Lots of folks asking how this compares to the D-bit grinder. Main thing is this kit has more options for tool holding. The D-bit grinder only holds round tools of a couple of specific sizes because it is designed for D-bits. There are head attachments for grinding square tools and other things, but they are expensive, and in the case of my vintage Kuhlmann, unobtainable. Is a D-bit grinder better if you have all those attachments? Of course. It’s a $2000 machine. This is a hobby kit you can build for a few bucks worth of steel. It fills a niche since most hobbyists don’t need or want a full tool and cutter grinder. Also, FYI, this is not a sponsored video. I wanted to try the kit so I did. This is my honest impression of it.
I also find it a good project to learn many skills while making. It does force you to really aim at hitting the tolerances, and many times a failure on a part only means some lost time and trying again with a few cents worth of steel (well for me I went through dollars hehe).
Congratulations, Quinn, for finishing a rather complicated project. I didn't understand how all the components worked together until now, and it does seem clever and well-designed. I always appreciate your thorough and un-biased analysis of tools like this.
I experienced exactly the same issues with my first attempt to sharpen a two flute 10 mm end mill. Warning: The front of the tool block gets hot! I burnt my finger tips and now have to cure them before trying again. I also made a round 6 mm tool bit for my boring head from round HSS tool steel bar stock, and a 8 mm square tool bit for the fly cutter. The surface finish on aluminium turned out excellent in both cases! Tip: If you fasten the angle gauge in the slot of the setting block with the grub screw, and then set the block on top of the slide (or work head), you will have both hands free to adjust the table. This is why there is a cutout at the bottom fitting the locking peg on the slide (and similarly on the work head) and a magnet to hold the block in place. It's not mentioned in the videos, I got the tip from Gary. 🙂
I have built mine about 6 years ago and I really like it. Like most tool grinding machine they are a bit tricky to use and you need to refresh how to use them, unless you use them on a regular basis. So I usually set aside a few cutters and after doing one, the rest is pretty easy. I found that a CBN wheel help me get a more consistent and accurate finish. When first setting up a new grinding angle, I initially only rotate the CBN wheel by hand a few turns and then verify the cutter end bluing to see if my set up is near perfect or way off and make the correction. Using this technique helps to to find and match the manufacturing original grind and duplicate it. Using this gentle approach to the grinding wheel help me a lot to understand and setting the angle to many other cutting tools. Powering the grinder and have a go at it, almost always removed to much material to then realized I have gone to far and lost my manufacturing reference grind. I have resurrected quite a few endmills and have been quite please with the cutting edge I have achieved using the acute tool sharpener. I like the table rest so much, I built a second and it gets used way more than the acute sharpener. The acute sharpening system is wrapped in a dust cover which will keep it grit free and running smooth next time I need it.
Very cool! I sharpened a lot of HSS drills but most of the mills I worked with were not easily sharpenable since I mostly machined heat treated steel and stainless. We used HSS drills for really large bores but everything else was with tungsten and other sintered alloy tools with even fancier coatings (every time I broke one I felt like shit but that was a rare event and then again my CNC hadn't been serviced properly ever in its 18 years of life). We would usually send mills for sharpening and re-coating to a specialist company. Regarding brands, can't go wrong with Sandvik Coromant! Very expensive but equally very good! And you're absolutely right, low rpms and high pressure are the proper way to drill using HSS drills. Thanks for another great video! Fascinating to watch!
Hi Quinn, This was a really interesting series. I’m looking forward to Building one to use for Sharpening Lathe Tools. It looks like a fun build. Thanks for the Videos. I’ll definitely be coming back to them.😁👍👍
re: endmill sharpening: there are a great many deal of shops that offer endmill sharpening. they have a big advantage since they use CNC diamond wheels: any number of flutes and helix angles are possible, especially modern carbide low helix with variable cutting edges (limits vibrations). given the cost of a good 1/2in carbide endmill of about $50 usd, the sharpening costs around $10 for those, so well worth it. the other advantage is rehabilitation, when flutes are chipped, the endmill can be shortened, or ground down to a smaller diameter. plus you get to choose a corner radius. I had a handful of endmills that I had ruined in the beginning, due to beginners stupidity. getting them fixed got me back tools that were far better than when they came from the factory.
How good are these after regrinding? I use a lot of 12mm (metric europe things) 4 flute, 2xD flute length carbide endmills that cost about 40€ per endmill (before tax) if you buy them in bulk. Regrinding and recoating costs about 28€ a piece and then i have a bunch of 11,2mm endmils that are about 2mm short of the new ones. so i found regrinding is not really worth it, if the cost is more than about 35-40% of a new one, which is usually not the case if a new one is less than about 100€.
The biggest regrinding mistake I see from even big professional shops is when they get the diameter reground the have them only remove enough to remove the damage. It's much better to have them regrind down to the next common nominal size. You are unlikely to save much money even with carbide tooling and having the endmill be a nominal size will save you from mistakes.
