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+--- Thread: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations (/showthread.php?tid=515)
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - blgentry - 03-08-2020
(03-07-2020, 06:08 PM)grepper Wrote: The first attempt worked quite well and from a sharpening perspective performed as well as the current Kallyrest does. It was made from bent steel and attached to the original Kally tool rest/platen bolts. It turns out that manufacturing precision bent metal is a nightmare, and it was somewhat painful for the user to install. Once installed it was okay but still not where it needed to be.First thanks for the story of creating the KallyRest. That was interesting for sure.
As for the quote above... I have been wondering for a little while why you chose to mount the KR to the mast rather than the body of the sander. Now I know! Apparently, as difficult as the mast is, it's even worse to use the body. Actually, thinking about it, I'm realizing that removing the stock platten and rest was kind of a pain. While installing the KallyRest was actually really easy. Adjusting it took a bit of time, but it was nothing like struggling with a combination wrench, trying to line it up in the gap where the stock bolts and nuts are located. Turning the wrench, over and over, and over 1/4 turn at a time. Doable. But not easy.
Installing the KR was just two bolts and nuts, right out in the open. Lickety split; no fuss no muss. The "hardest part" was torquing the bolts equally for an even clamp and making sure they were snug, but not overly tight. ...and that wasn't very hard at all.
Brian.
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - grepper - 03-08-2020
(03-07-2020, 08:01 AM)blgentry Wrote:(03-06-2020, 06:58 PM)grepper Wrote: It looked like the base piece was not sliding smoothly on the mount bar. Especially when you removed the base from the mount bar it seemed to hang up at the end of the slot. It should slide smoothly. Tolerance is pretty tight there so debris buildup in the slot in the mount bar and/or on the slider block on the side of the base can cause that issue. A quick wipe with a rag resolves it.
Yes! I just went out to the shop (garage) and wiped the heck out of both mating pieces. It slides much more smoothly now.
I just checked mine and while not a problem I could tell some crud had accumulated in the slot. It felt a bit gritty. I sprayed some WD-40 on a rag and wiped it clean. Nice and clean and slides smoothly. A little WD-40 on the rag works great.
Worse than just abrasive dust from grinding is sharpening compound buildup. Due to the downward direction of the belt compound is sprayed directly at the rest and onto everything under it. As you probably know, after a while it can make a disgusting mess all over the top the machine.
Compound is not only abrasive but also sticky. Sometimes a clean rag does not completely remove it. WD-40 on the rag dissolves and removes it while adding just a little lubrication making sliding nice and smooth.
Like any machine, occasional cleaning is recommended to keep things working smoothly. That said, there is enough clearance designed into that slot it should be very resilient to crud buildup. You might notice a bit of a gritty feeling when it needs cleaning but it should never bind when adjusting for belt thickness. At least I've never seen that happen.
If you think yours is tighter than it should be just let me know. It's really easy to fix it.
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - grepper - 03-08-2020
(03-08-2020, 08:06 AM)blgentry Wrote: I have been wondering for a little while why you chose to mount the KR to the mast rather than the body of the sander... I'm realizing that removing the stock platten and rest was kind of a pain.... Turning the wrench, over and over, and over 1/4 turn at a time. Doable. But not easy.
Installing the KR was just two bolts and nuts, right out in the open. Lickety split; no fuss no muss. The "hardest part" was torquing the bolts equally for an even clamp and making sure they were snug, but not overly tight. ...and that wasn't very hard at all.
That made me chuckle. I remember uttering a few choice words that were not terms of endearment while messing around with those nuts and bolts and washers that attach the stock platen/work rest.
"Installing the KR was just two bolts and nuts, right out in the open."
Two bolts, yes. Nuts, no. There are no nuts on the Kallyrest.
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - chino - 03-09-2020
(03-07-2020, 10:04 AM)blgentry Wrote:(03-06-2020, 03:35 PM)chino Wrote: Nice! If you are taking requests, can you video your sharpening while passing the blade on the Kally Rest?
Well, you asked for it...
This video is really long. 17 plus minutes. I tried to show a lot of techniques and things. Filming this stuff is quite a bit harder than just doing it. Enjoy.
Brian.
Thank you for the video! Very well done and definitely helpful learning about this addition to the machine. Reading through this thread (multiple times), I thank everyone who have posted their information and experience with the machine and the Kallyrest.
Thank you again, Brian! I look forward to any more information or tutorials.
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - blgentry - 03-14-2020
After I shot that last video with the knife on the KallyRest, I shot some more of the rest of the sharpening. It didn't go so well. I got a bunch of footage that was perhaps interesting, perhaps not. But the knife results were unimpressive. With the 180 grit belt, plus VFSB, plus leather, I couldn't get a consistent edge. I had some really embarrassing readings like 350-ish! Then some more like 225. But still not making me happy.
