New tool for the shop

[elk hunter]

Scratch one more item off the wish list.

Just picked up this "Jet Universal Tool & Cutter Grinder" Saturday. I've been making-do with an antique tool grinder with some homemade attachments, this will make sharpening end mills, horizontal milling cutters, taps and making reamers a whole lot easier.:D86527

[arjacobson]

Very NICE!!!

[RED333]

Cool, now top buy ALL the wheels ya can lay ya hands on.

[elk hunter]

Cool, now top buy ALL the wheels ya can lay ya hands on.

I have several diamond wheels, for carbide sharpening, that I use on the surface grinder and the old tool grinder, I need to see if any of them will work with this one, if not, OUCH, they can be expensive. All I need to purchase right now are some saucer wheels as all I got were the two cup wheels that were on the machine.

[deltaenterprizes]

I wish I had room for one!

[Cactus Farmer]

I have had a Rockwell T&C grinder for a few years. What did I do without it? Diamond wheels are cheaper than Borazon. I have found wheels that were in good shape and when I ask the seller "how much?" they look and say "it's about worn out,so $5.00". It was used but a long way from used up. His stuff,his prices.........a neighbor GAVE me a Borazon cup, actually he said it was on "loan". He had a gringing shop for a while and I do little grindiing jobs for him from time to time. Now you will start buying,finding and making fixtures to do a lot of regular jobs much easier. Congratualtions on a fine tool.

Now find a comparitor.........I don't know what I did before it either.......mystery taps are a snap to measure......I see a lot of folks writing measurements that include the forth decimal to the right of the 'point'. Do they really measure that well? My comparitor does that with ease and I can interpolate to the fifth place. But for what reason I just don't know. Anyone need any rocket parts measured? Hairs split? It can with a surface illumination lamp and a 50X lens. I soon added a 20X lens so I didn't have to see all my inperfections. Then came the "Precision Measurement Handbook". Optical flats are on my want list.........:lol:

[reed1911]

Do you ever notice how expensive those great finds are? You get a tool at a bargain price, start looking for parts, and find a bunch at a discount and think "what they heck, I'll use it someday; yeah I'll take that whole box..." Nice little tool BTW, they sure are nice to have around.

[HollowPoint]

I noticed in your description that you'll use this machine to make reamers. Are you actually making them with this machine or are you using it to sharpen reamers?

I ask because I can make reamers on my mill but, the one problem I've had is getting them as sharp as store-bought reamers. My home made reamers will work but, I can't get over the feeling that they'd work so much better if they were a little sharper. How do you get your home made reamers as sharp as store-bought reamers? Are you using this new machine to do so?

Once I solve this dilemma I'll be a happy reamer making camper. Nice looking machine by the way. You can never have to many machines.

If I were to get such a machine I'd have to put it in my bedroom cause I have no more room in my small shop space.

HollowPoint

[elk hunter]

Hollowpoint,

I turn the reamer blanks on the lathe and cut the flutes, when I make fluted reamers, on the mill. I sharpen them by stoning them, I use "Lansky" knife sharpening stones, between centers. I've been told, some people sharpen reamers by grinding them with a tool post grinder, I've never tried that. My intention is to use the tool grinder to grind the relief on the reamer, then sharpen as above.

A Canadian named Guy Lautard has written at least three books, "The Machinist Bedside Reader" series, in one of them he describes a reamer stoning fixture that would be a real asset, but I've not taken the time to make one. I'm at the point where making reamers, unless they're something I can't buy, just takes too much time that I need to spend elsewhere, so I've been buying what I need. Sometimes I take the easy way out and make a "half" or "D" reamer. I recently made one in 56-50 Spencer for a Spencer carbine I re-barreled. It didn't make much sense to pay $150.00 for a small, easy to make reamer that would be used only once.

As for shop space for tools, we all suffer from lack of that. My shop/garage is 24' x 40' and is bulging at the seams, but I always seem to be able to squeeze one more in.

[T-Man]

I found most of my lathes at estate sales. Some of those old farmers were pretty adept at the DIY thing. I have a couple that I bought on sale from Harbor Freight and they do a knock up job...