@@JonSturm I ruined a great 4flute 3/8 carbide end mill. Got it back from repair, as a 8.9mm… works perfect for me, I just have the exact size written on all off size end mills (in mm, since I treat even the imperial sizes as off metric)
Hi Quinn, I purchased the plans and built my own, don't beat yourself up, he makes it look a lot easier than it is, I'm sure with a lot of practice it will do a good job, I have a handful of old cutters I use to try with but not had any more success than you. Best regards John UK.
Gary is a master machinist. Making the difficult look easy is a common trait among them, just watch Quinn. 🙂 Since Gary sells them assembled I'm sure he had plenty of practice before he made the videos.
The end mill geometry is fun to think about. Until it hurts:) Prior to cutting the primary, and after cutting the secondary, do you need to reset the angle of the mill in the holder using the gauge block? Thinking "maybe" as the material removed works the bottom cutting edge up the helix, and it will matter if a lot was taken in the secondary vs a little. Cutting the secondary back "rotates" the cutting edge of the mill relative to the grinding wheel, no?
I made one of these about 12/12 ago. Probably not as well as you did but my end experience was exactly the same. I buy end mills and use it for lathe tools. It was well worth it overall.
This system is much more sophisticated and adjustable than I expected. I think upgrading the bench grinder to a CBN wheel before fitting the tool would probably be a worthwhile investment, one less thing to fuss with.
We generally won't resharpen an endmills from customers unless they are large diameters because of 2 reasons; 1 being that the deeper you regrind, the more and more the endface will be offset from the gash due to the helix and the hook angle will no longer be straight so the endface technically has positive rake. 2 is as you can see, it essentially ruins the center cutting ability since the gash falls away from center the deeper you go. Not a big deal for a home machinist, but it can no longer plunge as well as it did with a true center cut
Congrats on finishing this colossal project, Quinn! What a clever bit of engineering that is. Really admire your ability to tackle these projects in tandem with your locomotive build as well. Can't wait to see what's next!
Thank you for this review. I have been very interested in your opinion. (I trust you!) -as an aside, I had had an issue of mine own with super glues not letting go; mine was with a printed aluminum part and a blind hole! We had to scrap the part! Doesn't happen often, but it does happen! Thank you for all your work, I am grateful! Thank you!
I will admit that "8 degrees and 5 degrees makes 13 degrees" is the one part that I understood and I shouldn't be trusted with anything more mechanical than a Lego brick, but I appreciate being able to come here every Saturday night local time and watch you know what you're doing. Thank you!
Awesome work, Quinn! I can absolutely see the merit of a system like this, especially (as you point out) the work table. And it's definitely nice for lathe tools. A clever bit of kit, overall. I think you'll eventually get the hang of the endmill sharpening, even if it's not something you'll be doing very often. Though I wonder if, by sharpening them that way, you'd lose the center-cutting ability of the endmill. As for lathe tools on the D-bit grinder: It's totally possible to do, without the special rest. You can make "split collets" to hold square things in round collets... Basically 2 half-round pieces with a V-groove down the center of each, which form a square when put together. The only tricky part is indicating the tool square once it's in the work head, but a simple jig could be made for that. EDIT: Thinking about it further... That would actually be easier than the dedicated work head for lathe tooling. My import D-bit grinder came with that work head, and it's kind of a pain to have to remove and reposition the tool for each face. Doing it in a collet would allow you to grind every face from one setup.
My head hurts. Who knew that moving bits of metal around to different angles could be more difficult to understand than writing Elixir code? Thank you for your service, I'm going back to my comforting code when the brain fog clears.
Great narrative and video on your new tool grinder Quinn. I watched all of this build series and interested in purchasing but wanted to see it in action. Appears to be very doable for us hobbiers. Thanks for sharing.
I'm finding this tool to be very useful for sharpening lathe tools and general grinding. I'm not sure I'll be using it to sharpen end mills, but I'm glad I don't have to remake parts because of a problem with the left side kip handle clamp. Thanks for showing me an easy fix!
I hope this isn't the "Final" video on this project. I hope you have a follow-up when you figure out how to successfully sharpen an endmill with this system, and perhaps show some other things you've sharpened with it (aside from lathe tool bits). 👍 I think I saw on their site it can sharpen rotary broaches, so if you don't have one, you need to make a rotary broach just to sharpen it on the Acute. 😂
Amazing - despite the provenance of the kit and your proven precision I thought it looked a bit… janky. Now I know that my eyes need tuning because the results are not janky, they are clearly very good. Thus: Congratulations to both Acute and you - and Sprocket because of course! Also kudos to your maintenance of the comments, of course I wanted to hear about D-bit grinder comparisons, so there :) Even more kudos to the rants, especially since one commenter has already pledged to put the wheel guards back onto their grinder 🧡 - learning _can_ be fun!
What a lovely piece of kit. Somehow it manages to be ludicrously complicated, and quite straightforward, all at once! How does the set of jobs it can do overlap with those of your D-Bit grinder, and which do you think you'll end up using long term? I don't really have space for a D-Bit grinder, so wondering if this will cover my use cases (regrinding end mills, lathe form (or cutting) tools that need precise cutting, sharpening drills, etc.
The problem with the D-bit grinder is limited tool holding options. It’s designed for grinding D-bits so you can’t hold square lathe tools, drills, or other things without making or buying exotic attachments for it.
