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BESS with woodworking tools
#11
(03-18-2017, 11:58 AM)Ken S Wrote: Rupert,

Please check your forum messages. I sent you an email.

Ken

Rupert,

I own T7, T4, and T8 Tormeks. In my opinion, all are excellent tools for knife sharpening.

Ken

All Rupert can say - you are very fortunate to have the T8.

My opinion is that the T8 is the greatest improvement to Tormek's series of machines (10 inch)  in my lite time.

Nothing for cosmetic purposes, everything is practical and operator friendly.

The T8 - I, can not think of anything that Tormek could do to make it better?

Rupert

(03-18-2017, 11:58 AM)Ken S Wrote: Rupert,

Please check your forum messages. I sent you an email.

Ken

Rupert,

I own T7, T4, and T8 Tormeks. In my opinion, all are excellent tools for knife sharpening.

Ken

All Rupert can say - you are very fortunate to have the T8.

My opinion the T8 is the greatest improvement to Tormek's series of machines (10 inch)  in my life time.

Nothing for cosmetic purposes, everything is practical and operator friendly.

The T8 - I, can not think of anything that Tormek could do to make it better?

Rupert
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#12
Rupert,

I agree with you about the T8. My interest in the Tormek goes beyond sharpening. I am fascinated with how machines evolve over time. The T8, Tormek's latest model combines many improvements over the years with some clever new engineering. some of the improvements are obvious, such as the new raising and lowering water trough. The rounded bottom and detachable magnet make cleaning much easier. Being able to raise the trough extends the life of the grinding wheel. In the past, the useful life of the grinding wheel ended when the stone was too small in diameter to reach the water. That is still true, however, now we can raise the trough and work with a smaller stone.

The quick release EZYlock shaft makes changing grinding wheels fast and easy. Tormek began using stainless steel for the shaft and nut ten years ago, eliminsting the rusted shaft problem.

Utilizing the cast and machined zinc top introduced with the T4, the alignment of the shaft and sleeves is improved. Tormek was always a premier machine; the newest models are just better. Tormek has been redesigning the jigs and accessories over the years. The new jigs are made with machined zinc, in itself an improvement. In my opinion, some of the new jigs are worth the cost of replacing last generation jigs one already owns. The SVD-186 gouge jig for turners immediately comes to mind. The jig settings are more secure; clamping is better; and it works better with the smaller Tormeks (T4).

Yes, Rupert, I agree with you. The T8 is Tormek's most advanced machine. With the overpriced used market, I also feel it is the best bargain.

Ken
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#13
Rupert,  has given thought to selling his fleet of T -7's and up dating to one T 8.

So comforting to have several machines with different grit wheels ready to work.

And at my age there is no rush to do anything and or make changes.

The T8 water tray mechanism impresses me the most.

Second is the removable magnet - facilitates water tray cleaning.

On and on the wheel of life keeps turning

Rupert
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#14
I've been playing with my Tormek a fair bit recently, I'm really enjoying it! I've also learned a couple interesting things about grading the wheel:

1: The stock "coarse" side of the stone grader isn't very coarse.
2: The truing tool builds an amazingly coarse stone.
3: Diamond plates and standard high-speed-grinder diamond dressers do a nice job of giving the wheel a quick refresh at various grits.

I'm pretty impressed with the T8, the only thing I'm *not* a fan of is the rattle on the water tray. No matter what I do, that tray rattles and vibrates like an old Ford. Went down to Wally World and bought a $4 dish draining pan, which does an awesome job of catching the watery mess it tends to make as it's being used. Especially with longer knives or flattening the back of a chisel. I'm probably going to snag the drill bit sharpening jig soon, the siren song of razor-sharp drill bits is calling me... So far, I've got the stock square-edge jig (I bought it primarily for chisels) and the standard knife jig, which seems to work quite well.

Also, if you need to take a *lot* off of the stone, how's the best way to go about it? Like, I need to take about 3/8" off of the diameter. On shipping, it got tremendously UPSed, and a puncture through the box left an impressive gouge in the corner of the wheel. I think it'd go away if I dressed off 3/8" or so, but with the truing tool, I'm gonna' wear out that diamond point before I get that much off! As an added bonus, the chip makes the truing tool jump in a most alarming way as it's cutting that side.
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#15
Dan

I, defer to Ken and or gepper.

Yes, Rupert visualizes the damage and the problem.

In the past have had chips on the corner the corner of wheel.

The best thing would be to let the shipper know and make the decision?

That damage being on the 10 inch diameter of your wheel - that represents a great deal of lost sharpening surface.

Other than the cosmetic issue - keeping the wheel true in cir and etc., go sharpening try not to see damage. Hard to think about wasting that much wheel and/or diameter of your 10 inches?

Rupert
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#16
If your wheel was damaged during shipment, I would, like Rupert mentioned, contact UPS, the place where you purchased the unit, and if no joy there, Tormek support.   Don't settle for receiving a damaged machine!

The Tormek is not an inexpensive machine and it should not have arrived damaged, let alone damaged enough to affect it's use.

I too would do the above before even thinking about removing a large amount of the wheel.  Those things aren't cheap, and that's a lot of the wheel to remove.

I don't have a T8, so I'll let Ken speak to the vibration.   I would post your question on the Tormek forums.  That question has been discussed there.  You are not alone with that issue.
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#17
Thanks for the input, guys. Smile

I did indeed contact the shipper first thing, and since this was a used machine to start with (it was open-box, but supposed to be 'like new', and other than the wheel, it was) he offered me a substantial partial refund. Since the rest of the machine was fine, I took the refund and used it to fund part of the purchase of one of the blackstone wheels. I now have the SiC wheel mounted, but I have this spare, damaged standard wheel. It's a LOT of material to remove, and a lot of lifespan... but right now, it's all *bonus* life that I gain if I can clean up that wheel, rather than lost life in the existing wheel. At least, that's how I look at it.

I'll go check out the Tormek forums, and see what they say about it!
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#18
Got it. 

Don't try to remove much of the wheel at once with the diamond dresser.  You can damage it if you really plow into the stone.  I say that from personal experience.  5arg !

Possibly something like this might work to do most of the work, and then change to the Tormek dresser at the very end:
https://www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-71003-Di...B00B10LM6O

Even though it may take some time, it's always best to take off minimal amounts at a time with the dresser.

I remember reading about one guy who actually cut a wheel in half so that it was only 1" thick instead of 2" using a cutoff wheel.  I know that's not what you are trying to do, but possibly some sort of powered solution might work.
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#19
I actually use one of those in place of the coarse side of the stone grader, from a tip I picked up on another forum. It isn't used nearly as long as the coarse side of the grader, just a few wheel rotations, but it does a great job of putting life back into the stone for heavy removal work. Smile It also doesn't take off much wheel, sadly.

Something I've actually considered is a diamond wheel for my angle grinder, like you'd use for grinding lumps out of concrete. Just run the wheel dry, set up the shop-vac with the dust deputy to capture as much dust as I can outside, and lay into it with the angle grinder until the chip is gone, then dress it until it's flat and curve-free again.
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#20
Or maybe run the thing wet and cut down on some of the dust.

I wonder if a local machine shop might be able do something like that or offer suggestions.

Possibly a diamond rotary cylinder?
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