it on the Tormek.
Having said that I've never experienced any problems clamping gouges in the 185 so I've just been out to the shed and clamped a 1/4" gouge in it. Having no problems as usual I've re-read your post and you mention a "rubber thingummy" which I don't have. Now, it may be that in the mists of time I did have this offending article and discarded it as unnecessary, or it never came with my jig. Either way I don't use this part and the brass disc works fine on its own. This may therefore be the source of at least one of your difficulties. I haven't had any issues grinding fairly shallow angles on a spindle gouge but I don't know specifically what angles I'm using as I've never measured it, I will say though that the newer Sorby triple holed boss I was given has been very useful for this.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

That triple holed boss is one thing I never got when I bought my PE 2nd hand 2 years ago. I should get one as they're not dear.

 

[woodpig]

I bought the old boss which is plated steel I think. The newer one I was given is Aluminium alloy but works just as well. It's good for putting a primary grind on a gouge and then grinding a relief angle just by using one of the other holes. In practice I don't normally use the middle one.