@@Blondihacks Thank you. I've just ordered the plans (seems silly shipping steel from Australia to the UK!). I'm hoping I can 3D print all of those angle setting jigs to save on machining time.
I am not a clever engineer, but I do have this kit, and I also think it may be useful to make different versions of the tool block, to hold things like Chisels. Capitalising on the built in mechanisms to set angles and limit movements when and amatuer is sharpenning, may be a bonus. I have made some horrible attempts in the past on all sorts of tools :-)
This is where only having hobby machines like the Sherline products is a huge advantage. I buy carbide cutters and HSS drills from Amazon, and buy more if I either break one, or notice too much empty space in my Kennedy tool box. 😁
Watching the build series was fun, but all the time I was wondering what the Tool Sharpener would be used for. (I have a lot of tools ;-)). Nice to also have an idea now what to use it for. Thank you for an entertaining series!
A surpriseing feature to me was that the center of the center cutting end mill is concave so that the outer flute edges cut first. It makes sense in hindsight. My other discovery was to come up with a way to make the edge of the grinding wheel a sharp square. Why?..the sharp edge is needed to cut the web center to a sharp cross over so the end mill will center cut without burning up the center of the endmill. My solution was to buy the cheap ebay cbn and diamond composit wheels because they have continuous morphology and will take a sharp corner. This works on my drill sharpener also. I usually find this is needed saturday night.
Good project. I am a little disappointed with the end mill result, as that is what I'd want to use it for. Is there any chance of a follow-up on end mill grinding, if you find out why it didn't work so well?
I really enjoy your special builds. You actually know people can't just buy a $2k tool for sharpening tools. And sometimes some special tooling has a be made by the user because it doesn't exist or very expensive. I can't wait to see more on your steam locomotive build soon.
I had fun watching you build this, great project. What niche does this system fill that you can't use your D bit grinder for? Surely that's far more accurate and adaptable?
@@Blondihacks I have a Shars D-bit grinder that came with the adapter for lathe tools and it works well enough for an old guy. Advantage is it is quick and easy to set up. OTOH the drill bit attachment that the D-bit grinder came with is a lot less than Ideal. I had a Drill doctor but I find it quick and easy to eyeball grind drill bits, not perfect but they (usually) work well enough. I mostly use screw machine drill bits.
The aluminum box section you used to add height is obviously plenty good enough. But it doesn't seem hard to replace the parallel height adjustment arms with something a little longer. Might be worth consideration for others building this kit.
I wonder if the geometry changes in the end mill, giving you an effective maximum redressing depth. But all in all, that's an amazing system! I don't sharpen cutters, but the really smart way it holds critical angles while not trying to do all of the work is really interesting. If you keep trying on end mills, I'd love to see the results. If not, It's still been a great project!
Great job building a very cool tool! I love this kind of content. I see that the system is capable of grinding drill bits. I am particularliy interested in resharpening the larger reduced-shank drils sometimes called Silver and Demming drills. They all have a 1/2" shank, but come in sizes up to an inch or more, and can be quite expensive even in HSS. I have a number of those drills which I bought used and which are MUCH in need of sharpening. None of the economical drill grinding systems can handle drills larger than 1/2". I wonder if this system can do it? If so it would be great if you could give that a try and let us know how it goes.
They provided a ER16 collet holder that fits in the tool block. It would be useful for drill bit grinding. It has gone out of stock, probably forever since the demand was weak.
I *wish* that I could think in three dimensions. Every time that you mentioned an angle, and then another, I more-or-less kept up but as soon as you introduce a third, I glaze over: I can hear Quinn saying things but I don't know what the words mean anymore. I think I'm doomed to buying carbide tooling for ever. Still, it's a very impressive looking thingamajig.
What I’m about to say is counterintuitive. Two flute end mills are harder to sharpen then three and four flute. This is because the cutting edges don’t have to match up in the center of the cutter the same way. Try learning on a 4 flute first you will be happier. Ps. I do sharpen my cutters 😃
Good point. I have just learned that two flute mills shall be ground asymmetrical, with one cutting edge longer than the other. Consequently one of the gashings should be cut deeper.
These days, for drilling steel if I can't get it in the drill press or mill then first choice is a mag drill either with a chuck and twist drill for small holes or annular cutters for larger holes... oh how I wish I had one 30 years ago...
It's like seeing a fantastic tool in a video then when you get it home it's over complicated and doesn't really do the job you expected. I made a very similar grinding table to this but mine just uses the table as a reference plate (mine has height, forward and back tilt as well as side to side tilt)
25:32 Hey Quinn, I would recomend unsing NordLock washers at that position. They will not get loose, they will even tighten a bit, if the handle does turn the shaft. Kind regards from Germany, Kai
I know way more than I want about bolting, and although Nord-Lock can work in some situations, they are not needed in a properly sized/designed joint. Long story short: this bolt needs to be bigger, or more correctly, needs to put out more force. Socket head bolts (if made to the correct standards) are made from even higher strength materials than SAE Grade 8, so if tightened properly, it doesn't need to be swapped for a different style of bolt. the joint needs more load to resist the vibration and maintain friction. if you can't tighten the bolt enough to get the force, you're gonna need a bigger boat, er bolt. If the joint "almost" works, Nord-Lock and other systems can give you enough help to work. but if the joint is just not good enough, then even those will loosen.
