Traveling tool grinder

[Jerry Hall]

Picked up an unused jet mini for $150 (Wahoo!) and use if for a buffing station and teaching. Thinking of taking it with me on RV trips, working off my pickup tailgate, or with a workmate.

Has anybody set up the MT2 Beal buffing wheel fixture with a grinding wheel? I was thinking I could make a wooden banjo to hold a custom Wolverine like sharpening arm, and just leave it on, tucked up against the headstock. I usually hand hone 5 times or so before grinding so I wouldn't have to set this up very often. I assume would have to clean the grit up well each time and protect the ways with a cloth or plastic.

Any thoughts or ideas before I make a mess of it?

 

[Barbara Gill]

I had the same idea (more or less) several years ago. This is what I did with a little Mercury lathe.
http://www.woodcentral.com/shots/shot340.shtml

 

[Jerry Hall]

Nice Idea

Great idea Barbara.

I just took off the hand wheel on my Jet Mini. Two grub screws into a recess between two sets of what looks like 3/4x16 left hand threads. For the Jet it doesn't look like I can adapt a face plate. But maybe I can set up a coupling of some sort, hopefully with grub screws that leaves me an appropriate left hand threaded shaft for my grinding wheel. Need be my friendly neighborhood machinist might trade for a bowl!

Some questions:
1. Looks like you are using a 6" wheel? Is that what you used in the shop as well?
2. Also, did the mass of the wheel bother your turning at all, or introduce vibration?
3. Would you have been comfortable with an 8" wheel?

Thanks, Jerry

 

[Barbara Gill]

I used and still use a 8" wheel. No. the wheel did not affect the smoothness of the lathe. I don't keep it on when the lathe is in the shop.

 

[Jerry Hall]

IDEAS? How do I extend a 3/4x16 LH Threaded Shaft?

That's what is at the end of my Jet Mini. Is there some sort of coupling that could lead to a shaft extension that is reasonably true? LH nuts are commonly available to fasten the wheel to the extended shaft.

Alternatively maybe I can turn my hand wheel into a "face plate" sorta like Barbara did with her faceplate. I will need a true running, centered hole for a bolt to hold the grinding wheel, as she did.

Perhaps I can turn a maybe 2" thick wooden "face plate" with a 1/2" tenon to tightly match the recess of the Mini's hand wheel. Drill a 5/8" hole while it is still centered on the lathe for a bolt to hold the grinding wheel. Recess the faceplate on both sides for the bolt, a big washer, and a locking screw (with lock-tite.) Mount it on the hand wheel. Test it for true with double stick tape, then epoxy it into the recess (repeating the trueing process before the epoxy sets and leaving the double stick tape on.) I noticed that the recess in the Mini seems to run very true, which is nice.

Just thinking out loud. Whadaya think?

 

[john lucas]

I put a sanding disc on the outboard side of my old Nova comet mini and it worked great but I was in such a habit of using the handwheel to stop the lathe and rotate the wood that I would burn my fingers all the time.

I now have a Carbo-tec that I use for demos where I have to haul the lathe any distance. I might try Barbara's idea for that. Maybe I could put a cover over the wheel when I'm working. A lot of time I have kids around the lathe and I wouldn't want one to stick a finger into the wheel. When I go to schools to demo I just take enough tools so I don't have to sharpen. I'll just touch them up with diamond hones inbetween each class.

 

[john lucas]

Now that I think about it if I redesign the projects I do for the schools I could take my Hunter tools which never need sharpening and just do the projects with that. With the Thompson skew that I can sharpen with the diamond hones and the hunter tool I could turn a lot of projects.

 

[Jerry Hall]

Good thoughts on the need

for a wheel at all! One thought is that you could slap a big fat rubber band around the grinding wheel between sharpenings. Hey you could even put compound on it and use it as a honing wheel! I can see that big rubber band now, flying into a crowd of kids....

I too hone many times between grindings. But plan an extended trip to my mother-in-law's and will need regular turning fixes. Maybe I will just go back to my original idea to use the Beale Morse taper fixture and a wheel to freshly grind tools up at the beginning of the day. Would bring up the tail stock for added support and to avoid having to use a draw bar.

OTOH a nut embedded in a large hand knob would make it easier yet to remove the wheel from the hand wheel end for safety between uses. I may give the rubber band a try tho!

Will need to look into Hunter tools. Never sharpen! Awesome. Wonder how that works for different gouge profiles. Just grind once?

 

[Jerry Hall]

JR Beale response to using mandrel between centers

I asked Beale:
"I have a Jet 1014 mini that I use as a "Traveling Lathe" and wanted your opinion of the feasibility of using your 3-on mandrel to mount a 3/4D 8" Al Oxide grinding wheel for occasional grinding of my tool edges between honings. It seems that it would work, but I don't know how snug the couplings would be against the wheel."

His Response:
"I think that would work but you would have to make some spacers to fill the gaps where the buffs go. I am sure you could tighten everything up with no trouble. This would be easier than trying to use the second method (adapting the #2 MT with a 3/8" threaded recess) you suggest."

So I will either give this a try or mount something outboard of the tail stock. Will report back.