Jig for Sharpening Rose Engine Fly Cutter on Tormek

[RichColvin]

I built a Rose Engine lathe for ornamental turning, and it uses a fly cutter. These cutters are made from 3/16" diameter rod, and are short. Two of my cutters are shown below :

The fly cutter is mounted in a cutting frame (yes, I had to make that too, but Bill Ooms' site was super helpful). The cutting frame and fly cutter are shown below :

I've been trying to think of a way to sharpen these cutters. To date, I've held them in a hand-held drill, and sharpened them by using the drill to rotate the cutter whilst running along the grindstone. This leaves a lot to be desired in the way of accuracy and cleanliness of the cut.

I was going to build a variation on a goniostat, but this is a bit complicated, and is meant to sharpen the tool on a flat surface. Adapting it to the Tormek would be difficult.

Today, I came upon this idea. It is a two-piece jig that I made today on my metal lathe. The pieces are shown below separated, and together :

The rod is ¾" diameter, hot-rolled steel, and the collar is aluminum.


The calculations used for sharpening the cutter are :

When the cutter is mounted in the jig and held against the wheel, this is how it looks :

The measured angle is exactly as needed, and this works wonderfully.


if you want more details, please contact me.

Rich

 

[Bill Boehme]

You could probably machine a part similar to item #15 in this illustrated parts breakdown for the Tormek SVD-186 (or the older version, SVD-185). This might simplify holding the cutter.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

Rich, a couple years ago somebody in the northwest involved in ornamental turning was selling solid carbide cutters similar to yours. It would have been either Jon Magill or Bonnie Klein, probably Bonnie since she had asked where I have custom carbide cutters ground.

 

[RichColvin]

You could probably machine a part similar to item #15 in this illustrated parts breakdown for the Tormek SVD-186 (or the older version, SVD-185). This might simplify holding the cutter.

Bill,

Thank you : that is a great suggestion! If this works, it could be a real boon for making holders for different size diameters of cutters.

I will try it this weekend (or next, depending on what happens ...).

Kind regards,
Rich

 

[RichColvin]

Rich, a couple years ago somebody in the northwest involved in ornamental turning was selling solid carbide cutters similar to yours. It would have been either Jon Magill or Bonnie Klein, probably Bonnie since she had asked where I have custom carbide cutters ground.

Doug,

I've seen what Jon does, and from what I remember, he uses the triangular carbide bits. These are like the ones that Captain Eddie Castelin sells (http://eddiecastelin.com/cutters_only).

Don't know what Bonnie uses. Heard great things about her work, but never met her.

Kind regards,
Rich

 

[Raul McCai]

I built a Rose Engine lathe

Rich

Well I'd like to see a video of the thing in operation.

 

[RichColvin]

You could probably machine a part similar to item #15 in this illustrated parts breakdown for the Tormek SVD-186 (or the older version, SVD-185). This might simplify holding the cutter.

Bill,

Thank you for the recommendation!! I made this today, and it works amazingly well ... better than what I'd originally made.





I broke my metric tap (6mm-1.0), so I had to use a screw in the end in lieu of using the Tormek hand screw. That's why there is a standard screw shown.

Rich

 

[Bill Boehme]

That really looks nice. I'm envious of you guys who can do metal machining.

 

[RichColvin]

Well I'd like to see a video of the thing in operation.

Raul,

Here is a YouTube link to the fly cutter in operation.

View: https://youtu.be/3FH_q5hw2ak
​

What you will see in the video is some prototyping work I am doing, not a final piece. It is a piece of Ash held in the chuck (the left side), and the fly cutter spinning on the right. (By the way, I don't like what was produced : thusly I'm very glad I did a prototype on a piece of firewood.)

The big circular thing in the back is the in-feed for my dust collection system. This thing produces lots of small dust that I don't like flying around in my shop, and the 4" hose does a great job of keeping this minimized.

If you want to see how the piece moves back and forth, there are a few other videos on my YouTube channel. Not great quality : Just made for information purposes.

Hope that helps !

Kind regards,
Rich

 

[Richard Coers]

I'd suggest you grind a stopped flat on that steel cutter. If the set screw would come loose, you'll be eating the cutter. With a stopped flat, the cutter will only slip out and extend until the stop shoulder gets to the screw.