Seems like quite a production. Most of the drill bits l use l sharpen with a beltsander. I'm getting into machining and it seems that the more l learn the more l'm convinced that machinists have disability levels of OCD. Cheers.
Pretty much like she said, you want good curls coming out. I would tend to push until I get a nice curl, then leave it there, especially with smaller bits. With bigger bits (12mm+) give it heaps. Thick lube like Rocol.
Hello Quin, this is the internet.😃 I would like to add two cents. When drilling metal, it is helpful to drill with short bursts while doing everything you mentioned. you will find that this technique speeds up your drilling. I found your video interesting.
Why would that be faster? Usually a constant pressure will make the best chips. Every time you change the pressure you will increase the heat and create those small chips. The only reason for pulling the drill back up is for cleaning chips.
My main problem is with tiny drill bits. I don’t have any equipment only the same hand drill you showed when drilling the new holes in the bench and it LOVES shattering small drill bits if your tilt goes slightly off . I don’t live near a big box store that sells individual bits so a bench grinder and this system would be helpful to remake the tips on my new stubby bits instead of having to constantly buy whole sets of bits for tiny ones.
You can use a Drill Doctor but honestly I don’t think regrinding small drills is worthwhile because they are cheap. A pack of ten is a couple bucks from McMaster or other suppliers. I treat them as consumable.
@@Blondihacks I know it's way overengineered for such purposes, but I just meant like for those of us who don't shop McMaster because we don't have a shop and just have simple household tools and don't buy our bits in bulk. It's usually at the most inopportune time when mine snap such as late at night after the stores closed and it's a very critical time in a home repair project (I'm a night-owl). Being able to grind a bit in a hurry would be nice. I'll admit the last time I used a Drill Doctor was ages ago, but last time I did, it was a simple grind and didn't really make all the angles properly as it was just a sort of simple rotary grinder, and it seems like the smaller the bit the more important proper angles are (at least in my opinion).
@@Blondihacks My apologies for the comment - looking at the lock washer in the video it looks like an ordinary compressed split style (spring) lock washer as opposed to a thinner internal or external multitooth star style washer.
Lots of folks asking how this compares to the D-bit grinder. Main thing is this kit has more options for tool holding. The D-bit grinder only holds round tools of a couple of specific sizes because it is designed for D-bits. There are head attachments for grinding square tools and other things, but they are expensive, and in the case of my vintage Kuhlmann, unobtainable. Is a D-bit grinder better if you have all those attachments? Of course. It’s a $2000 machine. This is a hobby kit you can build for a few bucks worth of steel. It fills a niche since most hobbyists don’t need or want a full tool and cutter grinder.
Also, FYI, this is not a sponsored video. I wanted to try the kit so I did. This is my honest impression of it.
So is it worth addressing alternative tool holders for the d bit grinder some time?
it looks like a great tool !
I also find it a good project to learn many skills while making. It does force you to really aim at hitting the tolerances, and many times a failure on a part only means some lost time and trying again with a few cents worth of steel (well for me I went through dollars hehe).
@@johnsherborne3245It was on my to-do list for square tools before I got this kit. Now I think this kit is an easier solution to that
Did you dress the grinding wheel?
Congratulations, Quinn, for finishing a rather complicated project. I didn't understand how all the components worked together until now, and it does seem clever and well-designed. I always appreciate your thorough and un-biased analysis of tools like this.
I've taken to 3D printing caps for my end mills that I take off once it's in place on the mill and put on before I take it off the mill.
I experienced exactly the same issues with my first attempt to sharpen a two flute 10 mm end mill. Warning: The front of the tool block gets hot! I burnt my finger tips and now have to cure them before trying again. I also made a round 6 mm tool bit for my boring head from round HSS tool steel bar stock, and a 8 mm square tool bit for the fly cutter. The surface finish on aluminium turned out excellent in both cases! Tip: If you fasten the angle gauge in the slot of the setting block with the grub screw, and then set the block on top of the slide (or work head), you will have both hands free to adjust the table. This is why there is a cutout at the bottom fitting the locking peg on the slide (and similarly on the work head) and a magnet to hold the block in place. It's not mentioned in the videos, I got the tip from Gary. 🙂
I have built mine about 6 years ago and I really like it. Like most tool grinding machine they are a bit tricky to use and you need to refresh how to use them, unless you use them on a regular basis. So I usually set aside a few cutters and after doing one, the rest is pretty easy.
I found that a CBN wheel help me get a more consistent and accurate finish. When first setting up a new grinding angle, I initially only rotate the CBN wheel by hand a few turns and then verify the cutter end bluing to see if my set up is near perfect or way off and make the correction. Using this technique helps to to find and match the manufacturing original grind and duplicate it. Using this gentle approach to the grinding wheel help me a lot to understand and setting the angle to many other cutting tools. Powering the grinder and have a go at it, almost always removed to much material to then realized I have gone to far and lost my manufacturing reference grind.
