Mr. Jan – That's a nice little belt grinder you have there. I find your post showing the wood angle guide very interesting because that’s the way the Kallyrest started.
To make a long story longer... On a warm summer afternoon years ago I was enjoying a sit on my back porch whilst delighting in some ice cold brews. I knew the Kally needed an angle guide so I started to ponder how it might be accomplished. Looking back, that ended up a much more involved ponder than it appeared on the surface. I was clueless. So, I decided a simple block of wood would serve as proof of concept.
The problem was that the balmy afternoon was so pleasant and the cold beer so tasty I didn’t want to get off my butt and do anything else. Earlier in the day I had been hacking through some small tree roots with a hatchet and it was sitting there by my chair. As everyone knows, copious alcohol consumption and hatchets always provide for hours of fun so I sat there in the chair, relishing the warm summer air and started to hack a guide from an old piece of wood I found around the place. I know that sounds like I’m making up a story but its true. In this case, fact is stranger than fiction. Here’s a picture of the “finished” product. Obviously, woodworking skills at their finest.
So I tried using it and it worked! Concept proved. But, it was a tad on the crude side and just didn’t embellish my shop décor. I decided to upgrade the unit.
Obviously, the next step was to create a device that was adjustable. I thought about using something like a door hinge from the hardware store, but that quickly leads to all sorts of considerations such as how to lock it in position, etc. I soon bailed on that line of thought. So I put on my thinking cap, the one with the little propeller on top, and started thinking about what manufactured, adjustable products were available. That’s actually more difficult to find than you might think. Then it dawned on me, what about photographic umbrella stand bases? Might one of those work?
Even something like that has design problems. Most basically, it has to be adjustable side to side for belt alignment and be able to move closer/farther away from the belt to accommodate varying belt thicknesses. There are a host of other problems too, but simply mounting it required some thought.
I decided it was worth a try just to see if there was any future in the idea. I purchased a couple of umbrella bases and had at it. Considering a rest hacked from an old piece of wood with a hatchet actually worked, not too surprisingly these did too, with the added feature of adjustability.
While these things were somewhat functional they had their issues. They were pretty clunky to use, Rube Goldberg-esk, appeared to be basement made and I also feared MTBF could be problematic. I decided to make a far sturdier version from 1” aluminum rod. Built like a tank, it was far sturdier. No MTBF worries here.
But they were still basement made contraptions and suffered from a host of other usability as well as manufacturing issues. Clearly more needed to be done. It was around this time I started bouncing ideas off our own Mr. Mike and that changed everything. He convinced me I actually needed a manufactured product, something that I had not even considered. I decided to get serious and started designing in CAD with a goal of resolving all the problems seen with the earlier prototypes.
The Kally is not the easiest thing to design to and presents all sorts of problems. Even just mounting something on the Kally presents with headaches, let alone bent masts, varying belt tracking between units and other head-scratchers. 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. “Contraption” was an apt term to describe it. Way too many distinct pieces including bolts, screws, washers, lock washers and nuts. There had to be a better way.
So once again it was back to the “drawing board” for a complete redesign. The result is the current Kallyrest. It resolves all of the problems with previous prototypes and incorporates lessons learned.
I need to give a big shout out and thanks to our own Mr. Mike. Without his erudite counsel, unwavering support and patience the Kallyrest simply would not exist. Thanks Mike.
To make a long story longer... On a warm summer afternoon years ago I was enjoying a sit on my back porch whilst delighting in some ice cold brews. I knew the Kally needed an angle guide so I started to ponder how it might be accomplished. Looking back, that ended up a much more involved ponder than it appeared on the surface. I was clueless. So, I decided a simple block of wood would serve as proof of concept.
The problem was that the balmy afternoon was so pleasant and the cold beer so tasty I didn’t want to get off my butt and do anything else. Earlier in the day I had been hacking through some small tree roots with a hatchet and it was sitting there by my chair. As everyone knows, copious alcohol consumption and hatchets always provide for hours of fun so I sat there in the chair, relishing the warm summer air and started to hack a guide from an old piece of wood I found around the place. I know that sounds like I’m making up a story but its true. In this case, fact is stranger than fiction. Here’s a picture of the “finished” product. Obviously, woodworking skills at their finest.
So I tried using it and it worked! Concept proved. But, it was a tad on the crude side and just didn’t embellish my shop décor. I decided to upgrade the unit.
Obviously, the next step was to create a device that was adjustable. I thought about using something like a door hinge from the hardware store, but that quickly leads to all sorts of considerations such as how to lock it in position, etc. I soon bailed on that line of thought. So I put on my thinking cap, the one with the little propeller on top, and started thinking about what manufactured, adjustable products were available. That’s actually more difficult to find than you might think. Then it dawned on me, what about photographic umbrella stand bases? Might one of those work?
Even something like that has design problems. Most basically, it has to be adjustable side to side for belt alignment and be able to move closer/farther away from the belt to accommodate varying belt thicknesses. There are a host of other problems too, but simply mounting it required some thought.
I decided it was worth a try just to see if there was any future in the idea. I purchased a couple of umbrella bases and had at it. Considering a rest hacked from an old piece of wood with a hatchet actually worked, not too surprisingly these did too, with the added feature of adjustability.
While these things were somewhat functional they had their issues. They were pretty clunky to use, Rube Goldberg-esk, appeared to be basement made and I also feared MTBF could be problematic. I decided to make a far sturdier version from 1” aluminum rod. Built like a tank, it was far sturdier. No MTBF worries here.
But they were still basement made contraptions and suffered from a host of other usability as well as manufacturing issues. Clearly more needed to be done. It was around this time I started bouncing ideas off our own Mr. Mike and that changed everything. He convinced me I actually needed a manufactured product, something that I had not even considered. I decided to get serious and started designing in CAD with a goal of resolving all the problems seen with the earlier prototypes.
The Kally is not the easiest thing to design to and presents all sorts of problems. Even just mounting something on the Kally presents with headaches, let alone bent masts, varying belt tracking between units and other head-scratchers. 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. “Contraption” was an apt term to describe it. Way too many distinct pieces including bolts, screws, washers, lock washers and nuts. There had to be a better way.
So once again it was back to the “drawing board” for a complete redesign. The result is the current Kallyrest. It resolves all of the problems with previous prototypes and incorporates lessons learned.
I need to give a big shout out and thanks to our own Mr. Mike. Without his erudite counsel, unwavering support and patience the Kallyrest simply would not exist. Thanks Mike.