A few minutes ago I decided to play with the 400 grit Trizact belt (A45) and see if that might help this blade. After VFSB and leather, it again was acting weird. Plus LOW on the blade. LOW that didn't want to let go! (oh man that rhymes..) I spent a lot of extra time on the VFSB and finally got it cleaned up.
This video shows the results on the BESS tester:
Brian.
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - chino - 03-14-2020
Nice work to get it there. Pretty much rainy and didn’t want to see the hoarders at the stores, so sharpening it is! Practice, practice, practice.
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - grepper - 03-14-2020
I hate pesky burrs but every so often they happen. FWIW and I have no idea if this will be helpful or not, here’s some things that I do when some burr is a hair pulling freak show to remove.
If it’s LOW that’s the problem, identify which side of the blade it’s on. From what I’ve seen, LOW is a pile of crud metal that’s stuck from the edge going down one side of the bevel. It can be stuck there pretty well and the trick is to get it pried off the bevel so it stands up.
Hold the blade by hand and decrease the sharpening angle a tiny bit. Maybe 1 degree. Then do a pass or two on the SB belt with a bit more pressure than seems reasonable. I know! It seems creepy like its going to dull the blade but sometimes it works and surprisingly does not screw up the edge. My theory as to why this works is that the SB wraps the bevel but due to the decreased angel does not dull the edge.
Then check the edge and see if the LOW has been popped up. If it has, and this is even creepier, by hand, hold the blade at almost 90° to the belt and just barely tickle the edge against the SB. Creepy, eh? Then flip the blade over and do it again. The idea here is to bend the burr at an extreme angle to fatigue fracture it off the edge while at the same time letting the SB slice up the burr.
Then switch to leather and do the same only with a bit more pressure. Then a couple of passes at sharpening angle with a bit more pressure than normal. I’m guessing the last passes on leather at sharpening angle cleans things up and straightens the edge from all the torture. I’ve seen that work a number of times.
Then check sharpness. If it is still not as sharp as you think it should be, try a couple of more passes on leather at sharpening angle with a bit more pressure than normal. Chances are it will get sharper. This may be due to burnishing of the edge, but as long as it was sharpened with a coarse belt to begin with it can hold up to this procedure and still remain nice and toothy.
At first I thought it was crazy to even think of tickling the edge against SB at almost 90°, but I tried it anyway and was surprised it worked. Same with doing the same on leather. Just always finish with a pass or two on leather at sharpening angle.
The key is to figure out why the burr is a problem, think about what’s going on at the edge and then don’t be afraid to experiment with different ideas on how to remove it even if those ideas seem crazy. About the worst that can happen is it won’t work. These edges seem more resilient to abuse than it seems they might be.
I’ve found close to 90° on both leather and SB can be useful even without big LOW. Sometimes burrs are really malleable and bend back and forth without fracturing off almost like they were made of gold. Extreme angle bending helps.
Here are a couple of microscope pictures I took. If the problem is LOW they show what you are dealing with. The first shows a fine, nasty pile of LOW. Its round, smooth and can be difficult to grab on to in order to pry it from the edge.
[attachment=995]
This second image is cool because it shows LOW after it’s pried from the bevel, is hanging loosely and exposing the clean sharp edge under it. It's obvious to see why low reads duller than the clean edge. Once the LOW is loose it’s easily removed with leather or SB.
[attachment=996]
Hope that is helps. If you try any of those nutty ideas let us know if it panned out. I hate pesky burrs!
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - blgentry - 03-15-2020
I actually did so some 45 degree passes on the leather belt with as little contact as I could manage. I'm not 100% sure they did a lot.... I wasn't doing really good testing in between each stage. Mostly using my fingers to test with.
I'm unsure why this blade has been so weird. I was thinking that the steel would not support a 180 grit edge for some reason. The truth is probably that it's simply easier to remove a burr generated at 400 girt than at 180 grit. If I had gone to 600 grit it would probably have been a bit easier. I'm just glad to be done with this blade for now.
Brian.
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - grepper - 03-15-2020
It sounds like you had a very bad case of LOW stuck to the edge. It it's so bad you can feel it with your fingers then leather won't cut it. SB will.
Don't be afraid of applying more pressure to the belt with SB at sharpening angle. Well, um, be afraid if you wish but it's worth experimenting with to see the results. The worst that can happen is it will dull the edge but it's worth a try so you understand it.
I don't know why some knives do that. Type of steel? Hardness of the steel? Too mu;ch grinding? Anyway, every so often I've run into that too. It's a pain.
But, it's a good chance to experiment with blade to SB pressure and get a grip on what you can/cannot do.
"I'm just glad to be done with this blade for now."
Chuckle. I can appreciate that! Been there, done that too.
RE: Powered Sharpener Setup Recommendations - blgentry - 03-26-2020
Here's me pimping my youtube videos again...
I did some work on the handle of one of my Old Hickory knives. I used the Kally a good bit to do minor reshaping on the handle. More like "fitting" I suppose.
I also did a video about paper cutting, but it's not exactly relevant to this thread so...
Brian.