I have resurrected quite a few endmills and have been quite please with the cutting edge I have achieved using the acute tool sharpener.
I like the table rest so much, I built a second and it gets used way more than the acute sharpener. The acute sharpening system is wrapped in a dust cover which will keep it grit free and running smooth next time I need it.
Very cool! I sharpened a lot of HSS drills but most of the mills I worked with were not easily sharpenable since I mostly machined heat treated steel and stainless. We used HSS drills for really large bores but everything else was with tungsten and other sintered alloy tools with even fancier coatings (every time I broke one I felt like shit but that was a rare event and then again my CNC hadn't been serviced properly ever in its 18 years of life).
We would usually send mills for sharpening and re-coating to a specialist company. Regarding brands, can't go wrong with Sandvik Coromant! Very expensive but equally very good! And you're absolutely right, low rpms and high pressure are the proper way to drill using HSS drills. Thanks for another great video! Fascinating to watch!
You can use diamond or CBN wheels to regrind exotic endmills
Sandvik is the world leader for a reason. They are outstanding!
Hi Quinn, This was a really interesting series. I’m looking forward to Building one to use for Sharpening Lathe Tools. It looks like a fun build. Thanks for the Videos. I’ll definitely be coming back to them.😁👍👍
re: endmill sharpening: there are a great many deal of shops that offer endmill sharpening. they have a big advantage since they use CNC diamond wheels: any number of flutes and helix angles are possible, especially modern carbide low helix with variable cutting edges (limits vibrations). given the cost of a good 1/2in carbide endmill of about $50 usd, the sharpening costs around $10 for those, so well worth it. the other advantage is rehabilitation, when flutes are chipped, the endmill can be shortened, or ground down to a smaller diameter. plus you get to choose a corner radius. I had a handful of endmills that I had ruined in the beginning, due to beginners stupidity. getting them fixed got me back tools that were far better than when they came from the factory.
How good are these after regrinding?
I use a lot of 12mm (metric europe things) 4 flute, 2xD flute length carbide endmills that cost about 40€ per endmill (before tax) if you buy them in bulk. Regrinding and recoating costs about 28€ a piece and then i have a bunch of 11,2mm endmils that are about 2mm short of the new ones. so i found regrinding is not really worth it, if the cost is more than about 35-40% of a new one, which is usually not the case if a new one is less than about 100€.
The biggest regrinding mistake I see from even big professional shops is when they get the diameter reground the have them only remove enough to remove the damage. It's much better to have them regrind down to the next common nominal size. You are unlikely to save much money even with carbide tooling and having the endmill be a nominal size will save you from mistakes.
@@JonSturm I ruined a great 4flute 3/8 carbide end mill. Got it back from repair, as a 8.9mm… works perfect for me, I just have the exact size written on all off size end mills (in mm, since I treat even the imperial sizes as off metric)
Hi Quinn, I purchased the plans and built my own, don't beat yourself up, he makes it look a lot easier than it is, I'm sure with a lot of practice it will do a good job, I have a handful of old cutters I use to try with but not had any more success than you. Best regards John UK.
Gary is a master machinist. Making the difficult look easy is a common trait among them, just watch Quinn. 🙂
Since Gary sells them assembled I'm sure he had plenty of practice before he made the videos.
The end mill geometry is fun to think about. Until it hurts:)
Prior to cutting the primary, and after cutting the secondary, do you need to reset the angle of the mill in the holder using the gauge block? Thinking "maybe" as the material removed works the bottom cutting edge up the helix, and it will matter if a lot was taken in the secondary vs a little. Cutting the secondary back "rotates" the cutting edge of the mill relative to the grinding wheel, no?
I'm glad you feel all your little blunders it helps us to maybe not make the same mistakes
I made one of these about 12/12 ago. Probably not as well as you did but my end experience was exactly the same. I buy end mills and use it for lathe tools. It was well worth it overall.
Quinn that Rant about "being the Drillpress" .. love it ! 😎
Magnetic drill is the way to go. :) Although that would most-likely be corded too?
@@joseph9915 No No too easy then i can go already online and buy Things nahh
Making Chips by myself is more Fun ;)
This system is much more sophisticated and adjustable than I expected. I think upgrading the bench grinder to a CBN wheel before fitting the tool would probably be a worthwhile investment, one less thing to fuss with.
We generally won't resharpen an endmills from customers unless they are large diameters because of 2 reasons;
1 being that the deeper you regrind, the more and more the endface will be offset from the gash due to the helix and the hook angle will no longer be straight so the endface technically has positive rake.
2 is as you can see, it essentially ruins the center cutting ability since the gash falls away from center the deeper you go. Not a big deal for a home machinist, but it can no longer plunge as well as it did with a true center cut
Really nice project.
Great series! Thanks, Quinn!
Congrats on finishing this colossal project, Quinn! What a clever bit of engineering that is. Really admire your ability to tackle these projects in tandem with your locomotive build as well. Can't wait to see what's next!
That turned out great! I wondered how it would actually work. Neat!
Thanks, and Meow to Sprocket.
Thank you for this review. I have been very interested in your opinion. (I trust you!) -as an aside, I had had an issue of mine own with super glues not letting go; mine was with a printed aluminum part and a blind hole! We had to scrap the part! Doesn't happen often, but it does happen!
Thank you for all your work, I am grateful! Thank you!
I will admit that "8 degrees and 5 degrees makes 13 degrees" is the one part that I understood and I shouldn't be trusted with anything more mechanical than a Lego brick, but I appreciate being able to come here every Saturday night local time and watch you know what you're doing. Thank you!
Thanks Quinn. For "constrained" hand grinding of lathe tools agree it does look useful and effective.
I’ve been enjoying your channel for a while now. Thank you for making these videos. Someday I’ll have the room to own a lathe!
Awesome work, Quinn! I can absolutely see the merit of a system like this, especially (as you point out) the work table. And it's definitely nice for lathe tools. A clever bit of kit, overall.
I think you'll eventually get the hang of the endmill sharpening, even if it's not something you'll be doing very often. Though I wonder if, by sharpening them that way, you'd lose the center-cutting ability of the endmill.
As for lathe tools on the D-bit grinder: It's totally possible to do, without the special rest. You can make "split collets" to hold square things in round collets... Basically 2 half-round pieces with a V-groove down the center of each, which form a square when put together. The only tricky part is indicating the tool square once it's in the work head, but a simple jig could be made for that.
EDIT: Thinking about it further... That would actually be easier than the dedicated work head for lathe tooling. My import D-bit grinder came with that work head, and it's kind of a pain to have to remove and reposition the tool for each face. Doing it in a collet would allow you to grind every face from one setup.
Check out @Joepie for how to make square split collets!
My head hurts. Who knew that moving bits of metal around to different angles could be more difficult to understand than writing Elixir code? Thank you for your service, I'm going back to my comforting code when the brain fog clears.
Great narrative and video on your new tool grinder Quinn. I watched all of this build series and interested in purchasing but wanted to see it in action. Appears to be very doable for us hobbiers.
Thanks for sharing.
Very good idea
You got me...I'm putting the guards back on my grinder. Thanks for the emphasis on safety.
I'm finding this tool to be very useful for sharpening lathe tools and general grinding. I'm not sure I'll be using it to sharpen end mills, but I'm glad I don't have to remake parts because of a problem with the left side kip handle clamp. Thanks for showing me an easy fix!
I hope this isn't the "Final" video on this project. I hope you have a follow-up when you figure out how to successfully sharpen an endmill with this system, and perhaps show some other things you've sharpened with it (aside from lathe tool bits). 👍 I think I saw on their site it can sharpen rotary broaches, so if you don't have one, you need to make a rotary broach just to sharpen it on the Acute. 😂
Quinn , thank you for all of these vids. nothing better than my post work sunday relax with you and sprocket.
This the first explanation of regrinding that i have found that is thorough. THANKS!
Amazing - despite the provenance of the kit and your proven precision I thought it looked a bit… janky. Now I know that my eyes need tuning because the results are not janky, they are clearly very good. Thus: Congratulations to both Acute and you - and Sprocket because of course!
Also kudos to your maintenance of the comments, of course I wanted to hear about D-bit grinder comparisons, so there :)
Even more kudos to the rants, especially since one commenter has already pledged to put the wheel guards back onto their grinder 🧡 - learning _can_ be fun!
What a lovely piece of kit. Somehow it manages to be ludicrously complicated, and quite straightforward, all at once!
How does the set of jobs it can do overlap with those of your D-Bit grinder, and which do you think you'll end up using long term? I don't really have space for a D-Bit grinder, so wondering if this will cover my use cases (regrinding end mills, lathe form (or cutting) tools that need precise cutting, sharpening drills, etc.
The problem with the D-bit grinder is limited tool holding options. It’s designed for grinding D-bits so you can’t hold square lathe tools, drills, or other things without making or buying exotic attachments for it.
@@Blondihacks Thank you. I've just ordered the plans (seems silly shipping steel from Australia to the UK!). I'm hoping I can 3D print all of those angle setting jigs to save on machining time.
That thing looks awesome--especially the angle setting plates.
That's a pretty good result! I'm sure you'll get the end mill technique figured out over time.
very good
I am not a clever engineer, but I do have this kit, and I also think it may be useful to make different versions of the tool block, to hold things like Chisels. Capitalising on the built in mechanisms to set angles and limit movements when and amatuer is sharpenning, may be a bonus. I have made some horrible attempts in the past on all sorts of tools :-)
This is where only having hobby machines like the Sherline products is a huge advantage. I buy carbide cutters and HSS drills from Amazon, and buy more if I either break one, or notice too much empty space in my Kennedy tool box. 😁
That and the ability to pick up the mill and move it to other bench if you need a bit more elbow room 😂
Random question: how much weight do you think an avg 7.5 gauge train can pull?
Another successful project. Good job!
You should make little drawers for the aluminum risers so you can store your templates in there
Now that I've alienated 2/3 of my audience 😂 screw them. We love you so much. Such a wealth of information and inspiration!
Thanks Quinn, helps a lot!
That's a cute tool sharpener.
This has been a fun project to follow. Hope to see more of it in the future. :)
Now you can make a little adapter to fit a diamond wheel dresser and give your wheel a nice consistent surface.
Watching the build series was fun, but all the time I was wondering what the Tool Sharpener would be used for. (I have a lot of tools ;-)). Nice to also have an idea now what to use it for. Thank you for an entertaining series!
Nice Equipment! Greetings from Berlin/Germany
A surpriseing feature to me was that the center of the center cutting end mill is concave so that the outer flute edges cut first. It makes sense in hindsight. My other discovery was to come up with a way to make the edge of the grinding wheel a sharp square. Why?..the sharp edge is needed to cut the web center to a sharp cross over so the end mill will center cut without burning up the center of the endmill. My solution was to buy the cheap ebay cbn and diamond composit wheels because they have continuous morphology and will take a sharp corner. This works on my drill sharpener also. I usually find this is needed saturday night.
Almost all tools will have dish on the end. Even key cutters have about 1 degree of dish to them
Good project. I am a little disappointed with the end mill result, as that is what I'd want to use it for. Is there any chance of a follow-up on end mill grinding, if you find out why it didn't work so well?
I really enjoy your special builds. You actually know people can't just buy a $2k tool for sharpening tools. And sometimes some special tooling has a be made by the user because it doesn't exist or very expensive. I can't wait to see more on your steam locomotive build soon.
Thanks Quinn
"Acute Tool Sharpener" for sure. It looks rather complicated to use. Thanks for the videos, I used one of ur tips just today.
Yay!! More fun sharpening!!
I had fun watching you build this, great project. What niche does this system fill that you can't use your D bit grinder for? Surely that's far more accurate and adaptable?
Can’t hold lathe tools in the D-bit grinder.
@@Blondihacks I have a Shars D-bit grinder that came with the adapter for lathe tools and it works well enough for an old guy. Advantage is it is quick and easy to set up. OTOH the drill bit attachment that the D-bit grinder came with is a lot less than Ideal. I had a Drill doctor but I find it quick and easy to eyeball grind drill bits, not perfect but they (usually) work well enough. I mostly use screw machine drill bits.
@@larryschweitzer4904 I wish I had learned about screw machine bits before I spent a penny on Horror Freight level quality regardless of the source.
Very kewl!
This project turned out awesome :)
I think it's worth it for the lathe tool grinding exact angles
Thanks for the video 👍
Good job looking great
Quinn, what are those pants with the reinforced knees you're wearing? I'm always looking for good workshop pants that'll hold up
where did you get that “spinny thing go fast” sticker? i think i need one :)
The aluminum box section you used to add height is obviously plenty good enough. But it doesn't seem hard to replace the parallel height adjustment arms with something a little longer. Might be worth consideration for others building this kit.
I still don't understand what that complicated block does. 😂
Even so, this was a very cool project. As always, thanks for sharing!
I wonder if the geometry changes in the end mill, giving you an effective maximum redressing depth.
But all in all, that's an amazing system! I don't sharpen cutters, but the really smart way it holds critical angles while not trying to do all of the work is really interesting. If you keep trying on end mills, I'd love to see the results. If not, It's still been a great project!
I'd be interested to see the set up for regular old drill sharpening.
Quinn gets such perfect chips off all her drill bits, I'd really want to see her do a tutorial on her process.
Great job building a very cool tool! I love this kind of content. I see that the system is capable of grinding drill bits. I am particularliy interested in resharpening the larger reduced-shank drils sometimes called Silver and Demming drills. They all have a 1/2" shank, but come in sizes up to an inch or more, and can be quite expensive even in HSS. I have a number of those drills which I bought used and which are MUCH in need of sharpening. None of the economical drill grinding systems can handle drills larger than 1/2". I wonder if this system can do it? If so it would be great if you could give that a try and let us know how it goes.
I believe the system is supposed to handle drills, but unfortunately I don’t know how. Instructions are hard to find for it
They provided a ER16 collet holder that fits in the tool block. It would be useful for drill bit grinding. It has gone out of stock, probably forever since the demand was weak.
Fabulous.
06:15 😅. Nice build Quinn 👌🏻
I *wish* that I could think in three dimensions. Every time that you mentioned an angle, and then another, I more-or-less kept up but as soon as you introduce a third, I glaze over: I can hear Quinn saying things but I don't know what the words mean anymore. I think I'm doomed to buying carbide tooling for ever. Still, it's a very impressive looking thingamajig.
What I’m about to say is counterintuitive. Two flute end mills are harder to sharpen then three and four flute. This is because the cutting edges don’t have to match up in the center of the cutter the same way. Try learning on a 4 flute first you will be happier.
Ps. I do sharpen my cutters 😃
Good point. I have just learned that two flute mills shall be ground asymmetrical, with one cutting edge longer than the other. Consequently one of the gashings should be cut deeper.
@@paullehmor982 it just depends how the manufacturer gashes. We gash symmetrically the same way as a 4 flute center cut
Out of interest, how thick is the steel for that steel bench surface? Thanks.
Ha, I learned so much from this video, last time I drillled steel, there was a nice pile of powder haha. Well I'll know for next time.
Thats why hobby shop needs cutter. We misuse, drop, and abuse them through ignorance
ExcellentLY! Save the adverb!!!
Recommended RPM for drills go out the window with a hand drill or manual feed drill press, so as you say, low RPM and high pressure are the way to go!
These days, for drilling steel if I can't get it in the drill press or mill then first choice is a mag drill either with a chuck and twist drill for small holes or annular cutters for larger holes... oh how I wish I had one 30 years ago...
It's like seeing a fantastic tool in a video then when you get it home it's over complicated and doesn't really do the job you expected. I made a very similar grinding table to this but mine just uses the table as a reference plate (mine has height, forward and back tilt as well as side to side tilt)
Very cool. I want one! Lol.
you gave me a headache! hahahaaha great work on the sharpener!
I've had my chuck key attached on the plug end of the cord for years, for the exact same reason. :-)
25:32 Hey Quinn,
I would recomend unsing NordLock washers at that position. They will not get loose, they will even tighten a bit, if the handle does turn the shaft.
Kind regards from Germany, Kai
Nope, I tried them
I know way more than I want about bolting, and although Nord-Lock can work in some situations, they are not needed in a properly sized/designed joint.
Long story short: this bolt needs to be bigger, or more correctly, needs to put out more force. Socket head bolts (if made to the correct standards) are made from even higher strength materials than SAE Grade 8, so if tightened properly, it doesn't need to be swapped for a different style of bolt. the joint needs more load to resist the vibration and maintain friction. if you can't tighten the bolt enough to get the force, you're gonna need a bigger boat, er bolt.
If the joint "almost" works, Nord-Lock and other systems can give you enough help to work. but if the joint is just not good enough, then even those will loosen.
Seems like quite a production. Most of the drill bits l use l sharpen with a beltsander. I'm getting into machining and it seems that the more l learn the more l'm convinced that machinists have disability levels of OCD. Cheers.
You’re about to find out why, then. The details matter when you’re trying to hold tolerances
@@Blondihacks 🙂
@@Blondihacks I've asked people if they really want a pilot who isn't a little OCD. 🙂
How much down pressure should be applied to drils and how should it change by drill size?
Pretty much like she said, you want good curls coming out. I would tend to push until I get a nice curl, then leave it there, especially with smaller bits. With bigger bits (12mm+) give it heaps. Thick lube like Rocol.
That sharpener is pretty cute.
What grit of stone do you have on your bench grinder?
Hello Quin, this is the internet.😃 I would like to add two cents. When drilling metal, it is helpful to drill with short bursts while doing everything you mentioned. you will find that this technique speeds up your drilling. I found your video interesting.
Why would that be faster? Usually a constant pressure will make the best chips. Every time you change the pressure you will increase the heat and create those small chips. The only reason for pulling the drill back up is for cleaning chips.
Time to take some Vevor $$ for a Mag base drill and associated Annular Cutters 🙃
My main problem is with tiny drill bits. I don’t have any equipment only the same hand drill you showed when drilling the new holes in the bench and it LOVES shattering small drill bits if your tilt goes slightly off . I don’t live near a big box store that sells individual bits so a bench grinder and this system would be helpful to remake the tips on my new stubby bits instead of having to constantly buy whole sets of bits for tiny ones.
You can use a Drill Doctor but honestly I don’t think regrinding small drills is worthwhile because they are cheap. A pack of ten is a couple bucks from McMaster or other suppliers. I treat them as consumable.
@@Blondihacks I know it's way overengineered for such purposes, but I just meant like for those of us who don't shop McMaster because we don't have a shop and just have simple household tools and don't buy our bits in bulk. It's usually at the most inopportune time when mine snap such as late at night after the stores closed and it's a very critical time in a home repair project (I'm a night-owl). Being able to grind a bit in a hurry would be nice. I'll admit the last time I used a Drill Doctor was ages ago, but last time I did, it was a simple grind and didn't really make all the angles properly as it was just a sort of simple rotary grinder, and it seems like the smaller the bit the more important proper angles are (at least in my opinion).
"Drilling like a DIYer on TikTok" - I may steal that.
A simple extension cord can help eliminate the annoying safety added by the chuck key's placement. :D
👍🏻
10:21 "Mastercraft(TM) - Just Good Enough!"
I use a Darex end mill Sharpener
I have one, but after dedicating 3 tools to school, set it aside for a while. An opportunity for you to become a RUclips teacher. 🙂
that's one cute tool sharpener indeed
How thick is the steel plate of that table?
Quin, make no mistake, you will master this "thing." And if there is something wrong with the precision of the device, you will figure that out too.
All hail the algorithm!
Out here shilling for SendCutSend, I see, I'm on to your ploy
@@theprojectproject01 who me? 😂
Great project - thanks for sharing. A star washer might work better than a split washer for locking the bed - just a suggestion.
That’s what I used. Doesn’t work
@@Blondihacks My apologies for the comment - looking at the lock washer in the video it looks like an ordinary compressed split style (spring) lock washer as opposed to a thinner internal or external multitooth star style washer.
@@29chevbolenschannel40 I tried many kinds. If I filmed every detail of every thing I try, the videos would be very long indeed.
I dare you to redesign the table mounting structure using a design similar to that used for geared heads on photographer's tripods.